— The Sicilian Secret Diet Plan
About Us
Our motto is: “Be well deliciously”
Drs Sandra Cammarata and Giovanni Campanile have been leaders in the slow food and slow medicine movement for over twenty years. They are passionate about integrating food and lifestyle changes in their medical practices to help their patients achieve optimal wellness and longevity.
They have written The Secret Sicilian Diet Plan in order to introduce the pleasure and wonderful health benefits of the Sicilian version of the Mediterranean Diet to a wider audience. They believe that taste is the first rule of good nutrition.
The Mediterranean Diet has been widely recognized for its health promoting benefits and has been inscribed into the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity ten years ago.
Dr Giovanni Campanile and Dr Sandra Cammarata have researched the Sicilian version of the Mediterranean Diet because it has been proven to have particular health benefits and to be uniquely delicious. They have studied and interviewed nonagenarians (people that have reached 90 years of age), centenarians (people who have reached 100 years of age) and supercentenarians (people who have reached 110+ years of age) and have shared the wisdom of these people in the Secret Sicilia Diet Plan book. Their mission is to help readers achieve improved healthspan and longevity by living a sustainable and enjoyable lifestyle.
Meet Dr. Sandra
Sandra Cammarata, M.D. was born in Milan, in northern Italy, but grew up in Catania, Sicily. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Catania Medical school and moved with her husband, Giovanni Campanile, to the United States where she specialized in General Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Tufts
University.
Selected 2 years in a row 2020 & 2021 as one of Castle Connolly’s “Exceptional Women in Medicine,” Sandra has been practicing Psychiatry in private practice in New Jersey and has been awarded the Castle Connolly best New Jersey Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist award for multiple years. She successfully integrates nutrition and healthy eating in the treatment of her patients. In 2013 she opened a gourmet ancient grain fresh pasta restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, using her family’s traditional Sicilian recipes. Her home is warmly open to friends and family in appreciation of the Sicilian diet.
Meet Dr. Giovanni
Dr Campanile is a Clinical And Functional Cardiologist and the Founding Director of The Chambers Center for Well Being in Morristown, NJ.
He is a Harvard trained Cardiologist – Lahey Clinic Foundation, Massachusetts General Hospital, New England Deaconess Hospital. He is former director of the Dean Ornish Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation Program and is former Director of Integrative Nutrition And Integrative Cardiology at the Chambers Center For Well Being At Morristown Medical Center / Atlantic Health System. He is quintuple board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology, The American Board Of Integrative And Holistic Medicine, And American Academy Of Anti- Aging And Regenerative Medicine.
Dr Campanile is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and has been an instructor for Cardiology Fellows at Lenox Hill Hospital in NYC and Columbia University Mount Sinai, Miami.
Dr Campanile was a Researcher at the World-renowned Framingham Heart Study and is currently investigating Integrative Modalities with The National Institute of Health, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Duke University and Yale University. He is Co-editor and wrote the Chapters on Sports Cardiology and Lifestyle Medicine for the first textbook on Iatrogenicity in Cardiovascular Medicine.
Dr Campanile was a Cardiologist for Former President of The United States, George H.W. Bush.
He is a former contributing editor and Medical Writer for Shape and Men’s Fitness Magazines.
Dr. Campanile has been practicing clinical, preventive, and functional Cardiology for over 15 years and has been a member of an advisory board at Bastyr University. He has been an instructor of Nutrition, Herbology and Integrative Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, and is a certified Aromatherapist. Dr Campanile has been named “Top Doctor” in Cardiology by New Jersey monthly Magazine for Multiple Years.
Dr Campanile’s Approach to Medicine is to choose the best and safest modality for each individual patient both from the modern traditional medical sciences and from the naturopathic integrative world. His goal is to avoid unnecessary testing and treatments by placing the patient at the center of the care and decision-making. He believes each patient’s story is unique and he considers all of the factors in their individual environment and lifestyle that may be influencing their well being. Nutrition and Lifestyle factors are the cornerstones of his practice.
—THE SICILIAN SECRET DIET
Introduction of Book
THIS IS NOT A DIET BOOK. It is a guide to a lifestyle inspired by the wisdom of our ancestors and the flavor of their food. We are going to take you to a journey to Sicily, walk through her history, experience her passion and taste the simple and nutritious recipes created by her rich volcanic soil, her burning sun and her deep, clear sea waters. We will be sharing with you the scientific data that support the evidence of that wisdom. Sicily, “umbilicus mundi”, (belly button of the world) has been forever the protagonist of the history of humanity and a fierce protectionist of recipes that have been transmitted orally and in writing for many generations and over thousands of years. My wife Sandra and I are physicians who believe that good nutrition is fundamental to improve the health span and the life span of our patients. Our daughter is a nutritionist, our son is a permaculture farmer and his wife is a physician who also treats her patients with nutrition and lifestyle change. Sicily is the home of many Centenaries and Supercentenarians. Centenarians are people that live to be over 100 years old and supercentenarians are those that live beyond 110 years of age. It is our deepest conviction, after caring for many patients and having studied the lifestyle and diets of Sicilian centenaries, that there is a way of eating and living that promotes health that is truly a better and more enjoyable way of experiencing life.
—DEDICATED TO
“THE TWO MARIAS”
FROM GIOVANNI
To my mother, Maria Barbaro-Campanile who has carried and protected her home recipes through her voyage across the Atlantic. It is my mother who has taught me to be proud of the hard work that it takes to protect traditions. She defended her fresh sauces against the quick meals readily available in her adopted country. It is her love that has given me and my four siblings the same respect for the traditions that she worked so hard to preserve.
FROM SANDRA
To my mother Maria Bonetta-Cammarata who has best expressed her love for her family and friends through the love and respect of the Sicilian cuisine. It is to my mother that I owe all that I know about food. She has taught me how to respect the seasonality of the ingredients, how to understand the timing of cooking to bring out the right flavor, how to trust my eyes, my smell and my taste and most of all she has taught me to be proud of what I serve in my kitchen because food is the best expression of pure love.
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