"Italy Unpacked: Health Lessons & Travel Highlights You’ll Love"

We really visited the cinque terre in Northern Italy and need to put our own health protocol in place whilst traveling. Pick up travel tips for you and hear all about our highlights of Italy in this episode.

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Transcript

 Yes. Welcome to the Holistic Health Sisters podcast of Wellness and Real Life Sisters Hannah Carr and Sarah King from the Holistic Health Collective. In this podcast, we're going to be sharing our passion for, of course, holistic health, but also spirituality, healings, hormone, plant medicine, seasonal living, our love of nature, and our love of community.

So we are gonna invite you to take a pause and take a nice deep breath.

And join us on a path of healing, of self-discovery and self-love, and of stepping into the brilliance of who you really are. This is a podcast for the seekers out there. Those of you who know there's more to life than just surviving or going through the motions, and you want more, more health, wealth, happiness, love, compassion, connection, trust, surrender, and more faith, and you want that for others too.

So we can make this world a better place for us all to go and grab a cup of ceremonial grade cacao and join us as we explore what moves through us, that which is divinely led, so we can all move from fear to walls, more faith. Thank you so much for being here with us today. 

 Hi, gorgeous. Welcome to today's solo episode with Mehan Car. I am fresh back from a trip to Italy with Sarah and other members of my family, and we had such a great time. I thought that I would record an episode for you about. Italy, some of the trials and tribulations, what came up with my health what can help you when you are traveling with your health.

We went to a place called the Chin Guera in Northern Italy. And the way that we got there is about an hour and a half from Pisa. So in the past we have flown to Pisa and driven down to Chin Quadera, and this time we caught the train.

And we was there because it's Sarah's spiritual home and she keeps going back again and again. She got married there a couple of years ago in a love ceremony with her beloved, and this time she has gone traveling this summer for a whole month. The chin and parts of France as well. And I just didn't wanna miss out on it.

So she invited the whole family and I invited my own home family and said, who wants to go? And they went, eh, we're not bothered. We went there two years ago and I said I'm bothered and I'm definitely coming. So I just booked a little week's holiday for myself, hopped on an easy jet out there, and a Ryan error on the way back and caught the train this time, as I mentioned.

And we had an absolute brilliant week. So I'm fresh back now, and at the time of recording this. It is absolutely stifling, dripping hot in the uk. Probably even nearly as hot as Italy actually. And it's gonna be for the next few days. And I'm gonna tell you what Italy has inspired me to do later today at the end of this episode.

So keep tuned. So when we arrived in Italy, it actually took us a little bit longer to get to the chin data. Than we expected. We caught a train, but we was traveling on a Sunday. So I think that's one of the things to consider, which I hadn't considered before we left, which is maybe the trains on a Sunday aren't quite as good as other days, and so it took us a lot longer to get there.

It wasn't too much of a problem, but what it meant was when we arrived about 10 o'clock at night is we hadn't eaten for hours and hours and hours, like all day kind of thing. We had meeting for. And usually if it gets to the nighttime and I'm hungry, I will just go to bed hungry.

It's much better for my digestion and my sleep if I don't eat before bed. But I suppose in a way, we were excited to eat some Italian food, but we were really hungry as well. It was like, yeah, I don't think I'm gonna be able to sleep tonight. So we actually was hoping to grab some kind of takeaway maybe street food, but because it was a Sunday at 10 o'clock, they were all closed.

But there was a restaurant that we could sit down in. And what it meant was I over ate. So I had some delicious pasta when I arrived and I shared a dessert with one of my family members and we had a glass of wine. I think it was one of the best glass of wine we had on holiday actually. We had a lovely glass of red and really enjoyed ourselves, but I did know it was quite dangerous for, that feeling when you eat too much before you go to bed.

I'm sure you've had it. And then when you're laying in bed, your timing kind of feels bloated and you're uncomfortable and it's hard to sleep. And this actually had knock on effect for the rest of the holiday. So as I ate over the next few days, my digestion kept feeling really weak, so I didn't have to eat a lot, and I felt really bloated.

