Preaching, meet practicing. I preach to myself and others about the hazards of carbohydrates and sugar consumption. I fully intend to live exactly like I advise that you live. Actually putting that lifestyle in practice all of the time is not as easy as it is to talk about it.

We spent a few days on the road, and except for our anniversary dinner, we did a pretty fair job of just eating fats and proteins for our meals. Breakfast was easy, just eat the bacon and eggs they bring, not the side items of toast and potatoes. Lunch was skipped, and dinner was pretty easy, too. Just eating meat is pretty simple, but you feel wasteful throwing all of the extra stuff away that they pile next to dinner.

Once we got off the road it got harder to eat right, not easier. We made good breakfast three mornings here from our spartan Air B&B in Oak Harbor, Washington. All we had to work with was an electric wok, but it was possible to make four-egg omelettes for two in it. There was a local-supply grocery store where we got farm eggs, raw milk cheese curds, fresh vegetables to put in them. Not too bad.

Dinner at the kids’ house was not as easy to do right. We had dessert every night. I drank canned root beer, usually a couple per day. We ate potatoes and rice. They were typical family dinners, western-diet style. Hamburgers one night, really good hot dogs another night, with buns. They weren’t the hand-crafted multi-grain buns either, but good old bargain bin buns. Ah, well, it’s only one week.

We have renewed our pledge to eat right as soon as we regain full control of our home kitchen and settled habits. Vacation (thankfully) doesn’t last all that long, and I refuse to feel any remorse or guilt that we have enjoyed what life put in our path for the last two weeks. It has truly been a magical visit, wonderful reconnecting with our kids and grandkids. I won’t let a little thing like my eating plans cloud the telling of the experience one iota.

Enjoy your vacation. Eat outside the lines, if you must, and don’t feel guilty for doing it. Be out of control for a couple of weeks, it reminds you why you want to stay in control.