Are you ready for a zero weight gain vacation?

With vacation season in high gear, the post "vacation eating blues" are on the rise.
"I went on vacation and gained 10 lbs," a friend admits with guilt. "Time to get back to my diet! I ate way too much on vacation, all of that food was just too good to pass up," is a relative's embarrassed report. Post vacation eating blues is all too common. Every year, many adults return home from their summer adventures with extra baggage: several pounds that they did not leave carrying. Most people would agree that one goal of vacation is to return home relaxed and rejuvenated. So, why do countless people return burdened with extra weight that will take weeks or even months to lose?

How you eat on vacation says a lot about your eating habits, what you think about food, and how you take care of your body. Do your eating habits go into a typical "vacation mode" that includes the "I'm on a seafood diet. I "see" food and eat it." mentality? We all can agree that the "see-food" punch line has received more than its fair share of laughs over the years.

We have allowed overeating to become an acceptable past-time, especially during vacation, while dieting, which we know does not work, remains the preferred remedy to deal with our eating blues. We also observe this same pattern each year after the holidays. Interestingly, the words "vacation" and "holiday" are synonymous.  When will this pervasive overeating-restricting madness end?

We are a society of people swinging from one extreme to another in our eating and exercise habits. Many of us chronically overeat and under move our bodies for a period. Then, we notice weight gain and proceed to undereat and over move our bodies for a time. One symptom of this imbalance is what we call the "obesity epidemic." Over and over again, we have experienced that dieting is not the answer to eating excesses. What is one answer to catapult us out of the age of overeating and into an era of natural balanced eating and self-care? Reconnecting and eating in response to our true biological hunger and fullness signals (i.e., intuitive eating).

Intuitive eating is a simple self-care prescription. This remedy will keep more of your well earned money in your wallet than dishing out money for dieting ever will. According to a 2006, Forbes.com article, Costly Calories, which compared several popular dieting programs, "The median diet [plan] worked out to a costly $85.79 a week--that's 50% more than the $54.44 the average single American spends on food." You may be spending double the amount of money to lose the weight that you put on during vacation!

The experts quoted in the Costly Calories article conclude that the dieting industry has proven to be ineffective and that the best method to lose weight is to eat less (e.g., restrict your calories) and exercise more. Yes, the estimated 46 billion dollar dieting industry repeatedly fails: because of its prescription to restrict calories and exercise more! Restricting calories and exercising more requires consistent willpower that will falter over time.

The most effective weight management method is prevention, not intervention. Intuitive eating practices will help you avoid putting on extra pounds that your body does not need. By eating intuitively, you will learn how to make eating for your body's caloric needs the dominant habit in your life, even when you go on vacation. We associate great pleasure to eating while on vacation because we give ourselves full permission to eat. Intuitive eating allows you to give yourself full permission to eat every day. Anyone would agree that full and balanced eating pleasure everyday is better than full and imbalanced eating pleasure only on vacation.

A new intuitive eating habit becomes effortless, in contrast to the unsustainable willpower required for restricting calories (e.g., dieting). The cost of creating this new habit? Time and focus on your body to relearn and to honor the natural hunger and fullness signals it provides. It's definitely worth the effort. If you start now, by this time next year, that new natural eating pattern will be in place and the vacation eating blues will be an experience of your past.

Eat intuitively, Move joyfully, Love your body.

Images courtesy of Microsoft Clipart.