UNITED STATES—Well, we’re just a few days away from indulgence at its best: Fat Tuesday. Yep, for many while it’s known for partying and drinking, I always look at Fat Tuesday as that one day where you can slightly go against your diet. If you’ve gone most of the New Year without caffeine, here’s the opportunity to have a little. If you haven’t had bread, sweets or alcohol, this is a day that allows you to get away with it.

Listen people, just because you haven’t had something doesn’t mean to over indulge in it. I mean if you’ve been living a healthy lifestyle, you don’t want to destroy that by pigging out on 5000 plus calories in a single day. Yes, many may be aware of the famous Paczki (if you’re wondering how to pronounce it, it’s a variety of ways). This little stuffed donut packs a mean punch, when it comes to calories, fat and sugar. I’ve seen people literally purchase dozens of these and indulge in several during the day.

Not the wisest choice. Just eating 2-3 of these bad babies is what many would consider your daily calorie count. Guess what, you’re likely to still be hungry after eating the jelly filled treat. For anyone who ventures down to New Orleans for the big festivities, bring your patience, don’t do anything stupid, and monitor your level of alcohol. Yes, alcohol consumption can get a bit excessive and before you know it you’ve done and said things you wish you could take back, but it’s a little too late. This holiday, which isn’t actually a holiday, leads to the celebration of Lent.

Lent is important because it’s all about cleansing our bodies. This is the time of year where sacrifice becomes important. Some people choose to eat healthy; others choose to give up something for 40 days that may be impacting their lives in a negative effect. Business sees a big spike in the purchase of seafood items, which is deemed much healthier than red meat, pork and even chicken. Seafood is great, but you can’t eat it every single day because of that risk of mercury poisoning.

While I’m indeed a fan of tuna, I just can’t have it seven days a week, two to three times a day, so if you want to indulge in seafood, be smart about how you plan your meals for the safety of your health. If it’s something geared towards to obtaining a positive impact like ridding yourself of negativity, more exercise, better sleep patterns, finance strategy, there are plenty of things you can aim to achieve.

Regardless how you plan to celebrate Fat Tuesday, remember it’s just one day. Look at it as an opportunity to have a cheat day and things return back to normalcy the next day when Lent kicks in.