So I think I got to about day two and I thought I really need to do something about this now. So I need to make a little plan. And what I usually do when I talk to members in our membership, the holistic health circle, or my clients often would just say, let's try and put three things in place, and there's so many things you can do for week digestion.

And I thought, what's three things I can do easily here whilst I'm on holiday? First of all, I know that any kind of vinegar, but especially apple cider vinegar is really good for digestion and gastric juices. And so I thought I'll pop to the shop and I'll see if they've got any. So I went to the local supermarket and they had some apple cider vinegar.

And apple cider vinegar is mildly acidic, so it can help to increase stomach acidity in people with low stomach acid. So this is what I was feeling like I had low stomach acid and. Stomach acid is really crucial for you to digest proteins, to activate digestive enzymes and actually for even killing harmful bacteria as well.

So I popped to the shop, I managed to get the apple cider vinegar, and I went home with it. It's important not to take it neat, so I diluted it with some water and I just took the apple cider vinegar and I decided to, as much as I could, take that 20 minutes before.

Meals. So if you were traveling and you could only remember to do it once a day in the morning for example, that would be helpful on its own. What I'd done a couple of times was I had a water bottle and so I filled that water bottle with a little bit of apple cider vinegar, topped it out with water, and I kept that with me, which meant if I was out and about before I ate.

I was able to take a little bit of this apple cider vinegar. So let's just talk more about apple cider vinegar, or a vinegar in general, actually, but this is why it stimulates digestive enzymes, so it actually helps to stimulate your saliva. And your enzyme secretion. So it helps to kickstart that digestive process early, especially when you consume it before a meal.

Li listen, if you forgot to take it before you went out and you were in a restaurant and they actually had some vinegar, you could just add it to a glass of water and drink it right before your meal, it would still be helpful. It actually enhances bile and enzyme flow as well. This helps with breaking down fats and carbohydrates.

If you do get the apple cider vinegar, the one from the mother is the one with the bits floating in it. It actually contains prebiotics as well. So these prebiotics are beneficial for bacteria, enzymes, proteins, and they can help with the balance of your gut. Apple cider AEG before meals can help reduce bloating in some people.

So if you've got sluggish digestion, it can help to move food through the stomach more quickly, which will reduce bloating. And typically you take about an one tablespoon in a glass of water, ideally about 20 minutes before a meal. You don't want to drink it straight because it can. Damage your teeth and actually tissues in your body as well.

So that was the first thing that I decided was possible for me to do in Italy. The next thing that I decided to do.

Was to stop drinking any liquids with my meals. So generally, you may have heard Sarah and I share this advice a lot actually. Generally I don't drink with my meals, but picture this, I'm in Italy, it's 30 degrees I. I'm boiling. I'm like sweating hot. And you go to the restaurant and they ask, what drinks would you like?

Okay, so generally I was ordering a sparkling water to cool down to feel more hydrated, but it did mean that I was drinking directly before or with my meal. Now the problem with this is it starts to weaken your digestive juices that are building up. So even just your saliva in your mouth, it starts to dilute it.

So this is Ayurvedic advice actually, and what they recommend is that you don't drink large amounts of water with meals because it weakens your digestion. They actually call it Agni, which is digestive fire. And when you drink water, but especially cold water is believed that this actually douses the fire.

So it's like it puts the fire out or dilutes the fire, making digestion more sluggish and less efficient and it can weaken ago. Acne which can lead to am, I think that's how they say it in Aveda, but what it means is undigested food toxins can happen and that is thought to be the root of many diseases.

So drinking water with your meals or any liquids actually dilute. So I mentioned this a moment ago, the digestive enzymes and the juices. So it dilutes stomach acids and enzymes. And this leads to bloating. It can lead to gas, it can lead to indigestion or incomplete digestion as well. So if you were having a meal that was extremely dry, it is okay to take small sips of water.

And what they recommend is that the water is either room temperature or actually warm. And that can prevent obviously like dryness and difficulty in swallowing, your food. But it's large gulps of excessive water, especially cold water, are discouraged and actually large gulps of. Air as well.

