The Healthy Italian Food Diet

With all of the diets which seem to be around today, Italian food has had something of a bad press. This is largely by those who favor the Atkins diet but also those who are against cheese and oil. A lot of people tend to steer clear of it because of all of those carbs contained in the pasta, but actually, a diet consisting of Italian food, especially from down south on the Mediterranean, is actually extremely healthy and will ensure that you look and feel great for many years to come. The most important thing is knowing how to prepare and cook the food otherwise you could end up using unhealthy means. 

You only have to look at Sophia Loren to see that Italian food does not make everyone fat and actually if you eat healthily you could look fantastic for many, many years to come. In her autobiography, she told the world that she grew up on spaghetti and ate pasta every day for many years. She claims that it is not pasta which makes people gain weight, but actually what is piled on top of the pasta.  The weight gaining foods include the rich creamy sauces such as Alfredo sauce – especially in large quantities. The cuisine from southern Italy is not packed with rich sauces and relies on fresh ingredients and olive oil instead of butter – making it that much more healthy.

It all starts with the ingredients you keep.  For good, healthy Italian food you want to make sure you stock the kitchen with quality pasta, olive oil, garlic, onions, lean meat, fish, and seafood.  For seasoning you will want some herbs like basil, oregano, and parsley.  You'll want to stay away from a lot of cheese and perhaps only get a little parmesan cheese to top your favorite Italian food dishes.  The creamy and cheesy Italian food dishes are the ones you're going to want to stay away from to keep a healthy diet. 

There are a number of light and very healthy meals which are easy to prepare and use simple ingredients. A good example of one is pasta with a tomato sauce. Any type of pasta can be used for this dish and you can even liven it up with funky shaped pasta. Boil the pasta in salted water, although be sure not to overcook the pasta; it should be tender but at the same time, firm. This is the most common mistake made by people cooking pasta and you end up with a mush of pasta in a bowl which isn’t very attractive. For the sauce, all you need to do is chop up some garlic, one onion and some tomatoes. You will need a tablespoon of olive oil to sauté both the garlic and onions until they are soft. Once that is completed, add the tomatoes and cook until everything has been blended together and it looks like a sauce. You could also add some oregano or basil. You could even try and add your favourite herb – don’t be scared; you could end up creating your own unique take on tomato sauce. 

You need to serve this sauce hot over your pasta and you can finish it off with a sprinkling of parmesan.  This is a very simple dish to make but very tasty to eat.

You can play around with the recipe as much as you like as Italian food is generally full of variety anyway. If your aim is to stay healthy however, keep away from rich, creamy sauces.

Italian Food Diet - Google News
Italian Food Diet - Google News

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