Summer holidays in France
As the plane was landing in Toulouse France, I wondered to myself how my Paleo lifestyle would go during this week of holidays…..
I started my Paleo journey about 1 year ago, having some ups and downs, many cheats but have been on track for the last 7 months. I had read alot about Paleo as I was (and still am) a big Crossfit enthusiast. It’s not until our very own Lisa B. started eating paleo and saying how great she felt that I decided to give it a try. It did not take long for me to realise how good this way of life was for me. I have always been a petite frame but since the birth of my 2 kids, I had big digestive problems. Can you say BLOATED?? I was tired of looking like I was 4 months pregnant. I was an avid exerciser, ate a „healthy“ diet…why was I so bloated all the time? Eating grain free has changed all that. All that tummy business is gone, I no longer get those 2pm crashes, my energy level has gone up…and the list goes on. So back to my question..would I be able to resist temptation?
It all started well. My first day of the trip consisted of bacon and eggs for breakfast, a delicious Niçoise salad for lunch and a big steak for dinner….with potatoes cooked in duck fat (acceptable in my paleo travel book) Day 2 started off with a ham omelette, lunch was a picnick of salami, ham, tomatoes and cucumbers that we picked up at the local market…..oh ya and some cheese ( Swiss paleo does cheese right?) After a 2 hour drive, we arrive at out destination, beautiful Beynac, a picture perfect village in the Dordogne area ( known as home of Foie Gras) We found a little restaurant around the corner of our rental house where I had a salad with duck gizzards followed by leg of lamb and a baked potatoe.
It all went downhill from there……Everyone at the table for breakfast were eating fresh croissant baked by the local baker, I thought why not? It did not stop there….Having Foie gras without a little piece of toasted baguette? Mais non….ce n’est pas possible…as the French would say. Then it spiralled out of control……..
That is why I will now make this about the workouts I did instead of the food I ate. I took along a jump rope and my TRX suspension trainer. My fitness goals while on holidays are not to spend hours doing workouts but to take 30 mins out of my day and do something. You will see, the training went better than the eating. Here is how it went down.
Day 1: 30 seconds of work at each station with no break. We did 4 rounds…….30s. jump rope; 30s. squat variations ( jump squat, squat kicks); 30s. jump rope; 30s. push ups (wide, narrow, elevated), 30s. jump rope; 30s. lunges (jump lunges, reverse lunges);30s. jump rope; 30s. knee tucks
Day 2: 10 to 1 ladder of Burpees, TRX inverted rows and squats + 100-10 ladder jump rope . We did 10 reps of the 3 exercises and 100 jump rope , then 9 reps + 90 jump rope and continued down to 1
Day 3: 250 double unders (jump rope) + TRX sprinters start x 30 per leg + TRX power pulls x 20 per side + 10 atomic push ups
Day 4: TRX workout ( yes again….) 3 rounds of: 15 reps of one leg squats (per leg), bicep curls, tricep extensions, high rows, plyometric cross over lunges
Day 5: rest
Day 6: 4 rounds – 25 double unders, 15 push ups, 15 TRX „Y“, 15 jump lunges (per leg) 15 squat kicks, 15 half burpees
Day 7: Travel
On top of these mini workouts, walking up the hills of these picture perfect villages kept my heart rate up:)
That about sums up my week in France. It was a wonderful week….beautiful scenery and quality time with my family. On top of a great holiday, the trip helped me realise how much of a negative effect grains have on me and the rest of my family. There was alot of stomach aches, diarrhea, feeling very bloated, low energy levels, my sons asthma got very bad as well as his skin, my husbands tennis elbow was acting up..and and and……
As for exercising during holidays, hopefully you could get a few tips on putting something together and moving your butt!!
I can guarantee that the next time I blog about one of my holidays, it will go a different way….
Well, I ate clean on my vacation (I was at the Ancestral Health Symposium and eating dinner with people like Robb Wolf, how could I NOT eat clean?!) BUT, I was a lazy ass and hardly exercised at all. Looks like my return to boot camp will be painful 😉
That is why we make such a good team:) I knew you would make up for my bad choices…
Here is a nice place for grain-free, paleo holiday in France:
on the rocks, Lagorce Bed & Diet
Hi Martin,
Wow! Your place looks wonderful! I will definitely keep it in mind for a quick get away. That’s the kind of business I would love to have 🙂 Actually…the more I look at your site, the more I want to come. I’d love to be able to write about the experience for all of my readers. I’m sure I’ll be in touch…
Looking forward to your visit! 🙂