Cold drinks are actually thought to constrict the digestive channels. Just think about it, when you immerse yourself in cold water. You contract. Okay? So that's what can actually happen internally as well. And it's a little bit of a shock to the system. And what the body has to do is start to work harder.

So your body's always trying to maintain the consistent internal temperature. So if you are popping really cold drinks into your body, is your body's having to work hard to actually warm that up. So 20 minutes is ideal before your meal or even 30 minutes. Before your meal so you're hydrated before you go into your meal.

And actually, I'd recommend not eating really dehydrating foods too much anyway. If your mouse really dry, let's think, breadsticks, crackers, that kind of thing, maybe that isn't the best kind of food for you in your digestion anyway. Typically full of gluten. Very drying for the body can lead to dehydration.

So if you're feeling really thirsty, when you are eating, maybe just have a look at what you are eating. Could you include some salads in there or some fruits which are more hydrating for the body.

So the third thing that I decided to do, which was probably the easiest, was, I'm gonna say not to overeat, but actually go a step further than that. Only eat until I'm about 80% full. This is really popular in traditional Chinese medicine and broader Chinese culture. Eating until you're 80% full actually protects your spleen and your stomach.

So it is your spleen in your stomach, essential organs, indigestion, and actually nutrient transformation as well. So if you overeat, it's believed to burden the spleen and the stomach and that can lead to food stagnation. It also leads to bloating, which always definitely experiencing and fatigue. You know that feeling when you've eaten too much and after a meal you feel really tired.

Eventually, over a longer period of time, it can lead to dampness in the body or phlegm accumulation. And again, this is the root cause of many diseases based on traditional Chinese medicine. So eating until you're about 80% full, allows a digestive system to function without the strain.

What they also believe in TCM. Is your digestion uses energy. They call it qi. Okay. Or vital energy. So when you overeat, the body must redirect your chi, so your energy to your digestion, and it leaves less for other functions, which is sometimes why we feel very, foggy when we're. Full, or our immunity may even be lowered without us knowing and movement can feel more difficult as well.

We're slower, right? We haven't got as much energy. And over time this weakens your overall vitality. So as much as like you're loving the food, if you can just eat until you're about 80% full, this will really help you. Actually, there's quite a few studies that show it promotes longer term longevity as well.

So this principle is seen in the Blue zones. If you watch the program on that, it's really good. But in places like Japan it's linked to lower rates of chronic disease and longer life expectancy. And when you eat more likely. It actually reduces your oxidative stress as well. It reduces your inflammation, it reduces your insulin spikes, and all of that is associated with aging and disease.

So this is really a simple thing that you can do even when you're traveling, but every single day. We might know it more as mindful eating. So if you eat till you're about 80% full, what is encouraging is awareness of your hunger and form cues. So this is gonna support your weight longer term and and it actually aligns with values as well, like moderation, restraint, harmony with nature.

So after you've stopped eating, your digestion actually continues. So if you leave some space in the stomach, this allows energy to move freely and helps with effective nutrient absorption as well., On one of the last days, we had a really beautiful pizza and everyone. Went for ice cream afterwards and I was like, do you know what?

I already feel like I'm 80% full and if I have the ice cream, it's really gonna tip me over and I don't want those uncomfortable feelings now. So what I tended to do was I really wanted to try the Duetto in Italy. I love it. So I would have it maybe in the daytime instead when not after a meal. It is better.

You've probably heard the studies that if you're having anything with sugar in, it's better after a meal, but you really need to balance that, don't you? With actually how you're feeling, how your digestion is, how your over overall vitality is. And for me, on that holiday, having a desire after a dinner was not suiting me.

For me to feel my best and my highest.

So there's three things that I was sticking to after I was uncomfortable on holiday and it made the biggest difference. So I'll just repeat those. The first one is I was trying to take the apple cider vinegar with some water before the meals when I could. The second one was I wasn't drinking liquids with my meals.

I'd wait about, I'd say a minimum of 20 minutes after your meal, before you actually drink any liquids, but even up to an hour could be beneficial. And then the last one was I was stopping before I was full, and definitely stopping before I was over full. So I hope these tips can help you either every day or when you are traveling.

