I think it's fantastic that you realized how you were treating your body -be it food or alcohol or smoking, we all need to be kinder to ourselves. Good luck on your maintence -it sounds like you've developed some really good habits to take place of bad ones.
Just wanted to chime in on the travel aspect -I love italy too. Er, not that this is on a diet, but in Italy they make fantastic hot chocolate and pizza! I backpacked for 3 months one summer of college starting in England then Scotland, then to Austria, Italy, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Belgium, then back to Wales and England. That was also the best weightloss plan ever -if you're constantly walking and carrying 70 lbs on your back, you can eat anything! I lost so much weight and had so much fun doing that -wish I could do it again.
Unfortunately when I stopped backpacking I kept eating like I was (doh!)
Travel is so wonderful! I have a personal life-long goal to ride horses on every continent possible. So far I've managed Australia, Europe, Africa, and the USA. I have to get my health in control so i can someday make it to Asia and South America too.
I hope I didn't take over with this tangent in your journal -I just get so excited when people talk about travel. Good luck training for your cancer run, and I look forward to reading more of your posts on the forums.