So there’s this pretty generally accepted notion that if you’re on vacation, you can’t eat healthy.
While it’s definitely harder to watch what you eat – and much easier to overeat – when traveling, I don’t think it’s impossible to come back from a trip weighing the same you did when you left.
That being said, I ate a LOT this weekend at Blend Retreat. And my favorite part about eating with these ladies is that, before every meal, we ALL whip out our phones to take pictures of our food. Healthy living bloggers, you are so my people.
Anyway, I digress. I definitely ate a lot this weekend. But I also kept my booty movin’! I took 14,000 steps on Friday and 20,000 steps on Saturday..dang!
But this post is not about exercise. That post is forthcoming. This post is about not feeling guilty, it is about indulging (but not too much), and it is about balance. Balance, people!
And because it just happens to be Wednesday…I’m linking up with What I Ate Wednesday hosted by Jen!
After a really good happy hour at Gracie’s in Salt Lake City on Thursday night, I split an entire thin crust pizza with Julie at Setebello. And I didn’t feel like I was gonna explode afterward. My secret? I didn’t eat the crust. Why waste precious stomach space with crust when there is prosciutto, arugula, blackberries and balsamic glaze to be consumed?!
This was far from the only great food we had this weekend though. The next day, we were off to Park City, and in the evening enjoyed cocktail hour and dinner!
During a weekend filled with very little makeup and lots of sweat and exercise clothes, the cocktail hour is always a super fun opportunity to get a little spiffed up. Of course Becky & I both went with stripes 😉 That seemed to be the theme of the weekend for us!
In addition to hanging with Becky, who I’ve known for over a year now, I was also lucky enough to be placed in a suite with possibly the best group of gals I could have asked for! Glad we ended up with at least one picture of the whole suite 🙂 I stole this gem from Meghan!
Anyway, the real highlight was this:
The cocktail hour was sponsored by Sizzlefish (who provided these amazing appetizers), and FLUROwater, who developed a few specialty cocktails for the choosing:
I chose the dark cherry champagne spritzer, and tasted just a bit of veggies & hummus, a black bean cake, and some AMAAAAZING king salmon from Sizzlefish. I was tempted to go back for more, but I wanted to save room for dinner!
More pizza! And more ditching the crust so I could stuff as many delish toppings in my gullet as possible 😉
They had a whole array of tarts to choose from for dessert, and, since I had a fruit tart last year, I decided on the salted caramel tart (in the back) which had a nice lil layer of chocolate ganache. Everyone at our table gobbled them up! It was so good.
Breakfast on Saturday morning was sponsored by Quest Nutrition, and in addition to an awesome protein-packed breakfast spread (plus some super crispy herby potatoes…nom), we had little treats made out of Quest Bars! (see lower right) What the what!?
For the rest of the weekend (besides breakfast), we were left to our own devices for food. That is, whenever there wasn’t a sponsored snack break or an awesome sponsor set up making goodies in the Expo room. Have I mentioned yet how amazing this weekend was?
On Saturday evening, we decided to go into downtown Park City to eat and drink at High West Distillery, which we heard great things about last year but because Blend was during the off-peak season in 2013, it was closed.
Becky and I split a bison-beef burger that was stuffed with an onion ring! It was so perfect to bite into after a day of protein shakes and bars 😉
However, I’m glad we split the burger and fries, because we had IPA’s to leave room for:
We love our hoppy, strong IPAs, so we are usually let down by the beer selection in alcohol-regulated Utah. But we discovered that the bar had Hop Rising, a double IPA by Squatters, and indulged in one or three 😉
…And maybe a cocktail too…
…With a side of photo bomb of course 😉
Before leaving on Sunday, we had to stop at Cafe Rio… AKA Chipotle’s even more amazing other half (yes, it’s possible!!)
But I was a bad blogger and didn’t take a picture. 😦 Guess you’ll have to find a Cafe Rio by you and see what the hype’s all about!
What are your tips for not overeating on vacation?
What is your favorite kind of beer?
Run Now, Wine Later 
I am SO bummed we didn’t exchange numbers before ya’ll went out to eat Saturday night! At least Cafe Rio hit the spot- but I still wish we could have hung out more this weekend!
I snagged 2 slices as well to make up for cardboard hard crust….but it was still bomb! Can you believe that was my first time having artichokes?! On pizza! Gahh, I missed out on the salted caramel tarts but Beth let me take of bite of hers. SO DAMN GOOD.
My tip for this weekend was just to embrace all the new foods, stay hydrated (fail), get my volume with veggies and indulge in the good stuff, and drink as much free coffee as my belly could hold. I was averaging 3-4 cups a day.
I may or may not have ninja-ed a few k-cups for the trip home……#ratchet
I ate lots of salads and salmon on vacation. We had so much fun that I didn’t think too much of eating and I wanted to keep all my snacks/swag for home.
I like hefs, ambers, and blonde. I went to Squatter’s on Sunday and they had a fantastic strawberry blonde. 🙂 I’m working on liking the others – I don’t like IPAs but I like double IPAs.
That strawberry blonde was fantastic and I don’t even like beer!!
It was solo good indeed!
HAHA that photobomb picture is one of my absolute favorites. Can we plan a trip? I miss youuuuu, soulmate.
I have been wanting to try High West forever.. and I live here! It looks so good. I am glad you tried Settebello! That is what we were expecting the pizza on Friday to be like–ugh–really discouraged at the delivery of that meal and it didn’t live up to our standards. But Settebello is bomb and I go there often. Anyway, it was SO nice to hang out over the weekend! You are a babe! xoxoxo
Balance is my middle name. Alright, not truly, but it’s certainly what preach. I generally indulge a little more than usual on vacation because it’s all about living. I try not to overeat and if I do, I figure it’ll even out somewhere in the end. Sadly, not my back end though because I sure would like an ass and nothing seems to go there. 🙂
I just went with whatever I was hungry for! The first two days I indulged which left me craving fresh veggie goodness the next two days!
So so good to hang out with you this past weekend! Why isn’t California closer?? Someone needs to work on that…
You are so right abut having real food after a day of protein shakes. The samples were great, but I was ready for FOOD!
So wonderful to meet you!
Oh Katie you’re way better than me with that whole ”balance” thing! I would have never been able to leave that delicious pizza crust in my plate 😉
We are meant to be friends – we both love wine and hoppy IPAs. What more do you need in a friend?!?? 😉 I’m so glad we got to see each other again at Blend this year. And now we need to get planning our next trip!
Wow!! YUM! Looks like you ate great on your vacation!! And that is so cute that you guys all whipped out your phones to take pictures!! I mean… how could you not?! It all looks so healthy and delicious! YUM!