Successful Lent

You remember before all this Covid 19 madness started I said I was going to observe Lent.

Well I have kept to it.

No fizzy drinks have passed my lips since Shrove Tuesday and I’m nearly there.

Question is will I go back to my old ways quickly after Easter after I’ve done so well.

Probably, but it’s been a good fast, now I have to put up with social distancing for the foreseeable future.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready.

Matcha madness

So yesterday was my first day without Coca Cola for a very long time.

I went to my local cafe, Perfect Blend, and settled myself down.

Now I had been partial to the orange juice there, but I fancied something different.

I have always liked Matcha ice cream, but I have never actually had a Matcha.

Green heaven

Matcha it was!

When the waitress came over with the green frothy cup I asked for sugar, but when I tasted it I realised I was not going to need sugar.

It was delicious, I can’t describe it any better.

Lent is going to be fun...

Lent without God

Some of you who have been reading my blog for a while will know I gave up sugar for Lent a few years ago.

I was successful.

I am not religious and I don’t believe in God, but it started me doing a series of Lents.

I gave up fried chicken, YouTube and sugar a second time.

Why do it?

If you’re not religious, why are you doing it?

I hear you ask.

Well, in these days of instant consumption I feel people have lost there will power, everything is just there when they want it.

So Lent for me is an exercise in self-control, I have to give up something tough otherwise what’s the point.

Banned substance

Sugar was by far the hardest.

But this year I am giving up sweet fizzy drinks.

To some of you healthy folk this might sound easy, but I have a Coca Cola a day.

I am so regular in my habits the waiting staff at my local cafe bring it to me automatically, so I’ve told them I’m giving it up for Lent - they were shocked.

So wish me luck, I will give you updates of my progress.

No sugar moodiness

Today was not my happiest day.

I am wondering at this point in my sugar fast, which is rapidly becoming every sweet thing but fruit fast, whether my mood is being hit by the absence of sugar.

There are more pressing things to consider than this minor ponderance of mine, but it is perhaps worth noting that I have spots, so if you're thinking of cutting sugar out for that then don't bother.

The wider world

In other news I was heartened to see so many people out on the streets of Israel protesting.

Hope is a precious thing in such a situation.

And given the myriad of confusing news coming from the region I feel opposition couldn't come at a better time.

Zoolander 

And the fictional fashion duo are becoming real life fashion stars.

Seeing them pictured next to Anna Wintour makes me feel a little uneasy.

Still burning with anger from How Glamour Lost it's Lustre.

10,000 page views without the sugar coating

I am persevering in my little lent quest, my fruit intake is definitely rising.

Not quite sure if it's altering my mood, but I think I might just be sleeping a little better.

No scientific evidence for this, just a feeling.

It's been a quite day, I've mainly been cursing government cuts and getting sad about religious extremism.

Milestone

So all there is really to report is my slight excitement that 10,000 people have decided to come and look at the funny little words I write.

That seems like a big number to me.

If each of you could now donate this unpaid blogger a pound I'd be stoked.

Someone once said, if you don't ask you don't get, you see...

Pizza!

I seem to be surviving off a lot of pizza in this no refined sugar world.

I've done a whole day today without:

No wait, you should get the drill by now.

Big promises in little bottles

So I will turn to something slightly, though not really, more interesting.

Shapers Skin Sparkler.

This little bottle of trouble promises to maintain collagen formation and help with the skin and nails.

Pet peeve

Now the words pasted to this little drink mention some great vitamins that I can well believe would do wonders for my skin.

But until I took a mouthful I forgot to check for the ingredient that a lot of these drinks bring along with them.

Sweetener, it pretty much makes all drinks disgusting and even with a no sugar diet for the last few days it is if anything more disgusting.

As far as I can remember they have no real benefit, so I left it and had an apple instead, much nicer.

Feeling uninspired

Saturday saw no sugar or honey consumption.

Though I did eat some coconut cakes, which I do not class as refined sugar.

I ate them in a rush to sustain me through a Beethoven concert, which was quite lovely.

Ended the day craving KFC, which filled a hole but felt like I could taste the water and salt injection.

Quiet days

Sunday had a much better day all round.

No sugar, honey, chocolate or even coconut cakes.

Quite moody by the middle of the day though.

Self denial a go go

Today didn't start as well as I'd planned.

I was offered tea this morning, I asked for peppermint because I find it easier to drink herbal without sweetener, I was given tea with honey in it.

I had been meaning to stay off the honey for as long as possible to see how challenging it would be to do it that way.

PM

I have made the end of the day with one dose of honey, no sugar and no chocolate.

I'm feeling fine and have done a lot of transcription and a bit of dancing.

I'm writing up an interview I did last year that I'm hoping to pitch to a magazine or newspaper.

It has nothing to do with sugar.

Politics

There is of course an election coming up and a 'grown up' debate about who should leads our country, but no one is paying me to talk about anything as exciting as who governs the United Kingdom.

A spoon less of sugar

I have decided to observe lent.

Odd thing to touch on at this point what with Chelsea fan racism and shootings in France.

Perhaps I'm retreating mentally.

Then again the government has been driving me nuts and other than a bit of pre-election campaigning there's not much I can do about that state of affairs.

So...

I am going to try and do something about myself.

I'm not a Christian so I've only observed lent once when I was having a crisis of Atheism back in my teens.

Giving up chocolate proved very hard and may have contributed further to how I felt about the whole God stuff, it's hard to be sure.

This time I'm doing it for myself in an exercise in self control, in a bid to strengthen my own sense of self determinism.

Cutting the sweet stuff

The luxury in question is refined sugar, and no I didn't fast on Ash Wednesday.

I'm going to start strict with this and see how I go and do quite a mundane blog of my struggles in the mean time.

This may be very dull, we will see, but it will give me something to hang some writing around.