It’s all about eating fasta, not just pasta

People have long wondered — and envied — how the French manage to remain slim even though their cuisine is replete with rich sauces, cheeses, cream chocolate, butter and, of course, their generous fix of carbohydrate via that daily baguette.

This age-old French paradox does not seem to have diminished even in this era of excess and the secret, some say, lies in their penchant for well-cooked food, that too eaten very slowly and mindfully.

This generally leads to their eating less as well. It appears, therefore, that the big fat culprit is as much fast eating as fast food. So, a clue as to why, according to a recent report, Italian children — especially boys — are becoming obese even though they are brought up on the fabled ‘healthy’ Mediterranean diet that weight-watchers swear by, may lie in how they eat as well as how much.


The report blames it on the pasta that forms the base of much of Italian cuisine, which should probably be read as a clear warning to all those in the rest of the world who love it too.

But considering the French remain as slim as their baguettes despite their carb fix, there should be no reason for Italians to morph from skinny spaghettinis into stuffed raviolis just because of their pasta passion. It could well be that eating pasta too fasta is what is making them so vasta. Down slowly to slim down, bambini.