Another tip that I'd give you for traveling is if you're going anywhere, especially anywhere where you know that you could get an upset tummy. So maybe further a afield, perhaps India, perhaps Thailand. Or even if you're traveling somewhere, like my son's had a really upset tummy in Greece before. , I'd recommend actually. Taken for probably two weeks before you travel, or you could even do a month some probiotics. In the past, I've traveled with probiotics as well, so if you've taken antibiotics recently, had any sickness, diarrhea if you are suffering with bloating or any digestive problems, it could be good to take your probiotics before you go and when you travel as well.

If you need recommendations on any of these kind of products, I'm talking about. We make recommendations inside a monthly membership, the holistic health circle, where sometimes someone might need a capsule, sometimes someone might need a liquid, they might need a tablet for some reason, they might be taking probiotics for a specific reason.

Maybe they've got an imbalance in the vagina, or UTIs. Or they may have skin problems, they may have eczema and they may need a particular probiotic recommended. Then we do all of that inside the circle in our weekly question and answer session every single Friday. So I wanted to move on to a little bit talking about exercise on holiday because I was so inspired by Sarah and

and her husband, Jonathan, who are really dedicated to exercise in a way that I haven't really experienced because first of all, it's a love for them. They find it really good for their mental health. They love having fit bodies that allow them to do challenging things in life.

I. And so Sarah loves the Chin qui Terra because there are many hiking trails. And I went on my first hike with them. I was really excited to hike. 'cause the last time I went for their wedding, we only stayed for three days. One of those days was the wedding, obviously one was the day before. I think the day that we left, it was absolutely pouring down anyway, there wasn't an opportunity to hike.

I had my family with me and my kids. So this time I was excited to hike. And so I hiked one of the trails with them, which was. Really challenging actually. So it was extremely hot. We went in the evening, but it was still extremely hot. It was about sunset times. We had some beautiful views and lovely colors.

, Before I went to Peru, I'd done quite a lot of training. With walking. So I walk every single day with my dog, but I wouldn't say I'm a huge walker. I'm not doing hikes and big hills and that kind of thing. So before I went to Peru, I made sure I got my fitness training in for walking in Peru.

And I hadn't done that for Italy. And on the walk I was thinking I could manage it, but I was thinking it really would've been a lot easier if I'd got some training in before I came. I really enjoyed it. It felt very freeing. It makes you feel very capable. Very strong and worn out at the same time. Of course, there are many steps.

So many steps, and what I've really found is where I've been working on my mindset for the past 10 years, that really helped me with this hike because I caught a few thoughts of oh, I wonder how long this is gonna be, or how much further, or how many steps? And as soon as I caught those. Thoughts I just said to myself, just keep going.

One step in front of another. It doesn't matter how long it is, how far we've got to go, just keep going one step in front of another. You can always do that, and I really found that taking things in my own time because they're extremely fast and if I was even trying to keep up with them,

I would burn out a lot quicker. I might injure myself. I might trip up, I might not actually get to the end. So I had to be okay with being the slowest one in the group, needing to take pauses, needing to take breathers because I'm not used to that. I'm not used to hiking. I'm not used to hiking in the heat.

I'm not used to these really long hikes with lots and lots of. Stairs. And what I needed to do was move out of self-judgment about that and just move into the present moment of being. And I would say that I really enjoyed the trail. , So for me personally, if I was to do a big trail like that, then I'd need a day or two's rest in my mind.

But the next day they're on the beach, they're doing their morning fitness, which includes like lunges and pushups and swims, and then. Still on that same day, they might do another hike or they might do a bike ride or they might do multiple swims and the fitness didn't really seem to end. It's just part of their life.

And the beautiful thing about that was when we was visiting, Portofino, which again had many steps. The places that we were visiting there and the five fishing villages of the Chin criter. Sarah's got that fitness where those days are not that challenging for her.

She doesn't need to pull, she can like whiz around because she's got that base level of fitness there. Some other things I really enjoyed doing was swimming in the seas there.

