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American who left the country for just 2 weeks shares why life in the U.S. made her feel sick

After leaving the country, she saw the truth.

via Canva/Photos

An American in Italy.

As the old saying goes, you are what you eat, so our diets play a tremendous role in how we feel from day to day. Food can give us energy, vitality, and mental clarity or make us feel listless and drained. A person who spent two weeks in Italy shared an incredible revelation they had while living in the Bel Paese. Even though they ate healthily while living in America, they felt great after spending a few days in Italy.

The traveler felt so much better living the Italian lifestyle that they pledged to leave America one day, possibly in five years, and move to Italy. They felt so much better abroad because Italians are much more conscious about their food quality.

american food, italian food, american tourist, italian pizza, wine, big sunglassesAn American woman in Italy.via Canva/Photos

“I'm just so mad at the food in the US. I left for 2 weeks to Italy. My mood was better, my awareness was better. I could eat wheat (I'm extremely gluten intolerant and it messes with my autoimmune disease if I eat it among a multitude of other symptoms) with gluten pills with minor bloating,” they wrote on Reddit. “I had some of the best food, best health feelings (other than muscle soreness from walking so much) I've ever had in my life. It's made me have so much resentment for US food. I mean, even my skin cleared up quite a bit overseas.”

American food has a lot of sugar

The big realization they had is that American food is loaded with sugar. “It just makes me so mad that having any kind of sugar is just too much here. Sugar and wheat and what ever else is just so much harder on my body here than in Italy. I want to move,” they wrote.

american food, italian food, american tourist, italian pizza, wine, big sunglassesAn American woman in Italy.via Canva/Photos

It’s easy to criticize the traveler by saying, “Well, why don’t you just eat differently when you return home to America?” But it can be tough to eat healthy in America because it's nearly impossible to escape the food system. “There is sugar in f**king everything. It's so bad,” one of the top commenters wrote. “I've pretty much stopped eating anything that isn't home-cooked using whole foods. Even all the bread products I consume are baked at home. Everything from bagels to dinner rolls.”

How do Americans and Italians eat differently?

The attitude towards food in Italy and the United States couldn’t be more different. First, both cultures treat shopping completely differently. Americans go to large grocery stores where a lot of the food is processed and the produce is available, whether in season or not. Italians prefer to go to small markets for fresh meats and produce, and only eat the foods in season.

american food, donuts, hamburger, soda, french fries, candyA big table of American food.via Canva/Photos

Further, the Italian government has much stricter rules about food consumption. Italy is one of the top food producers in the European Union, and the government has banned GMOs for commercial use.

The Italian diet is healthier because it skips processed foods, added sugars, and refined carbs. Instead, it follows the Mediterranean approach, which supports heart health, better sleep, weight control, and mental well-being, while also reducing the risk of cancer and diabetes.

On a deeper level, Italian people place a high value on food, and meal time isn’t something to be rushed but a time to enjoy a multi-course meal with friends and family. Americans have an on-the-go lifestyle, where meal time is what we fit in between working and relaxing in front of the TV. So, if Americans took a page and put food back in the center of their lives, it may help with their mental, physical, and social well-being.

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Hitting the trails this weekend? You might be walking or biking on an abandoned railroad.

They're helping give railroads a second life.

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State Farm

Along the Missouri River, there are 26 rambling trails where you can walk or bike through soft marshlands, towering bluffs, pleasing pastures, and thick forests.

Those trails make up the Katy Trail State Park — the longest public area in the United States that was formerly train tracks.

Built on the corridor of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, there's also quite a bit of history to be found on any outdoor excursion in this state park. Most trails go past restored historic depots and former railroad towns. It's no surprise all 240 miles of this park were added to Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Hall of Fame in 2008.

Katy Trail State Park. Photo by Kim Horgan, courtesy of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

But trails like this weren't always so pleasant.

