I
may be one lottery ticket away from obesity and alcoholism.
Eating
at home in Ottawa means leafy, low-fat foods and mineral water – until
Friday-night pizza and wine. The end of
the week break from routine encourages relaxation and rewards the good dietary
behavior of the preceding days.
It
works most of time.
But
on vacation when relaxation becomes a preoccupation, the good behavior part
falls to the side and the whole strategy faces a test – one that brought
repeated failure when we walked the Loire Valley this spring.
Our
trek ran about 120 kilometres through forests, across fields, and down country
roads.
The fresh air and illusion of exercise made it easy to justify indulgence at both ends of the day. It started with grazing on piles of pastries and pain au chocolat. Later we hit the cheese plates and chacuterie in cafés ending with multi-course dinners dripping in sauces that demanded the acidic offset of wine and more wine and some beer.
For
a few days, this didn’t seem like much of a problem. Our vacation package included meals and that made the travel company responsible for what
was put in front us and what went into us.
But
after a week, we noticed that wine, usually by the bottle, was an automatic
addition to dinner – and sometimes along with a “dee-gest-eef,” “an a-pair-a-teef,”
and “a what-the-eef.” We felt stuffed
and dozy more often than our ideal.
“How
do the French stay so slim ?”
“They
eat small portions and smoke a lot.”
We
tried the smaller portion thing and inhaled secondhand smoke for half a day, then
slipped back into holding our noses, opening our mouths, and looking for more French
food.
“Maybe,
we should carry around one of those long baguettes like they do,” I said. “Just
in case we need a snack.”
I
asked why they didn’t serve wine on the commuter trains and whether melted compté
might go good with granola. At this
point, I realized that a problem loomed and wondered how hard it would be to
return to a normal diet back home.
As
I thought this, we ordered another bottle of wine and talked about the process
that leads to problem drinking and eating, when these bad habits take hold, and
whether circumstance and money were all that separated us from the drinking and
diet abyss.
The
trip came to an end before we ventured an answer to that question – it might
have been “Maybe,” “I guess we should start watching it,” or “Who cares?”
Back
in Ottawa and our normal setting, we found it easier than feared to get
back on the leafy greens and mineral water wagon. I
guess you can safely indulge and court excess without permanent dietary damage
after all.
Still, I don’t think I will buy lottery tickets for a while.
Still, I don’t think I will buy lottery tickets for a while.
