Buongiorno! Today we head to my favourite country to discuss the traditional Italian walk after dinner known as la passeggiata, as well as the benefits of walking after a meal.
By now we all know that walking is something of a health and wellbeing all-star. 🚶
If you want to improve your health, just start walking. If you already walk a bit, then… start walking more!
This is particularly true if you want to improve your digestion, weight and general health.
I’ll go into why in a moment, but first let’s look at this Italian walk after dinner tradition and why it’s so important.
Here’s the article at a glance:
- What is la passeggiata?
- The health benefits of walking after a meal
- Does this Italian walk after dinner speed up digestion?
- Should you walk right after eating?
- How to enjoy your own Italian walk after dinner
- The final word on the benefits of walking after a meal
What is la passeggiata?
La passeggiata is an Italian walk after dinner – a walking tradition that’s particularly prominent in the south of Italy. This is where my father was born, in the village of Aradeo in the region of Puglia. It’s a place I have been lucky to visit many times in my life.
Now, la passeggiata is actually nothing more than a short and slow stroll, taken before or after the evening meal. For the purposes of this article, let’s focus on the after dinner walk.
Originating from the Italian verb passeggiare, meaning ‘to walk’, la passeggiata can take place anywhere. From cities like Florence to tiny villages and communes.
Depending on where you are, you will often encounter droves of Italians wandering the main city or town around the historic buildings, bars and shops.
Or they will meander the sea front if it’s a coastal town.
Italians engage in la passeggiata all year round and on most evenings. However, the Sunday evening passeggiata is particularly popular, especially in the summer.
Even though this is a casual walk, many of the Italians like to dress up to show off new shoes and fancy suits. Come on, this is Italy after all – fashion capital of the world! 👠
Importantly, la passeggiata is not just about walking for the sake of walking.
It’s about social bonding – meeting up with friends and family. It’s also often a great excuse to enjoy a gelato, a glass of wine, or a digestive liquor.
There’s certainly something magical about this tradition, which I have enjoyed many times on family trips to Italy. I’ve done it many times on holidays in the south of Italy as well as a few times when I visited the north (particularly Busto Arsizio near Milan, and Monterotondo near Rome).
As the sun sets, the air begins to cool, the stars begin to twinkle, and the whole town comes out to walk, chat and eat ice cream.
It really is wonderful. Best of all, it can have health benefits!
The health benefits of walking after a meal
Right, so how does la passeggiata translate to better health?
We all know that walking is a good calorie burner and can help protect you from illnesses such as high blood pressure and heart disease. It’s also an excellent way to relieve symptoms of anxiety, stress and depression, and can help you sleep better at night.
For more on the benefits of walking, check out my article on Norway’s tradition of sondagstur.
But what about the benefits of walking after a meal specifically?
#1 – Aids digestion
Just finished a big bowl of tagliatelle al ragu and feel too full?
Luckily, walking after a meal can aid your digestion.
This is because walking stimulates the muscles in your intestines and helps speed up peristalsis – the movement of food through your digestive tract.
A 2008 study concluded that postprandial walking (i.e., walking after a meal) ‘accelerated gastric emptying of the meal’.
Speeding up this movement of food can ease digestive complaints such as bloating, indigestion, and GERD/acid reflux.
In other words, this Italian after dinner walk can help you feel more comfortable in the stomach department.
#2 – Helps regulate blood sugar levels
Walking after lunch or dinner has another significant benefit – it can help you avoid big blood sugar spikes.
When we eat, our blood sugar or blood glucose levels rise. This blood sugar can remain in the blood stream for hours after.
Over time, having consistently high blood sugar can cause long-term damage to your body, primarily your organs and blood vessels. This can lead to stroke, heart attack and a myriad of problems with your kidneys, eyes, feet and nerves throughout your body.
So reducing blood sugar levels is crucial for good long-term health, regardless of whether or not you have diabetes.