In the 1950s and '60s, there was dramatic decline in train use. By 1966, less than 2% of intercity commuters were using trains to get from place to place. That left a significant number of train lines defunct and a whole lot of miles of territory in disuse.

Aside from not looking too pretty, these rail lines, including what's now Katy Trail State Park, were just taking up unnecessary amounts of space without serving any purpose.

By the 1980s, "you see Congress starting to get concerned, because they were looking at the permanent loss of these rail lines," explains Amy Kapp, editor of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s magazine and blog.

Photo via succo/Pixabay.

So they amended the National Trail Systems Act to create the Railbanking Program. This allows people to preserve inactive corridors for future rail use while providing interim trail use — aka turning them into walking trails and bike paths.

But it’s often not easy for communities to launch large-scale trail projects on their own. They don't have the money and manpower, or they simply do not have any idea where to start.

That's why David Burwell and Peter Harnik founded the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy — an organization that's been helping to create outdoor paths for the public since 1986.

David Burwell and his wife (left) and Peter Harnik (right). Images courtesy of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

By helping convert old railways into public lands like the awesome Katy Trails, the conservancy is giving back to local communities by providingmore places to go outside, which in turn may help people feel better physically and mentally. More walkable, bike-able trails also means there's more of America's natural beauty for people to enjoy.

Trail in Washington, D.C. Photo by Milo Bateman, courtesy of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

Over the last 30 years, RTC has been a great success.

When they opened their doors, there were 250 miles of known rail-trail. Today, there are over 22,774 miles available to communities all over the country and 2,035 known rails have been converted to trails.

It's really quite remarkable when you realize all those trails were once just miles and miles of unused land.

David Burwell passed away in February, but thanks to his passion and skill — and over 160,000 RTC members — his work will live on long after him.

Anacostia River Trail in Washington, D.C. Photo by Suzanne Matyas, courtesy of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

Currently, RTC is helping to build eight large-scale regional trail systems across the United States.

One particularly significant project is called the Lower Rio Grande Valley Active Transportation and Tourism Plan, or Active Plan for short.

Historic Battlefield Trail in Brownsville, Texas. Photo by Mark Lehmann, courtesy of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

The Active Plan is based in Cameron County, Texas, which has one of the highest poverty rates in the country. A 428-mile trail network is on the docket to provide locals with safe travel routes and encourage exercise and outdoor recreation.

These outdoor trails could make life so much better for locals.

The Ortiz family on the Historic Battlefield Trail in Palo Alto, Texas. Photo by Mark Lehmann, courtesy of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

Being closer to trails could save Cameron County millions of dollars in medical bills.

The community's economy should see a huge uptick too. A plan is set to create 453 new jobs for locals and increase tourism revenue by $40 million. For a county with more than a third of its residents below the poverty line, that’s no inconsequential figure.

Ohio and Erie Canalway Towpath Trail. Photo by Bruce Ford, courtesy of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

Rails-to-trails conversion starts on the community level — which means that there are lots of ways for people to get involved and maybe even help spearhead a project in their own community.

In fact, RTC's website is a great resource if anyone interested in jumpstarting more trails, providing an online toolbox that's filled with information on railbanking, acquiring and financing projects, planning and trail designs, and how to navigate the railroad and community guidelines.

In addition, RTC is also always looking for volunteers to help advocate for them and their work. After all, it is thanks to those volunteers that we have beautiful public trails weaving through different communities, linking them together, and bringing people back to nature  — they are the ones helping make  Burwell's dream a reality.

"My dream is that one day you could go across this entire country — old or young, handicapped or able — on flat, wide, off-road paths," he once told the RTC publication. "I want rail-trails to be America’s main street."

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What one man learned about humanity from becoming a professional people-walker.

"It's like walking dogs, but you don't have to pick up poo."

That's how Chuck McCarthy describes his job as The People Walker. It's a joke, of course, albeit one that the L.A.-based actor delivers dryly enough over the phone that it almost feels profound.

