The Addict

So yesterday my reading comprehension sucked, and I misread a fellow blogger's request NOT to get tough love as a request FOR tough love. I feel bad about it, and apologized, and I promise to be more careful in my reading from now on.

But, it did get me thinking about something that I'd bet the good majority of us go through. The challenge of VACATION.

Raise your hand if you ever put off a diet to start "after I get back from vacation"?

Raise your hand if you've ever said "It's vacation, so I'm just going to plan on unhealthy eating"?

Both my hands are raised right now, for sure. It happened during our last vacation in July '10, where I had scheduled my surgery and went on vacation and celebrated by eating an entire coconut creme pie (well, technically my husband and I shared two) over the course of a week, on top of regular food orgy behavior at all scheduled meals. I came back heavier than when I left and felt like such crap that I immediately put myself on a low-carb pre-op diet for the next month and a half. The good news is that it led me to lose between 20 and 30 lbs before my surgery but I don't ever want to feel that way again.

We have booked this summer's trip to an all-inclusive in the DR. I have vowed to myself that I will eat like a regular bandster this year. I'm just not going to let my vacation be defined by how much food I can eat.

Now, part of my brain (your brain) might be screaming, "but it's vacation! I should be able to take a break and do whatever I want on vacation!".

But I'm beginning to see that as a fallacy. I can do what I want on vacation. But should I?

I'm not sure how I feel about equating obesity to a food addiction, but I ask myself this: How healthy would it be for an alcoholic, or a heroin addict, or a sex addict to say "But it's vacation!", and then use it as an excuse to use drugs/alcohol or go trolling for underage prostitutes in foreign countries ?(hee! yes, I just compared us to pedophiles-- my apologies)

It wouldn't be. We could all look at that and shake our heads in pity, or condemnation.

So why are we so comfortable letting ourselves off the hook when we go on vacation?

I promise I am not being holier than thou, here. I have a lifetime history of treating vacation like it's a break from reasonable eating. But the more I think about it, the more I think that is the worst possible head space for me. And when I go on vacations this year I'm going to make it a goal to make good band-friendly choices and allow the non-food components of my vacation to be where I find freedom and relaxation. I'll let you know how I do on that :)