The Nutrition-Free Week

One of the nice things about holidays is the suspension of routine; the normal rules of living are loosened somewhat, because no one has to be out the door at a particular time, meal and bed times can be fluid, everyone can sleep in. It's a "get out of jail free" card for the duration.

This has translated into a "nutrition-free" week at the cottage. It started when the girls were younger, and as part of the week away from routine, we would get considerably more "treat" food for our week away than we ever had any other time of the year. And as that meant that I was constantly trying to beat them out of the kitchen, and eternally being the "treat police" and it was distinctly unpleasant, mostly for me. After a while, I threw my hands up and figured "it's one week out of the year, have at it". You want Pringles and pudding for breakfast? Be my guest. Lunch is some licorice and a popsicle? Not a problem. Popcorn at 2 in the afternoon? Great idea. You're not hungry for dinner because you ate your weight in Pop-Tarts? Why didn't I think of that?
It's tradition.

I'll admit, I've had some sober second thoughts regarding this policy on more than one occasion. One morning, when Thing 2 was about 6 years old, I woke up to find her sitting on the couch, watching a DVD and eating vanilla icing straight out of the can with a spoon. I was mostly horrified, but a teeny bit impressed at her intestinal fortitude. And Thing 1 once ate an entire chocolate cream pie by herself over the course of a day.
And it's not just the kids, oh no. The Mister and I can hold our own in the "Red Dye Number 2 Festival"....I don't know what it is about sitting on the beach, but I crave potato chips like a meth addict when I'm there. I can not only eat a bag of chips every day, I have also been known to put a serious dent in a bag of cheezies, which is completely unheard of any other time of the year. The Mister, who usually never eats breakfast at all, will almost always have a bowl of whatever chocolate flavored, sugar coated, morally dubious cereal that's around, every day.

I do make dinner every night that week, and although I'm a bit more lax than usual, I do try to have something that gives everyone's pancreas a fighting chance. And I do have plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables around. It makes me feel a bit better to have some baby carrots with my lunch of bacon and egg bagels and a fudgesicle.
And I notice that 'round about Wednesday or Thursday of our week, someone will ask if there's going to be salad with our dinner, or if we have any apples. The nutrition-free week works itself out pretty nicely....eventually your body will start to demand fuel that has only one or two syllables in its name.

It's nice to have one week where you kick the rules to the curb and let loose. But truly, one week is enough.