New Book: The Pioppi Diet

We have found a new book, The Pioppi Diet, written by Dr. Aseem Malhotra and Donal O'Neill that shares some great history and tips from a small Italian village.

Pioppi, Italy is a small village of 197 inhabitants where people "forget to die". The authors spent time exploring the lifestyle of this village where people live to be over 100 years old more often than not.

This village is the home of the original "Mediterranean diet plan" that was created by Ancel Keys after World War 2. The mayor of Pioppi told the book authors that the problem with Keys' interpretation of the Mediterranean diet was that "diet" was misinterpreted from "diaita" which means lifestyle. "Diaita" includes the landscape, sea, quality of life, culture, work, etc., not just the food that they eat.

The authors research in Pioppi found that the inhabitants have a very active lifestyle with working outside, but are also very relaxed with limited stress. This includes a daily time that the whole town takes a midday rest. Pioppi does not have supermarkets, all of their food is grown, caught, or harvested in the area, they are not eating processed foods or falling to the marketing or oversupply scams common in the United States and other larger areas.

Based on their research the authors created a diet to mimic that of Pioppi and expand upon the original Mediterranean diet plan.

The Goals:

3 meals a day, eat until you're full.
2-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil daily (at least)
1 small handful of tree nuts (walnuts/almonds/hazelnuts/macadamias) daily
5-7 servings of fibrous vegetables and fruits per day (at least)
Vegetables with at least 2 meals daily, preferably 3
Move! Walk at least 30 minutes 5 days a week, don't sit more than 45 minutes (take 2 minute movement breaks)
Get outside as much as possible
Breathe! Do a breathing exercise everyday
Socialize! Laugh and smile as much as possible
Sleep at least 7 hours each night