Yes, you can have that second piece of lava cake on a vacation. Here’s why it’s OK

Remember the children’s classic “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”? In this picture book, the late great Eric Carle takes us through a week-long eating journey of a wannabe butterfly. On Monday, it eats an apple, on Tuesday two pears, on Wednesday three plums, but by Saturday an insatiable hunger takes hold. The most famous caterpillar in literature makes its way through an assortment of sweets and fruits.

The result? A stomachache and an unrecognizably enormous body.

I can empathize. After vacation, I always feel like Carle’s caterpillar. Bloated. Yucky. Guilty. Despite my best intentions, I invariably eat too much, and too much of all the wrong foods. I have no need to step on a scale to quantify the consequences. The waistband of my slacks tell the story better than any number can.

Last month, while visiting grandchildren I made one bad choice after another. It wasn’t just that I consumed a year’s worth of McDonald’s fries in 11 days, but I also indulged in cookies, ice cream and assorted kinds of salty snacks. Oh, and at the hotel breakfast bar I rediscovered Cap’n Crunch cereal, a favorite from childhood, back when no one seemed too concerned about sugar-laden cereal and processed foods.

But let’s not blame grandkids here. Earlier this year, on a two-week visit to Barcelona, every meal with family was a multi-course feast. I was a sucker for the displays in café windows too. I ate pa amb tomàquet (Catalan bread with tomato) every chance I got, and I truly mean EVERY chance. If anchovies were offered, I added those to my snack. And since I’m in the confessional mode, let me admit to way too many cups of hot chocolate as well.

Like in Eric Carle’s story, however, I can claim a redemptive ending to both of my vacation trips. Once home, confined by the guardrails of routine, I did return to healthier habits by controlling my predilection for junk food. So far, I’ve managed to limit — not always but most of the time — my consumption of chocolate and Cheetos.

What is it about vacation that makes us lose control? Why do we eat so poorly when we travel?

I pose these questions only because, as friends come back from summer trips, the common denominator in the stories they share is their culinary overindulgence and the unavoidable poundage that accompanies this behavior. Apparently the destination and length of a vacation matters little. When away from our normal patterns, the temptation to overeat is nearly impossible to curb.

Cruises are the most obvious example of this. There’s a certain seduction to midnight chocolate buffets, a strange pleasure in the purchased permission to make yourself sick in an all-you-can-eat-at-anytime setting. Blame it on our ancestors’ fear of famine or on our modern lack of self-control. Regardless of reason, I’m convinced a change of scenery short circuits our gut-to-brain messaging system.

My BFF, back from a month away, recently lamented the many times she had abandoned her healthy eating and daily exercising habits. Embarrassed and maybe a little angry at herself, she’s begun intermittent fasting, eating only between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. It’s going well, she reports.

Our conversation got me thinking about how I might do better on my next trip, but my meditation has led me to a conclusion I hadn’t expected. Now I’m not sure if that conclusion is an excuse masquerading as acceptance.

So, I’m throwing this out there: Vacation is a break from schedules, all schedules. Vacation is a time for pleasure, extravagance, relaxation of those things that keep us on the straight and narrow, including diet rules. Hence, my unwillingness to turn down the second chocolate lava cake for dessert. My inability to skip the bacon at breakfast.

But…but in the grand scheme of things, is that really so bad? Must I feel so guilty? If I revert to “normal,” is the sin of gluttony forgotten? After all, it’s not like I’m doing it every day forever.

Ana Veciana-Suarez writes about family and social issues. Email her at avecianasuarez@gmail.com or visit her website anavecianasuarez.com. Follow @AnaVeciana.