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December 15, 2010 15:09  by Dr. Grant Lum

My wife, son and I just got back from a two-week vacation in the Dominican Republic.  We had a wonderful time, with great, sunny weather, and lots of exercise in the pools and the ocean. But the great danger lurking in the shadows of our all-inclusive Caribbean vacation was – THE ALL-DAY BUFFET!

All-inclusive vacations are a blessing for families with young children.  There is a wide variety of choices for everyone’s tastes, including lots of fresh veggies, fruits, grilled fish and meats, and plenty of multigrain choices in breads and pastas.  There was even a gluten free bread available for those with Celiac disease!

But the problem is the sheer volume of food, and the ease of availability, almost 24-7.

It’s easy to load up your plate with too much of a good thing.  Our eyes are, as usual, bigger than our stomachs, and if we remember the lesson our parents impressed upon us as kids, to finish everything on our plates, then big eyes can lead to big stomachs.

It’s easy to tell people to use willpower, but that’s not always easy.  You can also use tricks like picking up a small salad plate to put your dinner on, to keep you from loading up too much.  The strategy of filling only one quarter of the plate with protein, one quarter with carbohydrate, and the remainder with fresh veggies, without the generous helping of fattening dressing, of course, can also help.  Finally, avoiding the multitude of desserts, and going for the fresh fruit, limiting alcohol intake, and the intake of such delicious concoctions as the Coco Loco and the Banana Mama (two of my favourites, I might add) also help to reduce your overall caloric intake.

Drinking lots of water helps keep you hydrated, an important consideration in a hot climate anyhow.  But dehydration also stimulates your cravings for sweet or salt, tempting you to grab a quick ice cream or plate of chips before your midday siesta.  So reach for some water instead.

With a few of these tips in mind, you can still enjoy your down south all-inclusive vacation, without coming back to a month of austerity to pay for it!  But I think it would be a lot easier to just ban the darn things!  I just don’t have the willpower to resist all that delicious stuff!

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