So the Chiquita is part of a national park and it's recognized as a world heritage site. And what that means is the whole place is extremely clean and extremely beautiful, and the waters are extremely clear, especially in the mornings, not so much in the afternoons when lots of people have been in with their sun creams.

And I, I actually wish that more people knew about reef and ocean friendly. Sun cream. So if you don't know about that, most sun creams especially that you're buying from just normal retail stores or online. Especially the ones that are in the deals, they are really harmful for seasonal in life and they can be harmful for your own health as well.

So they've got the kind of toxins, if you know about toxins in skincare and make up, do a little bit of research, I really like an app. It's called Think Dirty and you can scan your barcode of your sun cream or any product that you're using or type it in and it'll give you a green. An amber or a red rating to show you how clean or toxic potentially that product is.

And yeah, so I was just wishing that more people knew about clean. Safe sun creams for the waters, but they do come at a cost. There's a cost of normal commercial sun creams. The cost is our health and the cost is the health of the oceans, but the cost of the more natural ones is usually more financial.

I actually have a really nice recipe for homemade sun cream as well, but I know that not everyone trusts that, but that's another route that you can go down as well, which. In the short term can be a little bit of an investment because of the type of ingredients that need to go into it. But longer term you can make many pots of sun cream out of those ingredients.

I think that it's worth it longer term and you know everything that's in it. It's like making your own food at home, you know what's going into it, and you know whether it's good for you and your body or not. Have you ever heard of that quote if you can't eat it, don't put it on your body.

It's a bit like that and all the ingredients that go into the homemade one. Things like coconut oil and pomegranate oil. You can eat all of those things so they're not harmful for your health.

So back to the swimming. Often I find water very chilly and it's that feeling of getting into cold water. Like I want you to pitch yourself doing that. Now, how Some of you may really enjoy it, but I bet a lot of you listening, that feeling of getting into the water when it's rising up your body and just feeling it now as a mix.

Explaining it, it's kind. I just don't really like that feeling. And also the sand. I like sand, I can be a bit of a mum about it where it's like it's a bit inconvenient and do I really want all that sand in my toes? And I just decided to leave all of that mindset to the side and say, you're boiling heart.

The best place to go right now is the sea to pull down. And I went in multiple times. And I had such fun, and there was one day when we were visiting some of the towns and it was hot and hard work. And during the day we found a little beach and we went down onto some rocks and there was a ladder down into the sea.

We all got in, and when we got out, we felt very revitalized. I was noticing how it would've felt difficult to carry on that day if we hadn't have had that moment of being. Immersed in the water and when you stand under a shower, when you're tired, at the end of the day, it can be so refreshing.

And Sarah and I were reflecting that when you drink water, it really revitalizes you. But when you immerse your whole body in it, it's just, it's such a blessing.

We hired bikes and we went for a cycle. And my mom, bless her, can have a lot of fears. And I think a lot of the fears actually come from self-judgment of, I'm not very good at this. I'm sharing this with you because this may be you. Or maybe you've got a parent that feels like this. I can't keep up, I don't wanna hold you back.

I'm not gonna come. And we said. None of that matters. When we keep not trying things, we end up not being able to do them. We haven't got the ability to do them anymore. So even if you're doing things and you think that you're doing it badly, it's really important for you to continue. So you keep that ability.

So she got on the bike, she come out with us. , They were lovely flat. Roads to ride on. We got to visit more towns, and again, we had a great day out, so we were staying fit. It's environmentally friendly. We felt the wind in our hair. The breeze was cool us down, so we really enjoyed that.

Another thing that we enjoy doing when we travel is often we won't get a hotel. We'll hire a house like an Airbnb, and we try and hire somewhere that's got a kitchen. And what that means for us is we don't have to be out all the time. So often we'd start the mornings with fruit before 12. So you know, it's very hydrating, it's giving you a lot of vitamins and minerals.

It's easy to digest. And then we'd have kind of a lunch out. And then dinner time, sometimes we'd eat out. Often it was just something like a takeaway kind of thing. But sometimes we'd stay in and cook. And again, what you are able to do there is really control your ingredients. Have nice family time or sit around together, not waiting for the bill to come over or the food to come over, or the way to come over again and not having this huge bill at the end of the night either.

