We ate and we lost weight. It was fantastic.
Our breakfasts generally consist of yoghurt topped with fresh fruit and nuts picked from the trees by our front door. This is not a deliberate attempt to be healthy, but a celebration of the local produce which has so much flavour you just want to indulge.
The natural yoghurt is exactly that, but has a smooth texture unadulterated by fillers or gelatine. Processing has been kept to a minimum as has transportation. It comes from just over the hill.
Our lunches have become a ritual in simplicity. Sliced salami and cheese, crackers, boiled eggs or tinned tuna in brine washed down with water and eaten in the sun somewhere with a view. We follow with an apple warmed through our backpacks, crunchy and sweet.
I make pasta sauces with red wine, tomatoes, stock, vegetables, fresh herbs and time that give them bold, rich flavours. We eat twisted pasta I have never seen anywhere else, that holds the sauce so that each bite is one of great texture and flavour. I make carrot, caramelized onion and vegetable soup – smooth and sweet. The soup is accompanied by flat griddle bread with no raising agents (by necessity – can’t find baking powder anywhere) to dunk. We eat vegetable risotto, creamy, smooth and heavy with mushrooms and greens.
We grate Parmigiano-Reggiano (bought from Le Grande Latteria in Parma where we got in the way of the cheese makers during the manufacturing process) over everything. When not grating Parmiagiano we are grating fresh black truffles purchased from the local truffle fair.
We snack on prosciutto and goat’s milk pecorino accompanied by freshly baked bread.
Pork sausages and chicken breasts as yellow as the grain they are fed are served with tossed salads.
Our fridge is so small that we can’t keep a lot of fresh food so sometimes it’s a very, very creative process. Last night, before we had a chance to shop, the cupboard was bare of meat and many vegetables. So I created a potato frittata with our remaining eggs and flavoured with fresh rosemary from the garden. Spinach and corn cooked in stock with chilli and pureed made a wonderful sauce for the frittata. Serve this with a side salad and you have a healthy vegetarian meal using the most simple of ingredients.
We treat ourselves with liqueur chocolates. In fact, it becomes a test to see which towns we can buy liqueur chocolates in and how long we can make them last. (We bought six blocks in San Marino one day and had two blocks eaten before we got home, an hour and a half later).
We wash everything down with good European beers, local wines, Amaretto and Goccia di Genziana (a dandelion used in homeopathy for digestion which creates a liqueur with a slightly bitter after-taste, just like medicine!).
We eat well. It’s a pleasure to eat when the ingredients available are so fresh, so varied and so affordable.
We are told that Australia has the best of everything. In our travels through Italy we have proven that a lie.
The quality of the meat we buy in Italy is like nothing we can achieve at home.The delis are a cascade of fresh olives, cheeses, cured meats and fish. In the South there are stacks of salted fish as well as fresh sardines in oil and brine. Fresh nuts like walnuts and chestnuts of course are available since they fall off the trees everywhere – especially in the north. As do apples, pears and stone fruits.
It’s obvious that Australia doesn’t have the best of everything since we were on our way to being obese at home and all it took was a distraction vacation in Italy to change that.
Honestly, your entire life must be a little bit shit if you are eating to obesity and not caring.
All in all, we eat like kings. We hike like young people. (Although afterwards we groan and hobble for a bit like the not-so-young people we really are). We sleep well and wake each morning ready to experience another day in paradise We compare diminishing waist lines and increasing muscle tone.
Losing weight is so easy. You simply have to change your entire life for a bit in another country – preferably Italy. Really, you need a distraction from your life anyway, if you’re eating to obesity and not caring.
So, a life change is the best thing you can do for your body and your health as well as your happiness. Believe me we did it.
