Yes, Virginia, not only is there a Santa Clause, but you can have your carbs and eat them, too.

We’re on Dominica, a lush Caribbean Island for a tropical getaway (granted, it’s working vacation for as you can see I am online!)

It’s mountainous, gorgeous, full of hiking trails and crashing beaches – one of which we survey from the elevated deck on the house we’ve rented.

The people are friendly, life is simple, and there’s only one glitch we perceived in the works:
– where to get our beloved fresh fruits and veggies?

The question plagued us for the first 24 hours, as each small village hosts only, apparently,  tiny “basics” stores` with rows of tins, and plenty “snackettes”.

We knew there must be a way, as we are surrounded by hills of banana orchards and the warm rainfall is a prescription for backyard gardens.

Oh – I forgot – the other challenge was some good, grainy bread.

24 hours later and voila, all problems solved!

We found a baker who makes ultra-grainy bread to order.  She even delivered early, along with a tray of cinnamon rolls unlike I’ve ever encountered before (hence the inspired title to this post).  She even makes quiche, veggie pizza, and pie if the mood so strikes.

The veggie/fruit problem was solved with an excursion to the weekly farmer’s market half an hour through the muddy jungle road, where we scored armfuls of tomato, papaya, grapefruit, and banana – THEN we arrived home to find the night watchman, who has a farm as well, had left us a box brimming with goodies from his gardens:  avocado, starfruit, cucumber….we’re in heaven!  The biggest challenge then became what to have for dinner. We ended up with big fat avo/tomato sammies (an all-time favorite in our house), along with the freshly-uncorked bottle of Argentinian white, cucumber, and starfruit.

Now, here’s the best part.  You know that I only eat things that I like, that I refuse to give my life over to stringent dietary and exercise routines that take all the pleasure out of it all.

At the same time, you know that I love the feel of strong, fit, and trim.

AND – what you may not necessarily know about me – is that one of the goals of my fitness venture is to find solutions that would allow me to do just what I am telling you about today – travel to far flung who-knows-where places, be able to tumble around to find food solutions and enjoy what I can create from the findings, without obsessing and compulsing about food groups, calories, or any of it – yet still be successful!

Here’s the truth  –  I know that because of the work I have done on the psychology of food and eating, I can enjoy ALL of this today without a worry.  And my confidence in my workout schedule, my dietary plan, and my overall balance of all things health and fitness will deliver for me again.  There is tremendous joy in that confidence.  And I know that I will probably arrive home at just about the same weight as I left, because I don’t freak out and go overboard with black-and-white and perfectionism.  I’ll probably just hop on the scale, take note, restock my home fridge with the quality and variety that I know serves me best, continue my workouts, and be none the worse for the wear – no, actually better because I’ll have another wild and woolly travel adventure committed to memory!

P.S. Here’s  a snapshot of the farm goodies Augustus brought by our house, on the railing of our back porch.  Wanna come over?