Let’s start off with this quote:
Italians are the world’s healthiest people, according to the latest Global Health Index by Bloomberg. A child born today in Italy, raised on a diet that includes plenty of pasta, bread, cheese, meat, and wine, can expect to live into its octogenarian years.
A healthy diet comes easily to Italians (those in Italy…not so much to many Italian Americans, who ranked at #34 on The Global Health Index….read on). Food has always been the utmost of importance to Italians. You won’t find a Starbucks or a Dunkin’ Donuts anywhere in Italy. That’s because even the simple act of having a cup of coffee, in Italy, is a time to be cherished and nurtured with the finest of coffee, cleanest of water, hand brewed in the least stressful manner possible.
Despite a stagnant economy and high youth unemployment, Italians are in better shape than Americans, Canadians and Brits, with lower blood pressure and cholesterol and better mental health. So the stressful things in life don’t appear to stress out Italians all that much. The country also has many doctors and a diet rich in vegetables and healthy olive oil.
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Italians also have a rich family and social life. Romantic trysts don’t stop the elderly. Nor does age limit ones ability to hop on a Vespa and get to where they want to independently go. Staying active well into their 70s and 80s is an Italian secret that’s quite about ripe now to share.
As in much of Italy, their diet is low in meat, based around fresh local produce, and is high in legumes and pulses. Research has shown that the regional red wine and cheese enjoyed daily by local inhabitants play an important role in keeping them forever young.
Cheeses made from fresh sheep and goat’s milk, like ricotta and the traditional casu ajedu, contain high doses of the lactobacillus bacteria which has been shown to boost digestive, genital and urinary health and are thought to play a key role in maintaining pensioners vitality.

The Mediterranean Diet was voted best overall diet by WEBMD in 2020 and again, going forward, best diet for 2021. Click here to find out more about the Mediterranean Diet.
Jan. 2, 2020 — For the third year in a row, the Mediterranean diet has been named the best diet overall in the U.S. News & World Report annual rankings. In 2018, the Mediterranean diet shared top honors with the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. Both focus on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Compared to diets like keto and Whole30, the Mediterranean Diet isn’t very restrictive. In addition, it is more like a lifestyle as opposed to a strict daily regimen. The diet is based on research that has found that folks living in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea (as in Italy!!!) live longer and suffer less from diseases like cancer and heart disease. Potential benefits of following the Mediterranean Diet include weight loss and brain and heart health, cancer prevention and control and prevention of diabetes.
Being that it is January and a start of a new year, many people go on a diet right about now. My advice: give The Mediterranean Diet a chance. You may just find yourself in a whole new happy place. Mangia! And if you are feeling stressed out about our American government right now, just know that Italians get a new government about every year or so. In other words, government is NOT on their top priority list. Enjoying life, eating well, socializing with friends and family are more important to them. And really….sitting down to a fantastic, healthy pasta meal with a glass of chianti would make anyone smile!
Italian cheeses are made from dairy cows that do not have the Casein A mutation and therefore do not cause the allergic reactions and chronic inflammation diseases we suffer from in America. If I want to have dairy I spend the extra money for Casein A free dairy products. I now know I have always been so very susceptible to lectins. These are concentrated in the bran of wheat and other grains, beans, skins and seeds of the nightshade vegetables. Eliminating eating seeds and skins I can enjoy most every vegetable. As a child I suffered from summer rashes, spring and fall allergies all caused by lectin overload. I also was addicted to refine sugar and sweets. I believe the PlantParadox diet tweaks the benefits of the Mediterranean diet in a way that for me eliminated all my health issues dramatically and I drop weight quickly, which made my life better. I enjoy four ounces of wild caught salmon every other day, and loads of vegetables. Red wine triggers my rosacea so even though it’s on the diet I have to avoid it. Organic EVOO and avocados are my go to oil sources. I have learn certain foods that I was eating and loved are poison to me. It’s a constant learning experience to find what works best to become the healthiest I can be and 2021 will continue this journey. Sincerely, Lara
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It certainly is a learning journey. I’m finding out all sorts of things also. I can’t really have wine that has sulfites. My face gets so red! I found organic wine to be a bit better. Also, expensive liquors are better for me than the cheap ones. LOL! Go figure that! Top shelf for me only. But, alas, I don’t drink often. Maybe once or twice a year.
That’s interesting about Italian dairy cows. Wow! We hoping to get back to Italy this summer. We have to make up our minds by April otherwise we won’t be able to rent a villa in my father’s hometown by the Adriatic Sea. I just found out my cousins sold the family beach house. They desperately needed the money and I am not going to say a word. They are suffering in this pandemic. One of my cousins just lost his job in London. He was a hotel chef for 5 years and now has come back to Italy with an income. Ugh.
Thanks for the info!
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We all are suffering! You must be devastated about the beach house since you were planning to move there with your sister! I thought you both inherited a portion from your Father? Has Nick’s health improve that he can fly long distances now? Sincerely, Lara
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I wasn’t planning to go to Italy with Nick. Just my sister and I. Her husband may join her. Not sure. My cousins sold the family beach house because they are all broke. They have no money. They all lost their jobs except my one cousin’s husband. He works for a medical company. My sister and I do not want to interfere in their lives whatsoever. We have so much. They have nothing. My cousin, Laura is going to contact us again in April and we will all decide where my sister and I can stay, if we can fly at all to Italy. Who knows? This pandemic has caused a lot of lost dreams and impossibilities.
