The expression Mamma Mia immediately brings to mind Italy, the country where you eat good food, drink tasty wine, and stay healthy and in shape.
The Mamma Mia! Diet is more than just a meal plan – it is a complete lifestyle guide that includes an eating plan, physical activity and lifestyle habits. Based on an improved version of the classic Mediterranean diet, the Mamma Mia! Diet provides you with modernized versions of healthy lifestyle choices that in the short-term are easy to adopt, yet in a long term ensures overall health. Without extra effort, your weight and figure will take care of themselves without forgoing taste.
Italian food is seasonal, zesty and simple (you can whip up a delicious recipe with only a few ingredients, in no time – Pasta, Amore e Fantasia e il gioco è fatto – Pasta, Love and Creativity and you are good to go!
Good nutrition starts with smart shopping. Time spent for food shopping is never wasted.
The video here presented is just a short clip of some healthy habits of the Mamma Mia! Diet: shopping at the market and eating pasta with a tasty glass of red wine. It was filmed in Como by the Russian TV – NTV Russia and is part of a program to educate people about a healthy lifestyle according to the Italian diet. Lake Como, my home place, has always been a popular retreat for aristocrats and the wealthy since Roman times, and it offers many artistic and cultural gems. Famous people have or have had homes on the shores of Lake Como as it is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful lakes in Europe. That ‘s why my foreigners love it!
SHOPPING AT THE MARKET
We can learn how to shop with pleasure, dedicating time to ourselves and our family. This time is not wasted, but it is an investment in an improved lifestyle. Very often I hear: “Paola you are so blessed that you have time to do the shopping, the cooking and still work out in the gym”. Yes, I am lucky, but in life there are priorities, and health should be PRIORITY NUMBER ONE for all of us.
Without good health, we fail to perform to our potential in any field. It is only a question of choice and planning. How should you learn to shop intelligently? It is not difficult. There are some rules to adopt, as with everything in life (see mine in the Mamma Mia! Diet page 115).
There’s nothing I love more than shopping at the farmers’ market in my own Italian hometown of Como. Where else can I pick up fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables, local cheeses and organic meat from my region?
I love to go there early in the morning when the farmers display all their products, to talk to them and taste the new arrivals. This allows me to develop a relationship with the people I buy from.
In addition, local markets promote the zero-kilometer food movement, which is consumption of food from your local region which hasn’t been imported from abroad and hasn’t traveled for hours (or sometimes days) in a truck or on a ship.
This means that consumers receive food which is fresher, so it hasn’t had the opportunity to lose important nutrients, a process which starts from the moment it is harvested. It supports the local economy, promotes sustainability and helps reduce carbon emissions, too!
If you make this a life-long habit, as you grow older food shopping will become an opportunity to socialize, it will become the “trip” of the day and provide some physical activity, too! – Paola
The food markets are one of the great joys of living in Italy. How I miss them… here in the US, we do have farmers’ markets, which can be very good, but somehow they’re just not the same. And most are open only one morning a week!