But that's basically how he managed to turn people-walking into a second career. Acting work comes in waves, even for the biggest names in the industry, and he was looking for something to fill the time and get him out of the house when he was between gigs. He knew some people who made extra cash by walking dogs, but he didn't want to pick up poop, "which is really what you're being paid for," he said.

During the spring of 2016, McCarthy took inspiration from advertisements in coffee shops and on telephone poles and began to promote his business as the People Walker.

Brett's no competition for The People Walker. #thepeoplewalker #LosAngeles #fitness #health #training #walking #walk

A photo posted by Chuck McCarthy (@chuckhistory) on

The concept was simple: If you needed companionship on a walk, for whatever reason, McCarthy would show up and stroll alongside you at the low, low cost of $7 a mile.

At first, it was definitely a bit of a joke. But by the end of the summer, he was getting regular, repeat business, walking more than one person a day on average. He even received people-walking requests and news coverage from places like Norway and France.

It's almost like people are eager to connect with other people in real life in a low-pressure, stress-free kind of way.

Sometimes people just want a human interaction with low expectations.

"I enjoy talking to people and learning about other people," he said, explaining that he tries to listen more than he talks. "People aren't usually, like, confessing tons of stuff to me. But I don't want to make them feel like they couldn't tell me something, either."

This is particularly important when it comes to the celebrity culture that permeates Los Angeles. As he explains in his people-walking FAQ, "All of our walks are 100% confidential. We won't leak any stories to TMZ ... unless you want us to leak a story to TMZ" — which, yes, costs an additional fee. It is Los Angeles, after all.

(In the FAQ, he also says that while he is not a licensed therapist, he'll happily charge you therapist rates, although you should probably contact a professional if you need someone to help you sort your problems out.)

The People Walker™ - I'll be your wing man anytime.

A photo posted by Chuck McCarthy (@chuckhistory) on

Of course, McCarthy's not just in it for the money. Being the People Walker comes with its own benefits, too.

In just a few months, McCarthy's already shaved a few inches off his waist — although he's quick to point out that he hasn't necessarily lost weight, and that weight and health and happiness are not necessarily linked.

But in general, just getting out and walking does make him happier. Plus, it helps him with his acting career.

"The more people that you have contact with, that you're around, that you can hear a story from or learn from something, that gives you material or things to pull from for acting," he explained. "Meeting different people, and talking to different people, and learning things, and hearing stories can never hurt an actor, or writer, or any other type of artist."

That's my empathy face. It's a work in progress.

A photo posted by Chuck McCarthy (@chuckhistory) on

McCarthy plans to launch a People Walker app soon — think of it like Uber but for human interaction.

The app will connect people who want to be walked with other potential people-walkers in their area — who, of course, will be ranked and vetted by other users.

Simply put, People Walker Chuck McCarthy is the real deal of human awesomeness.

But if you're still not sold, check out the video below.

If you live in L.A. and are looking for companionship, you can get in touch with the People Walker on Facebook. Or, if you're looking to start your own people-walking franchise, visit ThePeopleWalker.org to stay in touch with McCarthy as he plans his great expansion.

Looking for an exercise partner or just a travel companion? Call Chuck, The People Walker. (via Zoomin.TV USA)

Posted by Upworthy on Monday, September 19, 2016
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The clever way Indiana is resurrecting its old, rusting railroads.

When I was a kid, I went on a lot of nature walks with my mom.

We lived in the country in Central Texas and had a little plot of woods all to ourselves. We walked around big, ancient oaks and twisted, gnarly mesquite trees. Sometimes, we'd find a tree covered in big, ropey mustang grapevines and I'd climb up into the trees, pretending I was in the Swiss Family Robinson.

Other times, we went looking for animals. My favorites were the green anole lizards that lived on trees and flashed their red neck flaps at you.

Technically, it's called a dewlap, thank you very much. Photo from R. Colin Blenis/Wikimedia Commons.

