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All things movement, amalfi coast, Dane Mitchell, eat more move more, exercise, exercise on holiday, exercise whilst travelling, fitness, ischia, italian food, italy, nutrition, reverse dieting, rome, running, sorrento, training, travel, venice
I’m currently on a two week holiday travelling Italy and I’m having an absolutely awesome time! I’ve sailed down the beautiful canals of venice, strolled through the incredible sights of ancient Rome, visited the picturesque towns along the pastel coloured Amalfi coast and seen many more famous sights, attractions and hidden gems along the way so far.
Right now I’m on a sandy beach on the volcanic island of Ischia looking forward to relaxing in the natural springs, hiking up mount Epomeo and more bumming around on the beach over the next few days.
The food in Italy really is unbelievable and is a major reason why we decided to holiday here. Luckily Hannah is a massive foodie too so if you head over to her blog here I’m sure she’ll be writing about it.
But here’s just a few snaps to wet your taste buds (though I must warn you if you’re hungry, flick through quickly and read on!)
Seafood Pasta
Pizza
Fish
And it tastes even better than it looks!
In addition to the food, the culture and visiting such amazing places, another reason I’m having such a great time is that I’m managing to fit a bit of exercise in. Movement really is part of my happy pace so why should I miss out on something that gives me enjoyment, all those feel good endorphins and so many other benefits whilst I’m on holiday? Are holiday’s just excuses to become fat, lazy, gluttonous slobs for a week or so? I think not!
Now don’t get me wrong I have not held back on the eating front at all. I’ve had pizza, pasta, pastries and gelato’s every day (in fact on a couple of days in Venice I had 4 gelato’s a day!).
Small amounts of regular exercise and mindfully trying to be physically active during the day has not only acted to combat the crazy amount of food and drink I’ve consumed but it’s also made me hungrier and able to sample more of Italy’s culinary delights!
This brings me to my main point and my personal favourite philosophy on food, nutrition and exercise.
Move more, eat more!
Food is such a pleasure, as is movement / exercise when you’ve found the forms you most like.
“Move more, eat more” is genuinely the approach I take to eating and exercise even when I’m not on holiday. There are however some general rules I follow and mindfulness is key. It really is so simple and intuitive and it can be done!
Firstly by eating more I don’t always necessarily mean more of the bad (unhealthy) stuff. If I’m faced with two foods I really like and I’ve just done some movement then I’ll certainly eat more of the healthier option. Filling yourself with loads of nutritionally dense healthy food after lots of exercise is so much more enjoyable than traditional dieting which is normally eating a small amount of healthy stuff and nothing else.
If I’m to have something classed as pretty damn unhealthy (something really high in sugary carbohydrates fats or which is particularly salty) I will aim to have this almost immediately after exercising. There’s a fair bit of science behind this, I won’t go into it now but doing it this way basically reduces the damaging effects on your body and instead you use the food as fuel for recovery from the exercise (and will store less of it as fat!).
With this is mind I am certainly not promoting binge eating, I am just explaining this is what I do for a bit of damage control when I want to relax my nutritional choices whilst on holiday.
So back to the exercise and this awesome holiday!
We’ve done a few 30-40minute runs which has been a great way to see the amazing places we’ve visited. This in my opinion is also time better well spent than wasting time, feeling awful, nursing a hangover in your hotel room!
We’ve also done a few 20-30minute bodyweight sessions in our hotel room usually before we get ready and head out for an epic dinner. There’ll be a blog post on these workouts very soon!
We’ve also tried to be physically active during the day by doing more walking rather than taking taxi’s and buses. This again has allowed us to see more of the wonderful places we’re visiting whilst helping to build up an appetite and saving us money that we can spend on more of that incredible Italian food!
Anyway, I won’t rabbit on any longer folks I’m getting abit warm, I think I need another gelato! I just wanted to share this message:
Sensibly and mindfully, move more and eat more. Enjoy life’s pleasures in a healthy way!!
Ciao,
Dane