Health knowledge made personal
Join this community!
› Share page:
Search posts:

Vacation Mode - Are you Able to Get Yourself Out of it?

Posted Jul 15 2008 11:41am
Vacations are great. We all look forward to them and usually end up enjoying every minute of our time away from it all. I call it vacation-mode. Unfortunately, I have seen too many people go into vacation mode and never find their way out of it. For one week they allow themselves to say YES to all of things that in their normal everyday life they resist. "Yummy" to the fries on the boardwalk. "Yes!" to the fudge and water taffies. "Why not!" to the ice cream with the kids every evening. Binging on the fried foods, milkshakes, beer, beverages, chips, snacks... why not - it IS a vacation? Well okay - if you want to go home about 5-10lbs heavier, possible sick to your stomach and a body that is completely off-balance. It may take weeks or even months or frighteningly - never - to recover from this vacation mindset. You worked so hard to clean your body of junk and the horribly tempting cravings of sugar - throw it all away and have to start over from scratch? You call that a vacation? If that was my idea of a vacation - I don't think I would ever go home. I would not want to go home and face the "bottom" again. Why undo all of your hard work in one lousy week that we label "vacation"? Why not instead figure out a way to vacation sensibly while still enjoying every minute?

I talked about in other articles ways to find pleasure in other things besides over-indulging in food. A vacation is a great time to practice this. List all of the things that you enjoy when vacationing that don't involve food? There has to be quite a few. Even simple things like the sound of the ocean, a good book on the beach, the sound of sea gulls, the live bands, the smells of the boardwalk, the freedom...
Now I am not telling you to deny yourself of every one of life's pleasures...just pick your battles and pick them wisely. Select things that won't throw you over the top. If you have a carb/sugar addiction (like me!) - DON'T choose to over-indulge on these foods as it will be extremely hard to work your way out of it. Why do that to yourself? When my body is in balance I don't crave these foods but once I start to eat them in excess I want nothing else and I find the urge uncontrollable (really!!). Getting myself out of the addiction is worse than the enjoyment I get from eating the foods in the first place... so it is not worth it to me. That is a battle I choose NOT to have. Sure I eat some but in complete, controllable moderation.
I do choose to have cocktails. I find them enjoyable and relaxing and not at all addicting. So I know once the vacation is over so are the cocktails. Any weight gain easily comes off once the behaviour stops. I can't do this with sugar/sweets/simple carbs. The behaviour doesn't stop as easily. I guess that is why I call it an addiction.
So when you vacation - select your over-indulgences wisely. Remember you are a healthy eater with a healthy body.... a person with that mindset simply can't allow themselves to eat junk for a week.
Post a comment
Write a comment:

Related Searches