“Let food by thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
-- Hippocrates

Want to know the secret behind how Italians stay so thin and happy?

It’s a secret I uncovered during my trip to Italy, where I’m writing this week’s blog.

Sitting in the Umbrian countryside, having just enjoyed a home-cooked meal prepared by Simonetta, a local chef, the answer is clear to me.

Family, friends, and fresh, whole food are all part of the pleasure of being alive.  And these pleasures help keep you healthy and thin.

It’s that simple!

The food I’ve eaten in Italy is real food, meant to savored, not just used as fuel.

Tonight’s meal was served on a long wooden table, set with beautiful ceramic plates painted with sunflowers. 

Simonetta made light chicken meatballs with a fresh tomato sauce, accompanied by an fresh arugula and radicchio salad, and a side salad of vine-ripened, freshly picked garden tomatoes, fresh basil, roasted peppers, and grilled eggplant, drizzled with fresh extra-virgin olive oil made from the olive trees surrounding the old stone farmhouse. 

You could be eating sawdust -- and not even know it!

Sound crazy?

Let me explain.

On a recent plane ride to a medical conference, I started a conversation with the man sitting next to me to pass the time.  I told him that I was a physician working in the area of nutrition.

He exclaimed that the new low-carb craze was a boon for business.  I assumed he was in the food business -- but I was wrong. 

When I asked him what he did for a living, he replied that he worked in the wood pulp industry.

So what’s the connection between wood pulp and low carbs?

As it turns out, cellulose -- an indigestible fiber starch -- is one of the main ingredients in processed low-carb foods.

And what’s another name for cellulose?

Sawdust!