Interesting, but I feel not the whole story. We live in a small aldea in Lugo province. When we first came here 17 years ago all our neighbours worked the land. They lived lives of self sufficiency that involved physical hard work. They had a diet low in meat and fish, high in potatoes, bread and vegetables, yes, but they also had to put in the physical exercise to get it. Their children and grandchildren have had to leave to find work and have little interest in this hard frugal life and as our neighbours die their land is being used for tree plantations or pasture by large meat producers. The houses in the aldea are becoming full of weekenders from Lugo or Madrid. I feel it is a combination of diet, exercise and forced frugality that gives that generation its longevity
An additional factor that I don’t think is explored enough is that past generations had many days each year when they were obliged to fast for religious reasons
Upon moving to Spain (from France but I've lived in the UK and US too), I was struck by how unhealthy Spanish eating schedules are. A cup of coffee upon waking up followed mid-morning by breakfast out, usually consisting of jamón, eggs, bread but no fruit or vegetable matter. Lunch between 2 and 4pm, although probably more representative of the Mediterranean diet and, in the old days at least, accompanied by wine and inevitably followed by a siesta.
After school, kids get a snack, la merienda, which in my (limited) experience consists exclusively of ultra processed food. How many adults continue with this snacking habit, especially with their evening vermu?
Finally dinner is eaten absurdly late (10pm) with little time to digest it before going to bed. True, dinner in Spain tends to be a light affair consisting of.... jamón, cheese and occasionally some vegetable matter.
To my mind the Spanish eating times are screwy which forces people to snack in between and often outside the home with low access to non UPFs. There's not enough time to digest the principle meals before lying down (siesta or bedtime). It's no wonder that their life expectancy is falling especially as fewer people are connected with the soil and producing their own food.
Personally, I think Italian eating habits are both healthier in what they eat and WHEN they eat. And there's more room for a wider variety of fruits and veg in the Italian diet.
And now, after around 15 years or more of serious questioning and studying diet and nutrition and food production in Catalunya and Spain, I am confused.
Madrid is nowhere near the Mediterranean. Although it would very much like to think it is.
Similarly, Galicia is nowhere near the Mediterranean. It's an Atlantic coastal region.
It's called geography. So, why mention Madrid and Galicia in the same sentence when discussing the Mediterranean diet?
Sorry to point out the obvious.
Spain's Mediterranean coast reaches from the area around Portbou to the area around La Linea.
The ambit of the Mediterranean diet, in terms of food production and distribution exists within a range of around 80kms of the coast. Madrid is around 400kms from the Mediterranean coast.
Brendan, scientifically speaking, those centenarians are not proof of anything
In themselves. If you took a random group of people with access to homegrown produce and a matched sample of people without that access and established that more of the first group reached their hundredth birthdays, that would be evidence. I don’t at all disagree with the idea that their diet almost certainly contributes to their longevity (though you would need to take account of other lifestyle factors too, such as the years of hard physical work mentioned by another commenter, and genetics too) but it’s important not to overinterpret what the existence of these individuals and the fact that they have had homegrown produce tells us on its own. Nb the change in the size and shape of the average Spanish adult I have noticed since the 1980s is quite dramatic. The change in the prevalence of child obesity is even more dramatic. (Just as it has been in the UK.)
And finally, (sorry about all my writing) I find it a bit funny in a sad way that American health specialists keep talking about how superior Europe is because of the Mediterranean diet when in reality, it is slowly dying and soon will be a myth.
I also wanted to mention that I have a theory regarding obesity in children here in Spain, a phenomenon that did not exist years ago. As you know, many kids here in Spain are babysat by their grandparents. I think it is they who, in many cases, give the children sweet treats. Maybe out of ignorance (older folks who lived in the difficult post-Franco years see fat children as something good and think eating junk food means that you have money) or ignorance (they give snacks to kids to manage them better. Whatever the reason, at lunchtime I see plenty of older folks pushing strollers on their way home from school and in those strollers I very often see a child snacking on candy or potato chips or walking alongside with a small carton of fruit juice and a bag of salty snacks
Yes. I think you're correct in your assessment of over-indulgent grandparents being drivers of obesity in youngsters. However, I think, I believe, I hope, it's changing. Day to day I see more granparents giving their grandkids fruit and healthier snacks. Today's grandparents are a lot more conscious.
The three most signicant drivers of obesity — across all ages — and in all countries are:
I was born here in Spain and at 21 years of age I emigrated to the US, where I lived for more than 20 years. Back in Spain, I am seeing the same shocking obesity that I noticed when I moved to the US, and for the same reasons… basically, eating a lot of ultra processed junk. Here in Cadiz, where I now live, a recent newspaper article mentioned that about 60% of the locals are overweight. I walk around all the time and I see a lot of very young people who are a lot heavier than they should. I have also noticed that many events have become occasions for consuming food, such as Holy Week, when I see people watching the procesiones with bags of potato chips and other snacks in hand. Even going to the beach, I see people under their umbrellas snacking the day away. The society in which we now live encourages gluttony, and as you point out, there is an issue about social class here too; it is people with more modest means who are heavier. If we continue like this, eventually obesity will be more spread out as it has happened in the US. Unlike the US, however, Spain still has state government health care…
Interesting, but I feel not the whole story. We live in a small aldea in Lugo province. When we first came here 17 years ago all our neighbours worked the land. They lived lives of self sufficiency that involved physical hard work. They had a diet low in meat and fish, high in potatoes, bread and vegetables, yes, but they also had to put in the physical exercise to get it. Their children and grandchildren have had to leave to find work and have little interest in this hard frugal life and as our neighbours die their land is being used for tree plantations or pasture by large meat producers. The houses in the aldea are becoming full of weekenders from Lugo or Madrid. I feel it is a combination of diet, exercise and forced frugality that gives that generation its longevity
Yes - this was mainly a diet-focused piece. I took a deep dive into longevity in a past piece here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/brendyboyle/p/inside-spains-first-blue-zone-netflix?r=1ob4oe&utm_medium=ios
Thanks for that, lots of interesting facts.
