The food that is good for us has been good for us for thousands of years. Mostly, it is simple and unfussy. So, to that end, the bella figura way is not a diet. It’s more about what we put into our bodies than what we don’t. We detox our cupboards instead of ourselves, eliminating anything that doesn’t bear any resemblance to its origins, anything with unrecognizable additives and microwavable packaging and a sell-by date that exceeds our own expected lifetime. Those chemically reconstructed hydrogenated fats (trans fats) that are added to food to preserve their shelf life cannot be broken down by the body, entering the bloodstream, where they clog arteries and damage blood-vessel linings, leading not just to weight gain but also to cardiovascular diseases.
The thing about whole foods—food that acknowledges that it was once a potato or a fresh chicken—is that they won’t do us any harm when eaten in balance and with variety. It’s all very well popping supplements alongside ready-prepared meals, but nature intended us to eat the whole fish—the mackerel, the salmon, the sardine—not just an extract of its oil. Living the bella figura means we don’t bastardize our foodstuffs and that we eat harmonious and well-balanced meals. Variety—and portion control—is key.
Of course, not many of us live in a shed in the middle of a market garden. We want to eat strawberries out of season and there is often time for only one weekly shop in our busy lives. But if we aim for the ideal, then we can deviate from it when necessary. And to deviate is normal. Above all, we must let go of the toxic notion of perfection and cherish the human we have been given to steer through this life—ourselves—and not bully, berate, and belittle her if she fails sometimes.
The proliferation of farmers’ markets makes fresh natural eating easier, but the humble greengrocer will do just as well. For many of us, though, it is impossible to fit this ideal into our daily lives, and it’s okay to order a supermarket delivery online—just shop intelligently, and be sure to go for fresh and natural foods as much as possible.
* * *
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Twice a year, for two months at a time, I walk back into the building from which I walked out clutching my severance check a decade ago. These days I take the stairs, but my ascent is no longer about avoiding the fashionistas in the elevator; instead, it’s about keeping my body moving. For those months, I am back at my editor’s desk, a cog in the wheel of magazine creativity—and I could not love it more. I have learned to appreciate what I am good at, and I don’t sweat the rest. On my way to work, I get out a few stops early and walk through the park, waving to the giraffes, who bat their pretty eyelashes at me. I take my own olive oil, coffee, and lunch when I can. I make sure to decant my food onto a plate, drizzle with the fine olive oil I keep in the cupboard, and set a place, even if it is in front of the computer.
But I leave my desk every day for a wander, for at least half an hour, a stroll, some gentle exercise, and time away from the blinking screen. I get up as often as possible: sitting for prolonged periods of time is thought to lead to early death, not to mention making fat cells in the bottom more liable to expand. So I get up every fifteen minutes or so and move about for two minutes. My frequent walks over to colleagues’ desks to ask something rather than emailing them help prevent diabetes and heart disease.
The bella figura habit of smiling sincerely—at a colleague across the room or a stranger walking down the street—provides precious instants of connection, momentary interactions that release endorphins. And that in turn helps banish cortisol and encourages stored belly fat to melt away—that and the extra-virgin olive oil, which fights dangerous stomach fat, as evidenced by the wealth of research, such as the PERIMED study, which showed extra-virgin olive oil reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and insulin sensitivity. Scientists at Reina Sofia University Hospital in Córdoba, Spain, found that in just four weeks of replacing other fats with extra-virgin olive oil, both visceral and deep belly fat were reduced; both The British Journal of Medicine and the American Diabetes Association have published studies confirming this. It comes as no surprise to me that the Bloomberg Global Health Index recently put Italy at the top of its list of the world’s healthiest countries.
* * *
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I have learned to embrace the world around me. When I am in Florence, most Sunday mornings you can find me sitting in the choir pew of the English church, fanning away the plumes of incense smoke that scratch my throat. I sing under the frescoes next to plaques in honor of the Keppels and their daughter Violet Trefusis, a reminder that countless Brits have been seduced by Florence’s beauty and the Italian lifestyle. As well as the joy of singing and ritual, I cherish my time with the other choristers, and the space early on Sunday mornings between rehearsal and the service when we all go for a coffee together.
They form one of the many communities I am a part of, and, like a Venn diagram, these different groups all have one thing in common: they provide connection and relationship, one of the most important elements of the bella figura lifestyle.
Considering the difference between the Italian way of life—with its squares thronging with all the generations and the nightly passeggiata—and our own northern European/American tendency to live as solo a life as possible, it is perhaps no surprise that Italy’s suicide rate is far lower than our own (according to research published by the WHO in 2015, 5.4 out of 100,000 people committed suicide per year in Italy, whereas the rate in the United States was 12.6 out of 100,000), and that in the UK in 2016, 64.7 million antidepressant prescriptions were given out—double that of a decade ago. Unsurprisingly, loneliness adversely affects the immune and cardiovascular systems and has been proven to be worse for one’s health than smoking. To be healthy we need to see our friends and family, visit our grannies, call up our aunts and cousins. And a phone call is better than a text message—a radical claim these days when communication by emoji is ubiquitous, but hearing a loved one’s voice can be just as comforting if it is not possible to see them in person. So let’s go back to doing things together, even if it’s just a stroll in the park or a visit to the greengrocer. It may just save our lives.
