Breakfast, Italian Style! (It's Not a
Calorie Extravaganza)
I learned how to eat breakfast on the Isle of Elba in Tuscany. And it's a light affair.
Before going to Italy, I was in the habit of eating a giant, humongous New York-style bagel for breakfast -- slathered with butter and jam. To make a long story short, it ended up not just in my stomach, but on my behind.
Italy changed that. On the Isle of Elba, I stayed at a small hotel with an Italian meal package that gave me breakfast and dinner at the hotel. I found lunch on my own. For breakfast, we had cappuccino or lattes and ate delicious cornetti ( a kind of Italian croissant, but not as rich). They didn't need butter, because they were delicious without it. Sometimes I also had fruit, and that was it. We could afford to drink lattes and cappuccinos for breakfast every day because we only got one cup.
Now, in the beginning, I thought that was not much to eat before setting out on a day of studying. But you know what? It worked just fine. And I began to admire the Italian breakfast so much that I brought it back to the States with me, despite popular diet lore that says that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
You have to ask yourself, the most important meal for whom? The pancake pushers? It's not the most important meal for Italians. And it isn't for me, now, either. When you get up in the morning, you haven't eaten for maybe 12 hours. You're half asleep.Your organs aren't oiled and running. It's not the most social meal of the day, and for most people, it's not that relaxing, because they have to go off to work. Does that sound like the right time for a gorge-a-thon? It doesn't to me. Does it to you?
Think about it. It's called "breakfast" for a reason. You're breaking a fast. And as anyone knows, you don't break a fast by binging. Not at all. You start out slowly and work your way up to more food later. Like at lunch or dinner, when you can take more time and relax a little.
And while it's not healthy to go to bed shortly after eating a lot of food, what you eat for dinner has to last through the night until dawn. So it kind of makes sense the way Italians eat -- having more at dinner than for their first meal of the day.
I think the Italians have got this one right. It's kept me on track, anyway. Back in the States, I don't eat cornetti for breakfast every day. For one thing, I can't find them! (I do have a French croissant at a very nice bakery with a patio once in a while.) But on most days, I keep up with the carbs-for-breakfast thing by having a couple pieces of healthy whole grain toast, plus some fruit and coffee for breakfast. And I walk, just like I did in Italy. It's kept me slim for the past 10 years (and more!)
When in Rome, they say, do as the Romans. When at home, do as in Rome! (Or in this case, Elba.)