RANT: Study Abroad

Next month I’m headed to Italy for a Wellness Retreat. (By the way, contact me if you are interested in participating in or creating your own Wellness Retreat wellandbalanced@gmail.com)

While in college, I spent my junior Fall semester “studying” abroad in Florence, Italy.  “Study Abroad” was really code for excessive travel, red wine appreciation and the ingestion of copious amounts of gelato, olive oil and pasta.

My parents actually made a bet on how humongous I would be when I returned home.  They were shocked that I was the thinnest I had ever been.  It was bizarre. I didn’t belong to a gym, I literally ate pizza, pasta and gelato EVERY DAY and I was tiny.

I wasn’t even trying to lose weight. I was having a blast with my girlfriends and traveling and meeting new people and having totally new and foreign experiences!  I never got tired or stopped laughing.

So what I’m saying is, to look and feel you best, you need to temporarily move to Italy and should eat gelato, pasta and olive oil daily!

Kidding.  But it is interesting that my diet was so contrary to what we now believe is effective for weight management.

It was carbohydrate laden, low protein, and low vegetable.

But it was real.

The olive oil that drenched our pasta servings (which, BTW, were 1/2 of American portion sizes) was made that week, just a few kilometers away.  The gelato, pizza and pasta were all made onsite and had no artificial dyes or flavorings.

We walked everywhere.  Any time I wanted to eat, I had to walk to get it.

So maybe we should all seek out new experiences, revel in camaraderie, eat real food and smaller portions and be constantly active.  I bet we’ll all end up happier, healthier people.

You don’t have to move to do it!