Giuliano Hazan has a great piece in today's New York Times about the recent demonization of carbs: You Are How You Eat:

Ultimately, it's not the carbohydrates — or the next unsuspecting food group that will come under attack — that will make us overweight. It's our relationship with food and our lifestyle. In other words, how we eat is just as important — if not more so — than what we eat.

. . . The antithesis of the Italian eating style is fast food and 'eating on the run,' where little attention is given to what is being consumed and the quicker one is done, the better. There is a physiological benefit of eating more slowly, too: your body senses that food has reached the stomach and shuts off the feeling of hunger before you overeat.

Italians also tend to lead less sedentary lives. Walking is a necessity not just in cities but also in smaller towns where cars are usually banned from the center of stown. Many people live in walkups, and elevators are usually found only in high-rises.

Above all, portion sizes in Italy are undoubtedly smaller than they are in America. . . . The trend in the United States seems inevitably headed toward larger and larger portions. To suggest that more and bigger is not better seems almost un-American.

- posted by Lori @ 10:46:00 AM | permanent link | |