Report Card: Evaluating A Food Blogger’s Hawaii Vacation Eats

One would hope that a blogger of healthy eats would not just talk the talk but actually walk the walk, so after writing this post on how to stay healthy on vacation, I did a little personal inventory to see how I fared on my last trip.

Performance Evaluation

Hawaii does not observe daylight saving time, so an early sunrise, orchestrated by an abundance of island-roaming roosters, guaranteed we were up and at ‘em fairly early.

Each day we prepared breakfast in the condo, usually eggs, yogurt, fresh fruit—nothing fancy, just simple fuel to get us going.
On vacations, Bill and I are both maniacal doers, so staying active is not a problem. In one week we explored beaches, found a hidden Hindu monastery, hiked the interior of the island to the crater, meandered through botanical gardens, found our lost trail without getting the jeep stuck (yeah!) and played in the ocean.

Dining Evaluation

Some lunch and dinner choices…
After one particularly strenuous day, we stopped off at Monico’s Taqueria in Wailua for a late lunch. We chowed down on kalua pig, the pit roasted traditional Hawaiian dish, and fish tacos.

It’s not hard to find wholesome food on the islands. Our 5oth state has consistently been ranked in the top five of the healthiest states in the union with many of the residents committed to local community and sustainability.

Restaurants such as the island casual Caffe Coco promote the organic lifestyle and offer a wide selection of dishes local to the island. I tried the samosa, a purple sweet potato turnover served with banana chutney and a Thai curried pumpkin/kale soup. It was unique and delicious.

Bill’s outdoor cooking obsession never takes a vacation, so if possible he fires up a grill wherever we go. A strip steak, potato and side salad provided another well-earned meal. A soak in the hot tub was dessert.

Fit Bottom Line: So much to explore made it easy to stay active. We ate healthy and never once felt deprived. Cooking our own breakfasts saved a few shillings, but too many samples of the local brew and pizza (twice in one week, oops—did I forget to mention that?) took our final grade down a notch. I was happy with the B.
Was it a fair evaluation or am I grading on a curve? —Karen