When in Rome...well , Holland anyway.

I haven't been posting the last few weeks because I am out of the country visitig family. My parents, sister and grands all live in the Netherlands and I try to make the trip once a year or so. We are having a wonderful time here spending time with my family. One of my goals when the blog was first started was to take this trip in normal -read "not maternity" - clothes. I am happy to report I was sucessful in that, although I do have a few maternity top with me because they are comfy and not because they are the only things that fit.

I will confess, I am not stickig to my diet. My mom is cooking my favorites and I am goin back for second helpings. I am eating more of the foods I miss in th US in quantities I am ashamed to admit. For this month I will accept the consequences. I know I could skip the second helping and possibly even lose weight on vacation. I haven't yet found the willpower for that.

An intersting aspect of the trip is that being here involves a lifestyle change. While I am eating more of my favorites that also involves a lot more fresh and local foods from the market. We have cut out virtually all fast food. I still drink soda, but it has real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. And, we WALK. My sister's house is 7 minutes away, walking at a brisk pace pushing a stroller. Groceries and other shopping, a solid 15 minutes. My mom's house is 3 stories and the staircases are steep. The guest room is on the third floor so Forgetting your socks involves a minor workout.

Together this means that, while I am taking in more calories I think they are better in terms of quality. I also burn more just in my daily life. I understand all the statistics about Americans being more overweight because here while it is possible to make those bad health decisions, it is far easier to make good ones.

This is definitely something I have always known but the past few months on this blog have made me far more conscious of the health decisions I am making both for myself and o my family. My husband is currently at hone trying to change some habits and make better decisions as well. Hopefully this month away will help break some of my poor health habits and I can keep up with the new ones I have learned here.

I would like to appologize for any weird typos, I wrote this entire blog by iPhone, awesome device but the autocorrect can be a bit wonky and does t allow for proofreading.