Half of Italians follow a diet or watch what they eat but few rely on a specialist. “51% stick to a diet or controlled eating regime, but only in 19% of cases was a professional prescribing them”, is the photograph that emerges from the survey by the UniSalute Health Observatory, which together with Nomisma has questioned a sample of 1,200 people about their relationship with food.
“The first news is that more and more Italians declare that they follow a diet or a controlled nutritional regime: if in the survey carried out in 2021 they were less than a third (29%), today they are as many as 51% – highlights the report – However, this percentage is only made up of 19% of those who have relied on a specialist, such as a dietician or a nutritionist, despite 60% of those interviewed declaring themselves interested in being followed by a nutrition professional. Many instead opt for ‘do-it-yourself’ or on the advice of friends and relatives (22%), while in the rest of the cases a specific type of diet was suggested by the general practitioner (6%) or by a personal trainers (4%)”.
But why follow a diet? “The most often cited motivation is feeling good about oneself (46%), together with wanting to keep fit and take care of one’s physical appearance (46%). In the background, but still important, there are issues related to health : from those who want to solve a problem of overweight or obesity (29%), to those who try to prevent diseases and other disorders (25%), or even those who have had to change their diet after finding abnormal values in blood tests (22%)”, highlights the report.
“In any case, whether on a diet or not, almost one in two Italians (46%) say they have eaten in a healthier and more balanced way in the last year, and 55% consider good eating habits a fundamental aspect of their health The Mediterranean diet – we read in the report – is very widespread, with 45% indicating it as the eating style most similar to their own. This is followed, at a certain distance, by low-calorie diets (13%), based on personalized diets to their specific needs (12%) and high-protein diets (9%). However, 5% of those interviewed describe themselves as vegan or vegetarian”.
“Despite the increasingly frenetic pace of life, seven out of ten Italians (70%) reveal that they eat home-cooked food at all or almost all of their meals. Around one in three (32%) also consumes ready-to-eat or reheated foods at least 2 or 3 times a week, while only 16% declare that they use takeaway or delivery services at least 2 or 3 times a week”, concludes the note.
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