A big thanks to you for taking the time to read 🙏🏻
An additional factor that I don’t think is explored enough is that past generations had many days each year when they were obliged to fast for religious reasons
An interesting and thought provoking article.
Upon moving to Spain (from France but I've lived in the UK and US too), I was struck by how unhealthy Spanish eating schedules are. A cup of coffee upon waking up followed mid-morning by breakfast out, usually consisting of jamón, eggs, bread but no fruit or vegetable matter. Lunch between 2 and 4pm, although probably more representative of the Mediterranean diet and, in the old days at least, accompanied by wine and inevitably followed by a siesta.
After school, kids get a snack, la merienda, which in my (limited) experience consists exclusively of ultra processed food. How many adults continue with this snacking habit, especially with their evening vermu?
Finally dinner is eaten absurdly late (10pm) with little time to digest it before going to bed. True, dinner in Spain tends to be a light affair consisting of.... jamón, cheese and occasionally some vegetable matter.
To my mind the Spanish eating times are screwy which forces people to snack in between and often outside the home with low access to non UPFs. There's not enough time to digest the principle meals before lying down (siesta or bedtime). It's no wonder that their life expectancy is falling especially as fewer people are connected with the soil and producing their own food.
Personally, I think Italian eating habits are both healthier in what they eat and WHEN they eat. And there's more room for a wider variety of fruits and veg in the Italian diet.
And now, after around 15 years or more of serious questioning and studying diet and nutrition and food production in Catalunya and Spain, I am confused.
Madrid is nowhere near the Mediterranean. Although it would very much like to think it is.
Similarly, Galicia is nowhere near the Mediterranean. It's an Atlantic coastal region.
It's called geography. So, why mention Madrid and Galicia in the same sentence when discussing the Mediterranean diet?
Sorry to point out the obvious.
Spain's Mediterranean coast reaches from the area around Portbou to the area around La Linea.
The ambit of the Mediterranean diet, in terms of food production and distribution exists within a range of around 80kms of the coast. Madrid is around 400kms from the Mediterranean coast.
Please no!
Brendan, scientifically speaking, those centenarians are not proof of anything
In themselves. If you took a random group of people with access to homegrown produce and a matched sample of people without that access and established that more of the first group reached their hundredth birthdays, that would be evidence. I don’t at all disagree with the idea that their diet almost certainly contributes to their longevity (though you would need to take account of other lifestyle factors too, such as the years of hard physical work mentioned by another commenter, and genetics too) but it’s important not to overinterpret what the existence of these individuals and the fact that they have had homegrown produce tells us on its own. Nb the change in the size and shape of the average Spanish adult I have noticed since the 1980s is quite dramatic. The change in the prevalence of child obesity is even more dramatic. (Just as it has been in the UK.)
And finally, (sorry about all my writing) I find it a bit funny in a sad way that American health specialists keep talking about how superior Europe is because of the Mediterranean diet when in reality, it is slowly dying and soon will be a myth.
I also wanted to mention that I have a theory regarding obesity in children here in Spain, a phenomenon that did not exist years ago. As you know, many kids here in Spain are babysat by their grandparents. I think it is they who, in many cases, give the children sweet treats. Maybe out of ignorance (older folks who lived in the difficult post-Franco years see fat children as something good and think eating junk food means that you have money) or ignorance (they give snacks to kids to manage them better. Whatever the reason, at lunchtime I see plenty of older folks pushing strollers on their way home from school and in those strollers I very often see a child snacking on candy or potato chips or walking alongside with a small carton of fruit juice and a bag of salty snacks
Yes. I think you're correct in your assessment of over-indulgent grandparents being drivers of obesity in youngsters. However, I think, I believe, I hope, it's changing. Day to day I see more granparents giving their grandkids fruit and healthier snacks. Today's grandparents are a lot more conscious.
The three most signicant drivers of obesity — across all ages — and in all countries are:
a) the relative price and availability of sugar
b) added sugars in processed foods
b) the common availabilty of refrigeration.
I was born here in Spain and at 21 years of age I emigrated to the US, where I lived for more than 20 years. Back in Spain, I am seeing the same shocking obesity that I noticed when I moved to the US, and for the same reasons… basically, eating a lot of ultra processed junk. Here in Cadiz, where I now live, a recent newspaper article mentioned that about 60% of the locals are overweight. I walk around all the time and I see a lot of very young people who are a lot heavier than they should. I have also noticed that many events have become occasions for consuming food, such as Holy Week, when I see people watching the procesiones with bags of potato chips and other snacks in hand. Even going to the beach, I see people under their umbrellas snacking the day away. The society in which we now live encourages gluttony, and as you point out, there is an issue about social class here too; it is people with more modest means who are heavier. If we continue like this, eventually obesity will be more spread out as it has happened in the US. Unlike the US, however, Spain still has state government health care…