Lent 2013
It’s Fat Tuesday, aka Mardi Gras, aka Paczki Day, aka Shrove Tuesday, aka one of my favourite days of the year.
Our social committee at work gave away paczki which was amazing because I wasn’t planning on buying any but I wanted one really badly. It was a good start to my day.
Dinner, naturally, was pancakes and sausage. I made these Swedish Pancakes from the NY Times. The recipe uses whipped egg whites to leaven the batter which made for some really light pancakes, but I found that they collapsed and lost a lot of their lift when I put them in a low oven to keep warm. They’re at their most delicious right out of the pan, which makes it tough to prepare them for more than one person.
So with today being Mardi Gras that can only mean tomorrow is Ash Wednesday or the beginning of Lent, the annual Christian 40 day diet fasting period.
As with last year and the 2 years before that I’m giving up sugar for Lent.
No more cookies or jam or candies or vanilla spice lattes. No more sugar at all. Not for the next 40 days at least.
I find giving up sugar extraordinarily hard. Harder than going vegan (’cause vegans can eat sugar) but I’m going to do my very, very best to stick with it.
Also for Lent I want to work on being less judgmental. I catch myself judging others a lot. I’m not a very empathetic person and I want to change that (or at least be more aware of it). I want to try to be more open-minded to what makes people do whatever it is I’m judging them for. I think it could make me a much more understanding person.
What are you giving up for Lent?
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- Samantha Menzies is an opinionated young firecracker who just happens to enjoy distracting web surfers with chronicles of her mildly entertaining daily pursuits.
Technically, while vegans can have sugar, a lot of white sugar is whitened using animal bone char.
If you’re open to it, you might want to consider taking 300 mg of chromium daily. It helps to regulate blood sugar levels and improves the way the body uses insulin, therefore reducing cravings. As a bonus, some people take it to improve athletic performance and body conditioning.
Interesting. I’ll look into it.
Do you take it once-a-day or multiple times throughout the day? Any negative effects of taking it?
I have a hard time giving up sugar completely as well! I took part in a fast for my church this year and was amazed at how sick and tired I felt after giving up both caffeine and sugar. My body literally felt ill, as if I had come down with a serious flu. And I too found *much* harder than going vegan!
Sometimes you don’t realize how much energy you’re getting from sugar and caffeine, eh? That is, until you cut it out.
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