Adventure!

My husband and I are currently sitting at the airport waiting for our flight. We're headed off on an epic three week adventure that includes Iceland, England, Belgium and France. Vacations and weight gain are synonymous for many of us, and truthfully my goal is to only gain three pounds while we're away. It will likely take me three to eight weeks to get it off again when we return, but that's the trade off! Being realistic about how long the recovery will take can help keep me from going too too crazy on crepes and croissant.

We will be staying with our cousin in France and we have been there before, so there are a few advantages I already know I have in my corner: The first is that we will walk everywhere, probably two or more hours of walking everyday. The second is that our family is not in the habit of snacking hardly at all. They usually have a very light breakfast of coffee or tea with milk and then a larger lunch and dinner.

For vacations in general, a few tips:

-Any plan is better than no plan. Paying attention to any aspect of your healthy living plan will always be better than throwing caution to the wind. If eating super healthy feels too hard, pick something smaller. You can drink a glass of water before every meal, right? Right.

-Utilize the extra time you have to go on adventures and get some activity in each day. 

-Think about your desire to feel good while on vacation and afterward, and notice how your food choices affect that. 

-Start each day with water and a nutritious breakfast to control blood sugar and cravings later on.

-Food should not be the central entertainment. The world has so much to offer, go out and explore!

Okay, confession! I have a little trouble with the last rule. It's vacation and I want fancy drinks and Belgian waffles and above all other epicurian desires, I want to search for the best croissant in Paris. I'm going to attempt to limit myself to the items I really want, and not waste calories on food I don't care about. And I'm going to take lots and lots of pictures of the things I eat and post them when I get back. Studies have shown that snapping a pic of everything we eat and drink can have a huge effect on helping us eat healthier foods and smaller portions.

In my absence, please enjoy this wildlife gallery by Massi Miliano, which includes a picture of my most favorite wild animal, the puffin. We're headed to a remote puffin photography location in Iceland, and I hope to bring back a few beautiful shots of these adorable feathered friends. See you in three weeks!

Update: Enjoy the puffin pics!