Mediterranean Lifestyle for Dummies

Amy Riolo ’95

Riolo is a chef and food historian who has appeared widely on TV and radio and has authored several cookbooks promoting healthy eating, including The Ultimate Mediterranean Diet Cookbook and The Italian Diabetes Cookbook: Delicious and Healthful Dishes from Venice to Sicily and Beyond. Here, she authors an entry in the “For Dummies” series that explains how the region’s traditional lifestyle—comprising time-tested habits for diet, exercise, and outlook—can help people be healthier, live longer, sleep better, lower their stress levels, and more. There are sections devoted not only to recipes and pantry tips but to napping, engaging with nature, socializing, cultivating a beneficial mindset, and more. “This book was created to reveal the often unspoken tenets of the Mediterranean lifestyle and the histories and philosophies of the cultures that created it, in order for you to benefit most from the Mediterranean diet,” Riolo writes. “A simple eating plan, without true meaning and cultural context, can only go so far in terms of helping you to achieve your goals.”