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I suggest to further your knowledge on casein A to get the kindle sample of the Summary Plant Paradox Diet. Oops-I’m bad The Italian cows have CaseinA not the mutated Casein. Guernsey cows are still predominant in Italy, Germany, and France; while because of their increase Milk production Holstein cows are predominantly in America and have the mutated Casein protein according to what I read. Sincerely, Lara
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I don’t have a pressure cooker but I just read in the summary in the second phase of the diet vegans will be happy to know enough lectins are removed cooking them in a pressure cooker. Sincerely, Lara
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I bought a pressure cooker. When it was delivered and I started reading the instructions, I promptly put it back in its box and returned it. Too difficult. I’m cooking. Not landing on the moon!! LOL.
I like my slow cooker. It’s a whole lot easier to understand and use.
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Hi Cindi, If I was writing a blog post it would be titled:
Matching great rewards to line items in my budget. Example you mentioned was using your stimulus to pay your local property tax instead of savings. I had been using my travel rewards to pay for my families hotel stay in Cape Cod because it was worth more but with Covid19 the rewards can be credited to anything at the same rewards level. So I am going to pay instead my electric bill with them. I am using a lot of stacking techniques now to enhance my rewards. As you probably know stacking is using multiple forms of discounts. I charge my utilities, cable, and property taxes on this travel card getting 2.75% back and then I will cash in the rewards monthly to get a credit on my statement that closely matches my electric bill! My other cash card rewards getting 3.5% on groceries and 5% on gas will pay most of my yearly gasoline bill. I will get a $1500 reward from Bank of America to transfer my traditional IRA. This is equivalent to my yearly food bill! This IRA transfer also gives me a .25% discount on home equity or home refinance loan if I do one. I join the CVS CarePass for $45 and each month I get a $10 gift reward and multiple other rewards and coupons. This month I paid $6.96 for fourteen items and free shipping -retail cost would have been $73. I got two bags of pistachios kernels ($6.99 retail each)in this order. And I got a $3 reward to use next time. 5% rebate by charging on Discover. I will combine this $3 and my monthly $10 to get free toilet paper and Kleenex tissues! I am getting my dishwasher soap, dish liquid, paper towels, plastic bags, low dose aspirin, hand sanitizer and soap, deodorant, vitamins, scrubbing sponges, toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, almonds and pistachios nuts, Halloween and Holiday candy with these stupendous discounts.
All shipped free with my CVS CarePass. Amazon Prime membership gives me so, so much-great deals at WholeFoods besides charging on my Prime charge gives me 5% rewards back. It’s amazing with a little planning how you can stretch your dollars. sincerely, Lara
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I love my Amazon Prime. I get so much out of it despite the free shipping: eBooks, music, photo & video storage, free magazines. I love the free books the best. We don’t have a Whole Foods here but I do look at the offers every once in a while. We just use 1 or 2 credit cards. They both give 5% back. I funnel the money back as soon as it’s available. I should total up what it is for the year. I betcha I’d be surprised. Thanks for all your great tips!
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Cindi, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your food posts! They offer a wealth of information, and are a source of inspiration for menu planning. It’s also a visual delight to see the pics.
Lara, I’d love to learn how you are able to get a $1500 reward for an IRA transfer to BOA. I seem to remember you once commenting (awhile back) on how to maximize the Bank of America Preferred Rewards relationship. Would an IRA count towards the required balance for Preferred Rewards?
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Yes, Merrill is own by BOA. I was already a first tier preferred customer. When you become a Preferred customer they use a monthly average cycle so it took longer then a month to jump to Honors because of the averaging. I currently got two offers . $900 after deposited for three months or $1500 after deposited for nine months. When I transferred to TDAMERITRADE they gave me $1000 after the funds were deposited and they had to stay there for six months plus 100 free trades. They also gave me a $1000 retention reward to stay after the six months when I was going to transfer back. Usually during Tax time there are a lot of offers from different banks and brokerages. I would check other possibilities too. Sincerely, Lara
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Yes, the transfer to Merrill counts. It is own by BOA. I was already a first tier BOA preferred customer. When you become a Preferred customer they use a monthly average cycle so it took longer then a month to jump to Preferred Honors because of the averaging. I currently got two offers . $900 after deposited for three months or $1500 after deposited for nine months. When I transferred to TDAMERITRADE they gave me $1000 after the funds were deposited and they had to stay there for six months plus 100 free trades. They also gave me a $1000 retention reward to stay after the six months when I was going to transfer back. Usually during Tax time there are a lot of offers from different banks and brokerages. I would check other possibilities too. Sincerely, Lara
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BTW- I think we both use to use ShopRite 50% off to get our vitamins . CVS has Nature Made BOGO , with CarePass get free shipping, stacked coupons. 2- $2.00 on vitamins, and $10 CarePass beats ShopRite prices. Lara
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