Vacation
I wrote a blog before I left for vacation and never posted it. The un-posted blog was about ways to stay healthy on vacation. It’s a good thing I didn’t post it, because as it turns out, I am the last person who should be providing advice about healthy eating while on vacation!
It is 2:00 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon and I am alone in a cheese shop, sipping wine and eating a plate full of goat cheese. I have had ice cream the last two nights and all of my alcoholic beverages have had way too much sugar! I have not been a model of healthy eating. So today I reflect and am writing about balance.
Balance. Eating whole foods that work for you, praying, working out, surrounding yourself with people that support you, feeling good about yourself, taking control of your life, but not being a control freak, thinking about your words and actions, but not thinking too much about your words and actions . . . it’s a lot of work striving for balance! So, I have been spending my vacation unbalancing, and that too is part of a balanced life. The hardest part of tipping the balance into vacation mode has been re-programming my brain. As I sit here and de-compress, not thinking about what is going into my mouth and just enjoying the moment, I am realizing how great it feels to lighten up every once in a while (it also helps that my little girls are napping and will be at the beach playing with their cousins when I am done playing hooky).
Vacation! Make it what you need it to be; only you know what you need. One of my clients went away on vacation and ate what the natives ate – fruit, vegetables, and fish – and hiked every day. She never felt better. Her healthy vacation wasn’t planned, it just happened for her. I am on the North Fork of Long Island, eating cheese and sipping wine (and of course experimenting with the local leafy greens . . . but not as many as I planned!). Not exactly a healthy vacation, but I feel great.
“You can only be you when you do your best.” The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. I was going to use this quote for the un-posted blog. But I use it today to remind you to be the best at letting go, relaxing, and enjoying.
Love deeply and eat mindfully (and maybe change the course while vacationing),
Kim Gilroy
Insideout Wellness
