- BOOK · MEDITERRANEAN BALANCE
Obesità – Istruzioni per ribellarsi
Not a diet manual, but an invitation to understand the complex causes of obesity and rediscover Mediterranean balance between body, mind, and relationships, enabling people to live better and choose more freely.
Public Health · Nutrition
Obesità – Istruzioni per ribellarsi
Michele Carruba
Pietro Paganini
Pref. Letizia Moratti
Obesity is the silent pandemic of our time. It’s not just a matter of extra weight, but the loss of the balance that holds the body, mind, and relationships together. A manifesto for rebelling against false solutions and rediscovering the freedom of choice through the Mediterranean Diet.
Why Obesity Matters Today
Obesity is the silent pandemic of our time. It is not simply a matter of excess weight: it is a major gateway to non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs), among the leading causes of death worldwide. It places an enormous economic burden on healthcare systems and society, creates stigma and social discrimination, and fuels a multibillion-dollar industry of diets, treatments, and commercial interests.
Prevention and education remain largely absent, while social media is flooded with self-proclaimed nutrition gurus, miracle solutions, and an obsession with longevity. Meanwhile, the Mediterranean Diet itself, a cultural and scientific heritage, is experiencing a profound crisis.
What the Book Is About
This book examines the complex, multifactorial causes of obesity, which vary from person to person and cannot be reduced to slogans. It explains in accessible terms how obesity develops, what happens to the body and brain, and how it can be prevented.
It challenges false myths and standardized solutions, while examining the failures of public policies, from sugar taxes and simplified labels to the cultural trends of our time: health claims, forced recipe reformulations, the demonization of alcohol and fats, and the obsession with protein.
Its central message is that the real problem goes beyond excess weight: it lies in losing the balance that connects body, mind, and relationships. The book therefore proposes a new approach: rejecting imposed models and rediscovering Mediterranean balance as a path to longevity, well-being, and freedom of choice.
A Foreword by Letizia Moratti
Letizia Moratti, former Mayor of Milan, introduces the book by emphasizing that nutrition is not merely a matter of individual health, but a strategic investment in the future of our communities.
An Invitation to Balanced Rebellion
This is not a diet manual, but a manifesto for rejecting false solutions and rediscovering freedom of choice. It is a book that challenges assumptions and opens a necessary debate for citizens, institutions, and the media.
Key Themes of the Book
- Obesity is the silent pandemic of our time: a major driver of chronic disease, stigma, and enormous social costs.
- It is not only about food: its causes are multifactorial and vary from person to person.
- Sedentary lifestyles are increasing: we move less, children spend less time playing outdoors, and our cities are becoming increasingly obesogenic.
- The body and brain gain weight together: understanding the biological and psychological mechanisms involved is essential for prevention.
- Public policies have failed: sugar taxes, simplified labels, health claims, forced reformulations, and the demonization of alcohol and fats have not solved the problem.
- Today’s obsession with protein and longevity is creating new imbalances.
- Social media, saturated with miracle diets, improvised gurus, and “magic” solutions, fuels misinformation and eating disorders.
- The Mediterranean Diet, a cultural and scientific heritage, is in crisis and risks being forgotten.
- The real issue is not excess weight alone, but the loss of balance between body, mind, and relationships.
- Prevention and education are the most effective tools for addressing obesity and eating disorders, yet they remain largely absent.
- Obesity is not merely an individual condition: it reflects political choices, urban environments, commercial interests, and cultural pressures.
- This book does not offer another diet, but a balanced rebellion: the freedom to choose how to live better, longer, and with greater energy.