Today, whether we’re in Tuscany or London, Bernardo and I shop at the market (and even the supermarket) together, we cook simple multiple-course meals, and, when we come to London for an extended period, we bring over five-liter cans of green extra-virgin olive oil, much as the Italian immigrants used to when they returned from visiting Italy. My family has expanded once more to include children, dogs, even Bernardo’s ex-wives. Most of all, we take care of each other. At my father’s funeral, Bernardo bore his coffin on his shoulders; months later I held carefully the still-warm ashes of his mother in my hands as we drove her for the final time back to her castle from the crematorium. How we have navigated these years owes much to the bella figura: the trials and tribulations of being a stepmother, settling into life in the Tuscan countryside, and the struggle to span both our countries, families, dreams, and goals have been infinitely helped by what I learned in Florence that first year. Most of all, how to be kind to myself, how to treat my own human with the same love and care reserved for a beloved friend, even when rebellious teens and jealous exes did not. But then, that is a whole other story.
HOW TO BRING THE BELLA FIGURA HOME
· Drink a spoonful of excellent-quality extra-virgin olive oil four times a day.
· Get your coffee to stay! Make sure it is of excellent quality and forget the to-go cup.
· Eat the best-quality whole fruits, vegetables, meats, and cheeses that you can find.
· Find bread that is made from unadulterated wheat. Many people with gluten allergies find they have no such problems with bread in Italy.
· The food that you eat should give you pleasure while eating it.
· Wherever you are, pause for meals, lay a proper place, and turn off all screens.
· Eliminate all ready-meals and anything with unrecognizable additives. Read labels, get informed.
· Seek out
your community; don’t be fooled by the remote connection offered by social media.
· Seize any opportunity to get moving—be it taking the stairs, doing the coffee run at work, or vacuuming with gusto.
· Find a form of exercise that you love. Bring it into your daily routine. Go to the gym only if it makes your heart actually sing.
· Better still, join a dance class: learning a new skill burns new pathways in your brain and releases those feel-good hormones. It will give you a community and a new passion, and will have music pumping through your body (instead of cortisol), and dancing close will give you some of those ten embraces a day that scientists say release oxytocin and make you feel loving and compassionate.
· Stay hydrated, but do not carry one of those toxic little plastic bottles of water around and do not drink on the go. Go into a café and spend a few minutes drinking water from a glass. Keep a jug of water on your desk.
· Drink alcohol in moderation—a small glass of wine with dinner is your guide. A report suggests it is women with expensive homes and six-figure salaries who drink more than any other social group: up to two-thirds will drink more than the healthy limit. The bella figura demands we break this unhealthy relationship with alcohol. Remember that drinking to excess will pile on weight and stress out your skin as well as all the internal damage it is doing.
· Walk with style. Good posture is all-important. Walk tall, as if offering your heart up to the sky.
· Look up more, and smile much more. Looking down at our smartphones is leading to early aging—slackening our jawlines prematurely, sagging our faces, giving us jowls way before they are due.
· Seek out nature, be it a city park, a tree on your street, or some wild place.
· Slow down! Climbing stairs deliberately instead of running up them two at a time has been proven to lose you an extra pound a month.
· Love yourself. Remember the Italian woman—the Bella Figura—occupies her space, emotionally and physically, with God-given entitlement. Nurture and protect your human—she’s the only one you have and has been entrusted to your care.
· Be graceful. Mind your manners, be courteous, and respect your elders.
· Seek connection. Return calls, reply to texts and emails, be reliable.
· Be happy—you always have the choice.
Acknowledgments
If all ideas begin with a spark, then this one ignited on a dark winter night in London in a magazine office where I was working late. And the spark came not to me but to a colleague whose face lit up as she envisaged not just the book and the story but the title itself. So my first thanks must go to the brilliant Farrah Storr, who, in that moment of inspiration, introduced me to Bella Figura, my new book.
The idea was developed through conversations and research with Clare Naylor, who gave up chunks of her summer vacation to help shape the proposal. This book would not exist without her, and Bella will always belong just as much to Clare as to me.
The nascent idea was nurtured by my agent, Judith Murray, in London, who tirelessly read various drafts, and by Grainne Fox, my agent in New York City, whose kick-ass enthusiasm has lifted Bella out of many a slump; my thanks and appreciation go to them both.
Alexandra Pringle, my editor at Bloomsbury, embodies all the grace and beauty of the true Bella Figura, and her wise words have carried me along the years and through the low points. I can hardly find the words to express my love and gratitude. In the United States, my editor, Lexy Bloom, has been an unfailing supporter and has helped guide the story with her astute comments and vision. Big thanks also to Faiza Khan of Bloomsbury, whose inspiringly bold edits drove the book through the final stages.
All writers should be so lucky to have such incredible women on-side.
Thanks, as always, go to my family: my late father, my mother, and my sister—my base and foundation in everything I do. Also to Kicca Tommasi, who was my first reader, and Grayson Splane, who introduced me to the cookbooks of Artusi. Of course I am beyond indebted to Christobel Kent, who sent me to Florence and thus changed my life, and to my Florentine family, who made arriving in their city just like coming home.
Thanks to my amore, Bernardo Conti, whose love enriches my life, and who has patiently borne all the different versions of “writing retreat” he has had to live with. Grazie amore for the chaos and the kids and the dogs and the puppies and also for bringing me such delicious meals on a tray when I couldn’t tear myself away.
The biggest thanks must go to Florence herself, this luminous love of my life who continues to uplift me with her golden light and extraordinary beauty, and the many flavors of her gelato.
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kamin Mohammadi was born in Iran in 1969 and exiled to the UK in 1979. She is a journalist, writer, and broadcaster who has written for The Times, the Financial Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, and the Guardian, and has appeared as a commentator on various BBC, Channel Four, and American radio stations. Her first book, The Cypress Tree, was published in 2011. Mohammadi currently lives in Italy.
kamin.co.uk
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