Do Sardinians Actually Eat A Brain Healthy Diet?
Plus, the BHK Food Guidelines checklist is here
Hello, everyone. I am writing to you from Lecce, the first leg of this week’s brain health retreat in Puglia. Lecce is nicknamed “Little Florence” because of its Baroque architecture. It’s one of those places where your neck starts to hurt from looking up. There is so much to see where the tops of the buildings meet the sky! So far I have been loving the aperitivo culture. The city falls silent from 3 to 5 pm (while everyone takes a pisolino, or short nap) then abruptly comes back to life. The piazzas and narrow streets become packed with people gathering around drinks and over-the-top charcuterie boards. The classic Pugliese combination of fava bean puree and braised chicory is always on the table. The Retreat guests are just now arriving and I am feeling good that they will be getting beans and greens every day!
For today’s newsletter, I am excited to share the BHK Food Guidelines from my book in a handy checklist format. It includes a reminder of the brain-healthy food groups, how much, and how often to eat them. You can download it to your phone to have at the grocery store or print it out and keep it in the kitchen as a guide for meal planning. I’ve also included the BHK food pyramid—brain-healthy eating at a glance based on the current research. Paying subscribers can find it at the bottom of this post.
Before coming to Lecce, I spent two weeks in Sardinia to attend Italian language school. This was not my first trip to Sardinia but it was my most food-intensive one. I was surprised to learn what Sardinians really eat and how this fits into their lifestyle that has become famous for longevity. So today I thought it would be fun to share a few insights from my time there. And I was really excited to learn that the Sarda people have their own food pyramid! More on that below.
Longevity is common in Sardinia
When you think of Sardinia, what do you picture? Sprite elders walking up steep mountain streets? Families gathered around a table slurping minestrone soup? Centenarian men socializing over coffee in the piazza? This is the story that is often told of the small villages with the longest living people in the world, most recently on the Netflix series Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones.