One donut won’t derail someone who eats well most of the time, just as a salad won’t make a fast-food junkie healthy. I can eat a donut if I want to! 

These thoughts have been swirling in my mind for a couple of months now, and after formulating an epistle of an IG post, I decided to share it here instead.

Last weekend my husband and I stole away with our kids for a couple of days. Being a farmer, we don’t get much family vacation time in the summer. Harvest is almost upon us, which means long busy days and a lot of tension around the farm! I needed to do SOMETHING first, with just our little family. On Saturday we loaded up the kids without telling them what we were doing, and left.

Our first stop was the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. It was the first time we’ve taken our kids to the zoo and it was SO worth it. I was grinning almost as much as they were, watching them enjoy everything with fresh eyes. The animals were all active and we hit everything perfectly. The monkeys were swinging and playing around, the seals/sea lions were doing all of their tricks right as we walked up, the rhinos were running and playing, and the lions actually weren’t sleeping when we saw them (they sleep 20 hours a day — who knew?).

We also checked out Banbury Cross Donuts in SLC, which was recommended to me by some of the girls I met at Awaken Retreats back in October. It took me 9 months, but I made it! We tried some of their signature ones, including their best-selling cinnamon donut. Delicious.

After surprising our kids with a hotel and spending Sunday walking around downtown Salt Lake City and Temple Square, we drove home happy, tired, and without any meltdowns along the way.

In my last post, I talked about traveling and how to eat healthy while doing so. I also made note about indulgences. Those donuts were just that. I love donuts, but won’t eat them unless they are really good. No grocery store donuts here.

I am able to eat donuts if I want, and pizza, or whatever else I choose, ON OCCASION. I am not on a diet. I eat food that is good for me 80-90% of the time, and one donut or slice of pizza won’t derail me.

Saying that I can’t eat a donut because it will ruin all of my clean eating, is like saying a salad will make a junk-food junkie healthy.

Hint: it won’t. Sure, veggies are good for you and I recommend them without abandon. But if you are constantly throwing fast food and processed junk into your body, while having the occasional salad . . . it isn’t going to be enough.

We need to treat our bodies well. They will thank us. Eat real, unprocessed, whole foods in their natural form, as often as possible. Then your random donuts a few times a year or pizza with your kids in a hotel room on vacation won’t be a big deal.

The more we stress about food, which food groups we aren’t eating, what diet is best, or which program we want to try next . . . the less we enjoy the little things. I didn’t go crazy and eat all of the treats or order ridiculous food while eating out because I was “on vacation.” I know that stress increases the hormone cortisol, which actually hinders weight loss. The more you stress and think about losing weight and what you are eating, the less likely you are to actually make any progress.

If you obsess and weigh yourself every day on the scale, you aren’t going to see the numbers drop as much. Worrying about it works against you! Ditch the scale, eat lots of veggies, and RELAX. Go for a walk, write down some goals, be with your family.

That donut was worth every bite. And it didn’t make me sick or have feelings of regret. I felt perfectly fine afterward, and enjoyed my time with my family. I didn’t stress about it. My kids might not remember whether or not I ate a donut with them, but they will remember we took the time to be together making memories. In the big scheme of things, that’s what really matters, isn’t it?