By Pattie Mihalik

Every time I travel to Italy I find myself wondering how the women there could possibly be so thin.Many of us here in America treat pasta as a forbidden folly. The thinking is if you eat pasta you'll get fat.Yet, so many of us afraid to eat pasta in America are carrying around excess fat, while in Italy, where pasta is an everyday staple, that's not the case.My trip this time was to southern Italy, away from many of the most-popular tourist destinations. Best yet, because we weren't part of a tour group and used local guides, they took us off the beaten path to places locals favored.That gave me a chance to talk to Italians about their lifestyles and to observe more closely how they differ from us. When I looked around at guys of all ages, I noticed they, too were thin. Many older guys seemed to have the small waistlines of teenagers. When I watched groups of school children walking by, I didn't see overweight kids.Yet, it was puzzling to see how they eat in their homes and in restaurants. A pasta entry was part of every meal, followed by a main course of meat and side dishes. And all that was consumed at what I regard as late at night.Away from the tourist sites, Italian restaurants close at 3 in the afternoon and don't reopen for dinner until 7 or 7:30. My guidebook warned that if we wanted to get there when they first opened at 7 p.m., we would be eating alone. Sure enough, at 7:30 we were among the first ones there and restaurants didn't get crowded until almost 9.By the time we ate our pasta entry, we had no room for any more food.I had some of my questions answered when we signed up for a cooking class that included a day at the market. Our host told us most Italians start their day at the market, picking fresh vegetables and fish for that day's menu.Most Italian families have fish every single day, he said. And when meat is included in a recipe, there is very little of it compared to American standards.I always have claimed I eat a Mediterranean diet. I'm sure you've seen studies that claim a Mediterranean diet leads to better health. Last week's study on countries with healthy eating ranked Italy at the top.In the past, I would read that and feel good, thinking that's the meal plan I follow. But I discovered that's not true. Yes, I eat a lot of salad and vegetables and use a good grade olive oil every day. But my version of eating fish is trying to include it in my menu once a week, not every day.In the cooking class we learned when it comes to fish and meat, Italians slice it into very thin slivers, much smaller than our portion size.I also learned Italians don't eat butter. In restaurants of every size, bread is always served but never butter. You can't get it even if you ask for it.That was a good lesson for me.So, too, was what we saw when we shopped in local grocery stores. There was no snack section. No potato chips, no nacho chips. We only saw snacks in the service stations designed for travelers. It was a silent lesson for me, telling me I had to clean up my act when it comes to eating.It was surprising to see mostly men in the morning markets, especially the fish markets. In fact, throughout our travels we kept noticing groups of men hanging out in the village squares, just talking or watching the world go by. But there were no groups of women doing the same thing. We kept asking where in the world are all the women? The women are home preparing homemade pasta and the day's food, we were told. One guide did say the younger women aren't buying into that scenario. But the only groups of women we saw were tourists, not Italian women hanging out together.One lesson I had reinforced is the American concept of "space" is not found in other countries. In Italy, I kept commenting on the small homes and apartments and the lack of closets and storage space. Kitchen storage space in the homes we saw was so minimal it was always nonexistent.Italians don't need much storage space because they don't accumulate stuff, I learned.A trip to Tuscany a decade ago forever altered my lifestyle. I noticed homes there had no knickknacks and few decorations. Homes weren't filled with "stuff" but what was there was beautiful.I've kept the resolution I made then not to fill my home with excess stuff.Now, after this trip, my new resolution is never to say I need more space in my house. Instead, I need to clear out the space I have. I don't need more kitchen cabinets. I just need to make better use of the ones I have.I don't need more storage space, either, if I stop accumulating stuff to store. Well, that's my new lifestyle goal.I left Italy behind, but some of what I saw there will continue to resonate in what I hope will be meaningful lifestyle changes.Contact Pattie Mihalik at

newsgirl@comcast.net.