There were also tiny black-and-white beetles with rock-hard shells that lived on fallen logs. If you touched them, they played dead until they thought you were gone. And sometimes we even saw deer.

Nature walks are a good way for families to bond. And they're pretty healthy too.

Science shows that spending just a little time outside (walking, looking at the trees, or even catching Pokemon!) can be good for you — it reduces blood pressure and improves mental health. There are even studies that suggest spending time in nature together can help families get along.

But here's the problem: Not everyone has access to nature, even (and especially) in rural areas.


Does this count as nature? Not really. Scott Olsen/Getty Images.

It's easy to imagine how someone living in downtown Chicago might struggle to find nature. But living outside a city doesn't guarantee access to trails and forests, either.

For example, imagine living in farm country. Though you're definitely not in the city, miles and miles of corn fields are just as much an artificial creation as any apartment building (plus the farmers probably wouldn't be happy with you trying to picnic in the middle of their fields).

This is actually a significant problem, so two researchers (University of Illinois professor Ramona Oswald and doctoral student Dina Izenstark) recently examined the lack of nature access in rural America. They found that although a lot of parents may know how great a nature walk can be for both your mood and your body, long distances or costs keep them from getting their families into nature.

“The moms in this study know about health and what to do to be healthy,” Oswald said in a press release. “It’s not a lack of education. It has to do with barriers and access to resources."

But what if we could erase these barriers? Enter the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit that's giving people access to nature in a cool way: by reviving old railway lines.

Photo via Rails-to-Trails Conservancy/Eric Oberg, used with permission.

You see, the United States is criss-crossed with old railway lines.

Photo via iStock.

Many of them are still in use, but many have been abandoned.


Photo via iStock.

But just because they're abandoned doesn't mean they can't still be useful.

These abandoned lines can have new life breathed into them. Take the Cardinal Greenway in central and eastern Indiana.

Way back in 1993, the nonprofit Cardinal Greenways bought 60 miles of abandoned railroad in eastern Indiana and, after teaming up with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy for logistical help, began the hard work of turning it into a nature trail. (Rails-to-Trails support projects all across the United States.)

Photo from Cardinal Greenways, used with permission.

Tearing up a big metal railroad to make a nature trail might seem like a lot of work. But the railroad is already set up for nature walking success.

Most railroad tracks are already built up off the ground (so they don't flood), and they can support a lot of weight. Even better, trees don't grow on railroad tracks, so there's less vegetation to cut back to make a trail.

Cardinal Greenways' first 10-mile stretch opened in 1998.

They also added updated features like new bridges, benches, and informational signs.

Photo from Cardinal Greenways, used with permission.

There is also a playground and exercise equipment. You can even borrow a bike. It's free, too. Cardinal Greenways relies on volunteers and donations to maintain and expand the trail.

Today, the Cardinal Greenway runs for 62 miles, winding through more than 10 small towns as well as nature preserves and parks.

Photo from Cardinal Greenways, used with permission.

Families can walk or bicycle it, giving them easy access to nature and a safe place to exercise, no matter whether they're urban or rural.

A lot of different places have hit on replacing old railway lines with nature trails. Chicagoans might recognize the Bloomingdale Trail, for instance.

Photo from Victor Grigas/Wikimedia Commons.

The Bloomingdale Trail is a greenway that runs for about three miles in Northwest Chicago. You might never guess it used to be an old elevated train line.

In fact, your favorite running trail may have started its life as a railroad track. The Gloucester Township Trail in New Jersey, the Shelby Farms Greenline in Tennessee, and Mississippi's Tanglefoot Trail all started as old train lines, too.

Projects like this give both urban and rural families access to nature — using resources we already have.

Nature walks with my mom are some of my fondest childhood memories, and I'm sure those walks are part of the reason I'm still in love with nature today.

It's awesome to see projects like this making sure everyone has access to those memories like I did.

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