This is where walking after dinner comes into play.
By walking soon after a meal, we are giving that sugar in our blood a purpose – to fuel our muscles.
A 2016 study published in the diabetes journal Diabetologia found that walking for 10 minutes after a meal could help control the blood sugar levels of 41 adults with type 2 diabetes.
An earlier study from 2013 involving older adults at risk for diabetes found that three 15-minute walks after meals improved their ability to regulate blood sugar for the following 24 hours.
Some other research confirms this, and also shows that a post-meal walk is more effective than a pre-meal walk at controlling blood sugar.
Remember, the scariest thing is that diabetes is often happening in the background, without you knowing it. This is why diabetes is known as the silent killer.
#3 – May help you maintain a healthy weight
This is a great one if you are trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight – and it’s not just because walking burns calories!
Because walking after a meal can stimulate digestion, it can contribute to feeling of greater satiation with your meals.
This means that if you eat a slightly smaller meal than usual and then go out for a walk soon after, you should feel satisfied with less food.
You can see why this is ideal if you are trying to lose weight or stay trim.
You will be able to feel more satisfied with less food – which is the holy grail for weight loss or weight maintenance without counting calories.
Does this Italian walk after dinner speed up digestion?
Yes, walking after dinner speeds up digestion – regardless of whether you are in Italy, Spain, the USA or Antarctica!
As mentioned above, walking stimulates the muscles in your intestines and helps speed up the movement of food through your digestive system.
This means you will often feel more comfortable by walking after your meal.
Should you walk right after eating?
When you walk right after eating, the food in your digestive tract is getting tossed around. This can lead to an upset stomach or other gastrointestinal concerns, such as indigestion. 🤢
Ultimately, this is the exact opposite of what we want to happen.
I have two pieces of advice here.
- Firstly, leave it around 10 to 15 minutes from finishing your meal before going out walking.
- Secondly, walk slowly. Don’t go for a fast walk or a jog straight after eating. Think of strolling, sauntering or meandering – not marching!
By following these two guidelines you should be able to enjoy the benefits of walking after a meal without any of the drawbacks.
How to enjoy your own Italian walk after dinner
Right, so we know that going for a walk after an evening meal is much better for our digestion, our satisfaction, our waistline and our general health than just sitting in front of Netflix!
The problem for us living in the UK and in the USA is that your town or city probably doesn’t have a tradition of getting together to walk the streets.
It’s understandable.
Ultimately, la passeggiata is weaved into the fabric of Italian society. For the people of Italy, walking after dinner is effortless. It’s no wonder Italy is one of the healthiest countries in the world!
So living where we live, we have to make some kind of effort if we want to enjoy the benefits of an after-dinner walk.
This is why I suggest committing to a five-minute walk this evening after dinner.
Wherever you are, whatever you have planned, whatever the weather, go for a five-minute walk.
I do it myself most days. I just finish dinner, get my shoes on and walk around for like 15 minutes – or around 1,000 steps.
Of course, it does take some effort to put your shoes on and get outside, especially if it’s raining or cold (which is most of the time here in Wales).
However, I know how beneficial this short walk is for my health, and that 15 minutes is well worth the benefits.
If this is a brand-new habit for you, I suggest that you keep doing it for five minutes every night for a week, then increase it to 10 minutes a night.
Within a few weeks you will find this has become a habit and you will start to enjoy the benefits.
The final word on the benefits of walking after a meal
As we have determined, with such a sedentarism crisis, the Italian walk after dinner is a very good habit to get into – one with many advantages.
We’ve also established that you don’t need to be in Italy to enjoy doing it. 🤌
It goes without saying, but walking after a meal is even more important if you are overweight, have type 2 diabetes, or are at risk of type 2 diabetes.
Ask yourself, is your long-term health worth ten minutes a day? If so, then get your shoes on.
Because these are the little habits that really do make a difference to your wellbeing.
Planet Health 
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