I took a vacation to enjoy Mediterranean cuisine and culture!
Every once in a long while, my husband and I take a fancy vacation during Spring Break. He’s a college professor and since I work for myself, we can make it happen. A few weeks ago, we had the amazing good fortune to visit northwest Spain and north Portugal. In Spain, we stayed in a lovely and very historical city called Salamanca. In Portugal, we spent a long weekend in beautiful Porto.
The Foods of Spain and Portugal are Mediterranean Cuisines
You may already realize that Mediterranean style nutrition is my thing and so I was in my happy place in Spain and Portugal – especially at meal time. I’m convinced that a Mediterranean cuisine is everyone’s path to delicious flavors and better health. It takes focus and commitment to shift an American kitchen into more of a Mediterranean one and yes it is totally possible. To help local clients and friends learn about and embrace Mediterranean foods and the lifestyle, I offer a variety of blogs here at my website, a monthly newsletter, and a little nudge:)
5 Nutrition Lessons I Learned in Spain and Portugal
While soaking in the sights, smells, sounds, and flavors of the trip, I was learning about good nutrition by being immersed in it.
Here are 5 lessons that I learned:
- Make your meal a social event, not just a time to eat. By adding a social aspect, eating and drinking goes more slowly, you appreciate your meal more, your body digests food better, and you eat more moderately.
- Eat your biggest meal for lunch, then eat lighter for dinner. Lunchtime is a chance to rest a bit, rejuvenate your strength, and get ready for the afternoon. A fully balanced meal with delicious flavors helps you achieve this. When you eat more for lunch, your appetite is less for dinner so eating lightly works best for dining enjoyment and a good night’s sleep.
- Eat all kinds of fish. Being adventurous with fish opens the door to new and creative meals as well as good fats and lean protein. When you shop at a local fish market you trust, it’s fun to buy something different than your usual fish. Grill it, pan saute it, or bake it with lemon and herbs for great flavors and health.
- Keep it simple with your salad dressing. Only 2 ingredients – extra virgin olive oil and vinegar – are needed to add a fresh zip to salads. Buy a high quality oil for good fats that protect the health of your brain and heart, and guard against general inflammation in your body.
- Have fruit for dessert every day. It really is a perfect finish to your meals. Cut or slice up one or 2 fruits and enjoy a colorful plate of sweet nutrition.
Making the Lessons of Spain and Portugal a Reality
A vacation is a short-term kind of thing. Taking the lessons learned on vacation and putting them in place at home is where the benefits are. For example, after visiting Spain and Portugal I’m thinking hard about slowing down meals on a daily basis and coming up with some lighter dinner meal plans. I’m heading out to the fish market soon to see what interesting fish are in the fresh case. I’m making a super simple, 2-ingredient salad dressing from now on and fruit for dessert will be my new normal. What can you shift around to improve your nutrition? For practical ideas, Like my facebook page. For a handy kitchen resource, grab my free Mediterranean style menus booklet.
Which of the 5 lessons above speaks to you and how will you incorporate it into your lifestyle?