Many years ago, I visited Spain and noticed that the majority of people were in great shape. At the time I was aghast by my host family’s eating schedule - No one really ate breakfast. Maybe an espresso once in awhile. A big carb and protein loaded main meal was served no earlier than 2 pm. I was starved by that time! Around 8 pm they would have a small snack such as a few bites of baguette and sausage.
I resisted this eating schedule and continued snacking throughout the whole day, including the big main meal, and I gained weight as a result.
After maintaining a 20-30 lb weight loss for the past 2 years through daily 16:8 and occasional omad, I have an inkling that the Spanish style of eating might just be for me after-all I suppose. I think this story is also a good example of how a lot of what we think about what “normal eating” looks like is actually cultural conditioning.
SW 163 CW 125 F/29
Bro Spain have so many differences between regions, I can tell you that I love to have a big breakfast to start the day, if you just wanna eat healthy search Mediterranean food style and you are good to go
I also noted the same when I visited Paris. Breakfast at a French cafe was usually an espresso, lunch could range from a single macaron and coffee to a ham omelette with side salad, and dinner would be some type of chicken or lamb.
However, the Parisians usually had a cigarette at breakfast and lunch…
i had a similar experience in spain. This is an example day of what I saw all around me (I was in Bilbao, north spain, for three months).
9 am breakfast:an orange and a coffee
2:30pm lunch:eat everything you see lol plus a glass of wine. lots of seafood.
siesta
9pm dinner: tapas and another glass of wine
This is how i’d sum up eating there. When people do the mediterranean diet, they usually eat the right food, but don’t fast like they do.
Observed same in Italy. Though for breakfast it was mostly coffee it was many times accompanied with a little brioche or something else sweet (jams, crackers).
But definitely there was never the thought of a big dumb American breakfast of piles of bacon and eggs, with potatoes and toast too. They also don’t eat cereal with milk the way we do.
There’s something to be said for it. Yeah, you hardly see any obese people at all in Italy. Much more balanced way of eating.
And of course collectively they look at fast food as an abomination, which it is. Most of the food I’ve found to be as locally sourced as possible. Which is the way to live.
America’s been decimated by factory farming and corporate monopolization of everything we not only eat, but see, hear and buy too. Corporate Dystopia here, or Inverted Totalitarianism.
I’ve always tended toward a light or no breakfast (to me the most boring or limited choice meal anyway).
Lately after the holidays I’ve taken to having some breakfast for a month or so. But since doing at least 16/8 for a year now it doesn’t feel good (though doesn’t seem to have effected my weight).
Need a good long fast really soon…
Used to live there! But don’t forget they have way better food standards than us in the US too. But I agree with you I loved the way of eating! If I liked sea food I would honestly do a Mediterranean diet