I’m in New York City with my wife visiting my daughter for her birthday and for Christmas, and that means eating foods that are non-Paleo to experience the culture and culinary delights that only NYC can afford: deep dish pizza, New York cheesecake, and Pink’s and Grays Papaya hot dogs! I’m sure there will be others, as well, but those are what we’re starting with.

When my wife and I travel, we do our best to stay Paleo, but we allow ourselves to enjoy the local cuisine and specialties, even if they’re not Paleo. We strive to mitigate the damage as much as we can by eating bacon and eggs for breakfast or eating smaller portions of the non-Paleo foods, and it does help to minimize the weight gain. There’s also the fact that my stomach has shrunk a lot since I was at my heaviest, so I can become satisfied with much smaller portions than I was able to be before I lost all the weight.

Will I gain some weight during this trip? Certainly. Will I have to do some strict Paleo eating when I get back home to lose it? For sure. Will I enjoy everything while I can in NYC and deal with the consequences when I get back? Absolutely. And I won’t regret a thing.