As an Italian-American, my fondest memories are coming home from school to my mom’s house making a huge pot of homemade spaghetti and garlic bread, or eating takeout pizza with family on Friday evening.
But as much as I love pasta and slices, they don’t really love me. As I get older, they leave me more and more stuffed and tired for hours after a meal.
Like many Americans, I had heard stories of people traveling to Europe and being able to eat anything without suffering from bloating like they would at home.
So you can imagine my excitement as I prepared for my honeymoon to Italy last month, the mecca for carb lovers like me.
I decided that the trip would be the perfect time to test for myself if anything really different was happening, physiologically, when I ate my favorite foods there versus at home.
I wore a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), a device inserted under the skin that monitors the amount of sugar in your blood.
Significant spikes and dips are often responsible for the fatigue, dehydration, and other negative symptoms people experience after excessive consumption.
I recorded my results a week before my trip and then during the first week of my honeymoon and the results were honestly surprising.
Like many Americans, I was told that in Italy, pasta and pizza would make me less bloated and tired than in the United States. I took advantage of my honeymoon in Italy to put this theory to the test
On the left is a typical bowl of pasta that I make at home in New York. On the right, one of the best pastas I ate during my trip to Italy. Despite its decadence, my blood sugar never rose
I used a device called Stelo which is injected into the arm with a small needle and stays there for weeks.
It measures the amount of glucose in interstitial fluid, a body fluid that surrounds cells and tissues.
According to the company, normal blood sugar for a non-diabetic person is between 70 and 140 mg/dl (milligrams per deciliter of blood).
Every time my levels peaked or passed that threshold, I would get a notification on my phone and a prompt would appear asking me to explain what I was doing and eating at that time.
During the first half of the experiment, I constantly noticed post-dinner spikes, especially if pasta or rice was part of the meal — which was common.
White, brown, and yellow rice constantly found their way into my dinnertime dishes because they are versatile and require relatively little effort or time.
But 30 minutes after eating, Stelo warned me that my blood sugar would drop from 80 mg/dl to around 130 in just a few minutes, gradually climbing above normal.
The same went for pasta, which I tried to pair with vegetables and light sauces to make it healthier.
Maybe it was the food, or maybe it was the happiness of no longer having to plan a wedding, but my blood sugar never spiked after lunch or dinner during my first week in Rome.
Whether it was a bowl of carbonara at a sit-down restaurant, a trapizzino – a pocket-sized Italian pizza – or an ice cream from a street vendor, my levels remained stable.
And the bloating and fatigue I usually experience at home never sets in.
Even after my fair share of pizza and ice cream in Rome (left) and Florence (right), I didn’t experience any blood sugar spikes. However, getting up to 15,000 steps a day could have helped me reduce my levels.
My blood sugar consistently rose after eating food in the United States (shown left), but it never rose after lunch or dinner in Italy (shown right)
Even the five-course meal we prepared in a cooking class, which included three separate pasta dishes, didn’t cause any high glucose alerts.
Experts say the ultra-processed nature of American foods compared to European products could play a role.
Many pasta brands in the United States use thickeners, colors, and additives like emulsifiers that extend their shelf life, linked to bloating, laziness, and diabetes.
Italian pasta, on the other hand, is usually prepared only with wheat semolina flour and water, leaving out preservatives.
And science suggests that the lack of processed foods could have real benefits.
A 2022 study published in The Journal of Nutrition, for example, found that less processed pasta tends to be digested more slowly, slowing the rate at which glucose enters the bloodstream.
Italians also follow the tradition of cooking pasta “al dente,” which means “to the teeth.” This means it has a firmer texture that requires more effort to chew, slowing down digestion.
Amie Alexander, a dietitian at Nutri Peak in Australia, told DailyMail.com that portion sizes also tend to be smaller, with Italians eating several small dishes at a time. Pasta is generally the first course (primo), followed by meat or fish (secondi) and dessert.
She said: “Meals are also combined with other nutrient-dense foods, such as vegetables, which can further blunt glycemic responses.”
Pizza also has some important differences, Dr Daniel Atkinson, clinical lead at Treated.com, told DailyMail.com.
He said: Often prepared Neapolitan style, with a thin crust and minimal toppings beyond fresh tomato sauce and mozzarella.
“The dough used is generally free of fat and sugar. So overall, eating pizza in Italy might add fewer calories to your daily intake than you think.
“Most pizza causes some sort of spike in blood sugar, but the thinner crust of Italian pizza means it will more than likely have a lower overall glycemic index than American versions.”
But in the United States, many restaurants use sugar in their dough and sauces to enhance flavor.
“This added sugar in American pizza could, in theory, partly explain why blood sugar spikes could be more severe than those seen in Italy,” added Dr. Atkinson.
Experts also told me that increasing my steps could play a role: I averaged 15,000 steps a day and was on my feet all the time, compared to about 5,000 to 7,000 on a typical day in the States. -United.
Walking after a meal has been consistently shown to help food digest faster and ease the movement of gases through the digestive system, preventing bloating.
A 2022 study even found that a two-minute walk after eating helps lower blood sugar levels because muscles absorb excess glucose from the blood.
Ms Alexander told DailyMail.com: “Physical activity such as walking after meals increases the efficiency of muscles in absorbing glucose, thereby reducing blood sugar levels.
“Walking is an integral part of daily life in many European cities, which can have a huge impact on digestion and metabolic health.”
The above is a blood sugar spike notification I received after breakfast one morning in Italy. I would constantly have spikes around this time, which could be because I’m eating more food than usual.
Alcohol has also been shown to raise blood sugar levels, as sugary drinks can contain carbohydrates. However, these spritzes in Venice left me feeling refreshed
I wasn’t entirely safe from blood sugar spikes in Italy – I got them after breakfast.
Normally, I’m not a big fan of breakfast. I’m usually late and only have time for a few hard-boiled eggs or a toasted waffle.
But in Rome, Florence and Venice, I made sure to enjoy the continental breakfasts, which usually included pastries, yogurt, eggs, green vegetables and cappuccino.
It’s possible I had spikes around this time because my body isn’t used to eating breakfast and I was choosing high sugar options.
At the end of my trip to Italy, my average blood sugar was 101 mg/dL and I spent 96% of the time in the target range.
Also in the US I spent 95% within the target range, but that doesn’t tell the whole story as I experienced much more regular blood sugar spikes.
Doctors call postprandial hyperglycemia after meals. Over time, if you consume it regularly, it can cause problems with your kidneys, nerves, eyes and heart.
I’m amazed at how energetic and healthy I felt even while enjoying my favorite dishes in Italy, and I’ll definitely be checking ingredient lists more often in the United States.
I think I’ll also incorporate an after-dinner walk whenever we eat Italian food at home (before we open the wine and curl up on the couch for the night!)
