“After spending five-and-a-half weeks in Nice, France, last summer, Maddy Renne dropped three dress sizes, going from an eight to a two. She stopped getting acne. She simply felt healthier.
"My clothes were just falling off," said the 23-year-old from Sarasota, Fla. "I wasn't bloated, I didn't have brain fog, I wasn't constantly fatigued."
Renne wasn't on a special diet during her travels. In fact, she was treating herself daily to gelato and centering carbs at every meal.
She's since become an evangelist for eating the European way, documenting her diet of primarily pasta, cookies, bread and full-fat milk and butter, on trips to France and Italy for her 223,000 followers on Instagram.
She's tried to replicate the experience in Sarasota, by importing Italian pastas and flours and procuring French butter from specialty stores.
For decades, research has extolled the benefits of a Mediterranean diet low in sugar, rich in fresh fruits and vegetables and doused in olive oil. But some Americans are convinced that in Europe, they can eat whatever they want, feel great and maybe even lose weight. "The craziest thing is that I don't think I ate a vegetable the entire time, which is why the transformation was so shocking," Renne said. "While in the States, I avoid gluten and refined sugar, only eating protein and vegetables with very limited carbs." She walks about the same amount in Florida (on the beach and on her walking pad) as she does abroad. "It doesn't matter how many steps I take, it doesn't replicate how I feel in Europe."
Bailey Kreinbrink, 28, a content creator in Atlanta, said she lost 50 pounds in a year while eating bread, pasta and pizza in Italy. She also eliminated her joint pain, chronic fatigue and digestive issues, she said. Her weight loss and health improvement started while in Modena, Italy, for six weeks in the summer of 2023.
"On the last week, I ran a 5K and felt incredible, with no shortness of breath or pain," she said. "For the first time, I was able to do something my body hadn't physically been capable of doing in five years." Before she left, she filled multiple bags with pesto, pasta, Parmigiano reggiano cheese, balsamic vinegar and salt, and made it last back home before she returned to Italy, this time in Florence, in February 2024. She now splits time between the two countries, but her lifestyle (including how much she walks) stays about the same, she said.
Kreinbrink turned her experience into a wellness retreat business where people travel to Tuscany with her to harvest olives for olive oil, make wine and craft cheese on the farm, alongside local farmers. She also sells freshly milled ancient grain flour and other traditionally produced Italian foods through her company, Healthy Journey Through Food.
Christy Levo, a custom cowboy hat and gift designer in Abilene, Texas, signed up for Kreinbrink's "A Taste of Wellness in Tuscany" retreat next May to address the bloating and fatigue she's experienced for several years. "I want to be able to have pastas and foods that I love that aren't going to make me need to take a nap," she said of her reasoning for being open to paying about $4,000 for the retreat.
Experts say there are differences between how the European Union and the U.S. regulate food. The EU takes more of a precautionary approach, with certain chemicals used in pesticides banned because they might increase the risk of cancer or persistent pollution, said Cynthia Curl, professor and director of the Center for Excellence in Environmental Health & Safety at Boise State University. The U.S., though, allows certain chemicals as long as they are used at levels that haven't been proven to cause harm, Curl said. According to the FDA, it takes action if the agency finds "that the level of a contaminant causes the food to be unsafe."
Curl points out that different countries in Europe grow and process food differently. There isn't one type of European food, and despite the difference in regulatory approach here and there, food in Europe is also not definitively healthier than in the U.S.
Erika Armetta, a registered dietitian at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said that there are a few factors (including more intuitive and slower eating and fewer processed foods) that may be playing into claims that people feel better in Europe.
"I don't necessarily think it's the pesticides or any specific one ingredient that's making them feel better," she says. "I think it's more of the overall lifestyle. There's more of a work-life balance where they can cook more and they're not necessarily always on the go and buying processed food."
She counsels patients to focus on a well-rounded diet versus individual ingredients that may be in American food versus European food.
Tatum Nzekwesi, 28, who lived in Leiden in the Netherlands for about a year, said during that time she had less acne and brain fog, and noticed better digestion. "I felt less gassy," she said.
After she moved back to the U.S. to New Orleans, she gained 15 pounds within two months, she said. So she started incorporating the way she ate in Leiden in the U.S., such as eating less fast food, smaller quantities and changing her grocery shopping habits, like buying whole rather than pre-chopped broccoli. "That is such a small example of how it's a slower life and you have time to cut up your broccoli [in Europe]," she said. "Everything was slower which made how I ate more intentional. If I was going to be spending more time cooking, it was almost a guarantee it was going to be a healthier meal."
Elizabeth Borges, 36, a bakery owner in McKinleyville, Calif., also believes the European lifestyle -- which includes a lot of walking and is less stressful, she said -- plays a role in how she feels while there.
On a recent five-day trip to Terceira, Portugal, in March, she said she felt less bloated and like her clothes fit better, even though she wasn't restricting her eating at all. "I could eat pasta, I could eat fried foods, I could have gluten," she said. She only had to take Tums once -- after eating airport food.” [1]
1. Trans-Atlantic Diet Gains a Following --- Some Americans believe European food is better for health, waistlines; stuffing suitcases with pesto, pasta, other provisions. Carlson, Caitlin. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 11 Aug 2026: A11.
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