I knew that two weeks in the summer would be bad. Vacation time-kids and grandkids, amusement parks, etc. Most times we did our own "healthy" meals at home, which was often sandwiches. I even had a slice of pizza twice when the group decided. My BG meter was not happy, but I had happy grandkids. My sins, though small, were evident.

Now that those two weeks are past I've been getting even more serious about Dr. Fung's fasting. I'm up to 24 hour alternating days, so maybe the alarm was useful in helping me up the commitment level.

I think Dr. Fung says that our bodies evolved from an environment of "feast and famine" so I'm trying to think of the vacation as my feasting, now returning to the "famine" of the necessary fasting.

How has everyone else handled vacation time?

Similarly My mother visited for a week earlier this summer and I took a break from logging my foods into Fitday. I didn't worry about portions and we ate out a lot but I did stay 100% low carb. I gained a few pounds that came off quickly afterward.

A few weeks ago my sister and her family were here, and again I took a Fitday break. I ate WAY too much, ate out a ton and this time added sugar free chocolates and peanut butter to my days - a LOT of them. Otherwise I stayed low carb but I still managed to gain a whopping seven pounds in that week. It took just over a week to get those pounds off again (and get my BG back down) with super strict LC and portion control, but it felt good to re-Induct.

Life is life, nobody is perfect and as long as we're keeping mini-breaks truly mini, we'll make it through just fine.

I've managed to avoid Grains, Potatoes and Sugar during vacation/holidays or I have chosen not to eat. For me it's simple, there is no drama or personal feelings/politics involved. I am thankful for that!

Glad you are examining your experience _d - perhaps others have some interesting plans and strategies to share.

Me, too. Two weeks with the in-laws - carb city! But diabetes doesn't take vacations. When I couldn't find anything suitable to eat - I simply didn't eat. No drama - no problems.

If anyone's happiness depended on what I eat - tough. They would just have to be unhappy. If anyone were to press me on this - & thank God no one has - I would be blunt. I would ask that person why raised blood sugar levels & the resultant nerve damage is something that would make him/her happy. I already have neuropathy - I don't want it to get worse.

One thing I did do was reward myself when I could. We ate at restaurants pretty often & I chose things like meat-filled omelets, rib eye & other steaks, and one of the best hamburgers (no bun) I've ever had. My taste buds didn't have a chance to feel deprived.

added - Growing up, I knew a T1 diabetic who was a friend of my mom. Mom told me that Mrs. E was so strict with her diet that she pretty much made her meals separate from the rest of the family. When she tasted something she was making for the family that she couldn't eat, she would spit it out. That example of self-control & dedication to her health has stayed with me. That was before the ADA started telling people to just cover carbs with insulin, that we shouldn't have to deprive ourselves of sugar & bread.

I started low carb a week before I had a two week vacation, part at home and part away. I kept on plan pretty easily, but there were some challenges. Finding something at a restaurant is usually pretty easy. My husband usually cooks and made some really delicious low carb meals for us. I did have some lower carb alcohol, but it didn't derail me.

This past week (post vacation) was my biggest challenge yet. The meal after a funeral was a real carb fest. The only thing I could eat was deli meat, cheese, and green beans. There wasn't even a green salad. I got through and nobody blinked an eye. I am finding that people are a lot less concerned if I don't eat as expected.

I am on the Thud and Bonnie boat. We spent a week in CA for our anniversary. Ate a lot of lettuce bun burgers, including, on the anniversary itself, a "Santa Barbara burger" where the chef decided that the appropriate amount of lettuce was an entire head of Romaine lettuce!

The waitress was laughing as she brought it to me. I really like the foods I eat, so I don't feel like it's a sacrifice, you know? It's just what I eat. My joints hurt if I eat grains, these days. The last time I had a sizable amount was last summer, eating popcorn at a movie with Daughter.

The next day, my brain felt like I was trying to navigate in a fog. So, meh. Popcorn isn't worth feeling stupid to me.

I did OK on vacation, but just assumed there were hidden carbs in some of the food from restaurants. Ate salad bars, burgers without buns, meat and veggies, etc. Did snack more than usual, but we brought pork rinds, cheese, and macadamia nuts. Had a couple of Michelob Ultras, and a couple of glasses of wine.

Didn't lose, but didn't gain more than a pound or two -- and had a great time, so it's all good.

I vividly remember that brain fog. Years ago it wasn't all the time, but happened often enough I wondered what was going on. But there wasn't the easy access to information that we have nowadays, so I just bumbled along.

Don't know if it was the grains or the sugar, but since I know both are bad for me, I'm not willing to suffer through an experiment to see which was the culprit. I would guess both, or the combination.

I wonder if it is actually true that humans evolved for frequent famines. Famines were more a thing of farming and agriculture and living in one place. When people don't farm, there's really nothing to keep them from moving up the coastline to where the fish are thriving, the oyster beds are full, or following a herd of food on hoof.

Oh look, a link from long ago: http://forum.lowcarber.org/archive/...p/t-465962.html

Good question, Nancy. In GCBC, Gary Taubes talks about the drought in Biafra, back in the 80's. Guess who DIDN'T suffer nearly as much from it?

The nomadic tribes. They just followed the wild animals, who moved to find sources of water. There, they found not only animals for meat, but small amounts of vegetation as well.

I'm going to have to re-read GCBC - it's been a while & I'll probably understand it better now.

Re nomads - American Indians didn't have much of a problem until Europeans showed up. We brought new diseases & over the years destroyed animal habitats - and the animals themselves.

Bonnie, I got about 1/3 of the way through it, and couldn't handle the multiple ways I needed to change my view of nutrition, so I put it down.

Last year, in the winter, I had an assignment during TBI therapy to read something not simple. So I picked it back up, again. Started with 4 pages a day. With that little, I really could absorb what I was reading. I'm glad I completely finished it; so much research in one place!