In case you missed it, The Lancet medical journal recently released it's findings regarding levels of obesity in Europe, and found that Malta was number one in the EU for men (second for women). A worrying 74% of Maltese men are classed as 'overweight' along with 57.8% of women.
Now I am not going to cast any stones here, as I confess to having belonged to the overweight category myself until a couple of weeks ago, but why is Malta on top of this rather unflattering list?
Since I can remember, I've been hearing people banging on about the wonders of the 'Mediterranean Diet', so surely you would expect an island plonked right in the middle of the Med to be the home of svelte athletes with sparkling eyes and clear skin. It's not, but why not?
Well for one thing, the Maltese diet does not exactly follow the Italian model (Italy has one of the lowest obesity levels in Europe). The Maltese people certainly embrace the pastas and pizzas, but less keen on the salads. When you add local favourites like the omnipresent pastizzi and Maltese breads to the mix and replace wines with beers then you begin to see why there is such a difference.
Despite all the lovely Mediterranean restaurants near where I live, McDonalds is the one place that's busy year round.
Now I am not going to cast any stones here, as I confess to having belonged to the overweight category myself until a couple of weeks ago, but why is Malta on top of this rather unflattering list?
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| ...it's not only their fault. |
Since I can remember, I've been hearing people banging on about the wonders of the 'Mediterranean Diet', so surely you would expect an island plonked right in the middle of the Med to be the home of svelte athletes with sparkling eyes and clear skin. It's not, but why not?
Well for one thing, the Maltese diet does not exactly follow the Italian model (Italy has one of the lowest obesity levels in Europe). The Maltese people certainly embrace the pastas and pizzas, but less keen on the salads. When you add local favourites like the omnipresent pastizzi and Maltese breads to the mix and replace wines with beers then you begin to see why there is such a difference.
Despite all the lovely Mediterranean restaurants near where I live, McDonalds is the one place that's busy year round.
