Fresh ingredients. Meals made from scratch. Enough food for the whole family.
All seasoned with the most important ingredient: A healthy dose of love. Lately, it seems like everyone’s been talking about the Mediterranean diet: The science-backed meal plan that draws upon the cuisines of Crete, Southern Spain and Southern Italy. But Italian grandmothers – or “nonnas” – have been practicing healthy eating habits for much longer.
What valuable lessons can we learn from their wisdom? Keep reading to find out. Use Fresh Seasonal Ingredients In a perfect world, you’d be able to wander out your back door in the sunny Italian countryside to pick tomatoes and herbs from your garden. But until that dream becomes a reality, visiting your local farmers’ market is probably the next best thing.
According to the University of Maryland Medical System, eating seasonally isn’t just delicious, it’s also good for your health. As they explain, “Fruits and vegetables that are allowed to ripen naturally and are consumed shortly after harvesting contain higher levels of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, which protect against cancer and other serious diseases, than produce that has traveled long distances and has to sit on grocery store shelves for long periods of time.” If you’ve got a bounty of fresh local produce on your hands – like a bushel of juicy, just-ripe tomatoes – consider preparing them using simple recipes that will allow their natural flavors to shine.
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