Hello again to my blog and readers!  It has been too long since my last post.  Before I forget to put it out there, today is weigh-in Sunday.  My weight this morning was at 149.  Last time I weighed it was 148…but being as I have spent the last eight days being on the road and vacationing with family,  I consider this a success. 

Some people take on different tactics while vacationing for their diet.  What I have seen with my family and friends, is an unwritten policy that during vacation, dietary health is temporarily put on hold.  I analyzed this behavior all week, I am fairly curios as to why we do this!  Has my health status stopped mattering to me during vacation? Do I need to be free of dietary obligations; or rather is my diet confining me to a point a rebellion has built up?  Or is it just pointless to fight the schedule of convenience food while en route?  Even my ten year old child eluded to this “vacation diet” practice.  Example:  (Child) Can I have more chips?  (Me) Why don’t you  have some more salad instead.  (Child) But we are on vacation! (Me) Does that mean we don’t care about our health today?...how did my child come upon this understanding?  Did a memo go out during spring break to all kids?  If so, perhaps we as parents should begin working on our own memos. 

I think the best way to create a new perspective and understanding is to normalize and practice that behavior yourself and others around you catch on.  Hopefully our children are among those who follow such good behaviors.  So on this trip, I came packed and ready to defeat this understanding of putting dietary health on vacation.  We packed our car with a variety of healthy foods.  We did not purchase food on the go, and we were able to enjoy healthful, affordable, no-regret meals on the road.  Along the drive, during meal time we would find a park to go to.  Children would run out and play in the park area, while we unpacked food, set up picnic and put together the meal.  Right about the time the kids got their sillies out, it was time to sit and eat. This practice is perfect!  I could not imagine the stress or financial burden of a restaurant or drive thru food topping a beautiful picnic with my family.  We had salad, veggies with hummus, sandwiches for the littles, dried fruit & nut mix, fresh fruit, and of course the must- have, moral-improving bag of tortilla chips- we are not perfect. 

My husband was not so sure about my grocery list at first, ( we always pack our own food, but it  has never had as much fresh produce and he did not know how well the food would travel).  I argued  those foods are must haves in order to feel good about my diet versus out of control.

So we packed: carrots, cucumber, celery, grape toms, cauliflower, hummus, salad, saltine crackers, dried fruit & nut medley, tortilla chips, peanut butter, honey, jam, bananas, oranges, apples, homemade granola bars, half-dozen homemade cookies, Dave’s Killer Bread.  After the first picnic lunch we were all very happy with our selections.  What can be better than foods that actually make you feel better while on the road?  I told my husband, that I could not imagine how I would feel if I had some greasy on the go food and had to drive for six more hours with kids.  It sounds like torture!  Fresh air, exercise, and good food made the trip enjoyable!

The next challenge was to eat with family and make variations to our meals for my plant based diet.  That went well also.  My husband’s family were very thoughtful about accommodating a diet that suited everybody.  I even learned something about my smoothies-  the almond milk can be skipped altogether and a small portion of water can be added for a very nice smoothie instead.  Just a banana, berries, ice, water, and honey will do just fine. (I probably could skip the honey as well in fact adding honey to my smoothies is relatively a new practice for me, but that’s another battle and besides it is allergy season, so I need it, right)?

Don’t get me wrong…I was not a dietary saint on this trip!  I snacked too much on the fruit & nut medley that I love…I ate a large dinner every evening, and I never skipped a meal.  So now that I am home, and my verdict is in for the my weight after a week of travel food (which was good food but I never worried about calorie count), I am happy to see that my weight has stabilized in the upper 140’s.  Now I feel I should have some good results with a renewed effort to control my portions. 

Lastly, I received some great motivating results while out of town.  I had to buy a new pair of shorts and capris (last years are too big).  I grabbed size 8’s and 10’s to be safe and headed to the fitting room.  I was pleased to end up grabbing and buying size 6’s on both.  What a great treat.  I am still thinking it must be big brands…but I will take it! 

I hope each of you can continue to have success and good health while traveling and vacationing this spring and summer season.  Let us not put our health and goals on vacation ever again!