How I Ate My Way Through Italy

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm pretty specific on what I will and won't eat. When I said that I was going to Italy, I had many remarks on how I wouldn't be able to eat healthy... of course, I was very open to the challenge! 

Dinner on the river in Rome, Italy

Yes, Italy is full of pasta, bread, pizza and let's not forget gelato.. but I have no problem not eating those things. Italy's culture also has 3-4 hour lunches and dinners full of antipasti, first courses, second courses, dessert, espresso, and of course WINE & Grappa (basically Moonshine made from grapes, or Kirsch if it's made from cherries, which is more of a German thing)! Coming back home, I had never been so happy to make my own meals!

Family dinner in Stresa, Italy

While I did find whole grain pasta on a menu on my last day in Rome, I mostly rotated between grilled chicken, grilled steak and grilled fish (seabass, trout, swordfish, and salmon) with vegetables for lunch and dinner. Antipasti was grilled zucchini and eggplant. I also had wheat bread if it was available in the bread basket, and if I had dessert, I would have fresh fruit (in season was nectarines and cherries). One glass of wine was indulged in, as well as espresso after dinner! I was a bit surprised when grilled fish would come out like this...

My first thought was.. What do I do with this!?!

On the first Thursday that we were there, we had our "family reunion" in Veglio, where my dad bought the house that his grandfather grew up in.. it is 900 years young (which really is young when you're talking Italian structures!). It was a feast! I had salad with vinegar, the meat sauce that went on polenta (that I didn't eat), lamb, chicken, red wine, grappa and espresso! I also had fruit for dessert.

The family reunion "feast" in a church in Veglio

Anyone who knows me also know that I don't do anything with milk in it.. that includes cheese, some breads, some protein bars, etc. There are a few reasons for this.. 1. It bothers me, even as a baby I was on soy formula. 2. When my dad was body building, he met with Franco Columbo, Arnold Schwarzenegger's work out buddy, as well as Mr. Olympia in 1976 and 1981, who gave him some insight on the fact that the human body cannot naturally breakdown the proteins in milk, which causes it to leave a layer of fat directly under the skin. 3. I'm not really that crazy about it anyway! More on that later! So, since I needed some milk with my espresso and coffee in the morning, my dad and I hiked our way to supermarkets in Stresa, Venice AND Rome just to get "Soya Milk"... meaning that there are lactose intolerant Italians out there!

Desperate times calls for desperate measures

Aside from the food and wine, my Italy trip was full of planes, trains and automobiles! I also had a day in Milan where I saw some beautiful Arabian horses at two of the Boscarino Studs. The culture is not like anything I have ever seen before, and the history and architecture in Rome doesn't even look real! Definitely something that I will never ever forget...

Ciao!