Blog Post 4

                                                             Italian Food Culture

                                                                ~Blog Post 4~   

                                                               April 20, 2015

                                                                Mike Robinson       

                                      

                   Eating three to five courses a day, Italians must prepare a lot of food for each day.  On average, Italians consume 3660 calories a day, only 100 less than the basic American diet.  Not only are Italians eating less calories, they eat a healthier diet than the American one.  For example, American lasagnas are generally around 600 calories a serving versus Italy’s 400 calories.  America uses 200 more calories on average because they have a lot more preservatives than traditional Italian lasagna would.  In a recent study, Italians only have a 10% obesity rate compared to America’s 35%.  There are many factors to the reason why Italian food can be so healthy for an individual.  One reason is the fact that everything is made from scratch.  Thus every dish is easy for the human body to break down into energy that can be used.  Another large factor as to the low obesity rate is the fast food industry.  America has the biggest fast food industry in the entire world.  In contrast, Italy has a much smaller fast food industry that leads to a healthier society.  Recently, America has been trying to lead towards this European type of diet that consists of mostly freshly grown ingredients that lack any preservatives.  I currently don’t follow that healthy of a diet.  Since I am still a low income teenager, I am found eating at fast food chain restaurants due to their cheap prices.  Once I grow older, I aspire to focus more on a traditional Italian diet.  

http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Obesity-Update-2014.pdf