Carnival Fun the Healthy Way

This weekend was our church spring fest. It was billed as a food extravaganza, showcasing foods from across the world. There was Filipino, Greek, Italian, Hispanic and of course, all the typical festival food you could want. Cotton candy, snow cones, hambugers, hot dogs, pizza, popcorn, pretzels, ice cream cups – the list of food choices went on and on. Did you notice what was missing from that list?  That’s right – anything remotely healthy. When will the carnival vendors even learn, and offer fruit kabobs and a salad cup?

The way I see it, you have two choices when it comes to a special occasion like this. Well, no – you could always choose not to eat – but that’s not a very likely scenario, is it? No, your logical choices are to eat everything in sight, whatever you want, and let the (ahem!) chips fall where they may.

I’ll admit, there is a certain validity to this. After all, you do work hard during the rest of your life, and festivals don’t come along all that often. I’ve done this in the past, though, and it leaves you feeling exactly like the food you just ingested – crap. A far better choice would be to pick one – or two – foods that you just don’t feel that you can live without and share them with a friend. A funnel cake split in half is better for you than the entire order, and odds are good that you’ll be so busy talking with your friend you won’t even notice you ate less.  Just a few bites can be just as satisfying as a full order, with none of the guilt after.

Make sure you get your exercise in as well during the festival – walk around to see the sights, take the long way to get another water, join a pickup softball or soccer game, chase your kids on the playground, and don’t discount the very valid possibility of grabbing a turn in the bounce house. Remember, exercise doesn’t always have to happen in a gym.