Eating can be a lot more. Inexpensive and actually eating lots and lots of meals out.

So we had an absolute great time on this holiday. Sarah's still there at the moment. If you would like to check out some of our stories, we've shared them on our Instagram at Holistic Health Collective uk. It's all one word, and I made a nice reel about a beautiful. Boat trip that we had out, and a reel about the hiking trails so that you could see them.

So have a look at those and give us a comment. If you would like to interact with us, let us know if you would do the hiking trails. So I said to you at the time of recording this, it's absolutely boiling at home. What I just had the idea to do this evening with my family is, Hey, let's go to a lake and go for a swim.

So there's a couple near me that you can actually pay to go to. One is a man made lake, which is extremely clear water in a chalk pit. And another one is a lake. It's a private lake, and you can pay to swim in there and then go for a sauna afterwards. We're not going for a sauna because we don't wanna be any hotter, but it'll be an absolute beautiful way to.

Call down to be out in nature and to spend some time with my family, and I don't think I would've had that thought today if I hadn't spent some time in Italy and a lot of time in the sea and really enjoyed the revitalizing benefits of the sea. So that's what I'm gonna be up to tonight.

Don't forget, if you are going traveling, you may want to take a probiotic before you go. There's some other things that you can take with you. Maybe I'll make a future podcast episode about it. But it's great to travel with some activated charcoal if anyone does get any upset tummies. And some things that I found really helpful in this holiday was I've got a natural.

A mosquito repellent that I got from a herbal shop. They make it in there themselves, so I use that in the evenings. I didn't remember to use it every night. And the nights I didn't, I got really bitten. But I've got this thing called zapper as well. Have you ever seen them before?

I just got it from something like Boots about 10 years ago. And it puts, from what I know, a little electrical charge through the bike and stops the itching. And

I can get quite irritated with my itching, and so the zapper, having that with me makes me feel.

I've got tools that can help me along my way, and it really works. So just before I sign off, what I'd love to ask you is, would you like to visit the chink? We there? We have no immediate plans to run retreats there, but Sarah's been there so many times now and we love running our retreats. We was chatting about it while we was away and saying.

For perhaps some, someone who has recently become single or going through a divorce and they want a bit more independence. Or perhaps you're like me. And before I went to Peru and this holiday, I felt like I didn't really have that independence with travel or that adventure. I. Because I'd always have family holidays and we'd be doing stuff that I guess is easy for the kids, which makes it easy for the parents.

And so I wanted to step a little bit more into my independence knowing that I could travel and that I could do hard things on holiday and exciting things and push myself beyond my comfort zone. And so I do think at some point we probably will have retreats in the chin. So we would love to know. If you are up for that, if you would like to join us before then, we haven't officially announced it anywhere yet.

So this is just a little taster, but we have our first silent retreat coming up in January, 2026. It's happening in Kent, and we have room for 10 of you to join us. I have recently experimented with my own silence myself. We've made a previous podcast episode about it, so go back and have a listen.

And the beautiful Hailey B, who will be co-hosting with us. She is just coming up for her own silent retreat as well. And there were so many benefits. We really want to share some of that work with you so you can experience the benefits yourself through some of the most simple. Practices that you can experience in your life.

So drop us a little email. We're at hello@holistichealthcollective.co uk or DM on Instagram at Holistic Health Collective uk and let us know. If you're up for chin or silent retreats, or perhaps you would even like to come to Glastonbury with us, that's our next retreat. We've got coming up in September this year, 2025 for the Autumn Equinox.

I believe we've got two spaces left, or we may be down to one now, but one or two spaces left to join us either for the day or for the weekend on that retreat. So thank you for listening to this episode, and we'll see you on the next one.

 Thank you a million times, Ava, for joining us on this podcast episode. You can support the show by giving us a follow on any podcast platform you're listening to this on. If you already follow us, then thank you so much and maybe share this episode. If you think of someone, someone comes to mind where you think they'd really benefit from listening to this.

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