With the coming of today (25th of February) we have come halfway with Lent. To recap, Lent is the Christian fasting season of 40 days that started on Ash Wednesday (6th of February this year) and lasts till the 16th of March 2008. Sometime over a month ago I decided it would be fun to participate in this almost extinct ritual. Thus I formulated my own rules and guidelines to regulate the coming 40 days. This post serves as a half-way through checkpoint to evaluate what I have learned till now.
First a summary of the rules I established beforehand;
The Vicious Lent
- No candy of any kind (mainly avoid large amounts of sugar in any product)
- Always eat healthy (count calories if you have to)
- No alcohol
- Only drink water or tea (or pure fruit juice)
- Give up something (video gaming)
- Take up something (playing the ukulele)
Now being halfway, I feel proud to say that I have not broken any one of these rules. That said, it was actually more difficult than expected. I never realized till now how enormously engrained sugar is in nigh-all we consume. Not only that, but it takes an enormous amount of willpower to refuse sweets in daily life, ranging from not buying that delicious chocolate bar while you’re almost starving to refusing crisps at birthday parties (that one is not fun). Although this feeling fades after a week or so. The liquid issues are not big problems if you’re already used to them (I am). Giving up gaming proves to be boring yet productive. And finding time to play the ukulele seriously has yet to be found. Now that’s out of the way, what is it that I have learned?
Bread is absolutely fucking delicious. Bread has become the main source of food save for dinner and it is very, very nice.
Food is a godsend. Fuck all the fat people who manage to eat plates after plates of delicious dinner. You will find new respect for food in all its forms when, after finishing for example lunch, you already find yourself yearning for dinner. I can advise joining in on the last days for anyone who takes food for granted.
I lost weight. This was unplanned, unhealthy and will be compensated for.
Action is always better than inaction. The wheel must turn. With the lack of video gaming giving me many boring nights to spend it seems reasonable to sign up for everything sounding even mildly interesting and accepting any invitations to go somewhere.
The body is an amazing machine which output is directly affected by its fuel supply. Eat too much and you’ll be drowsy and lazy. Don’t eat enough and you’ll be tired and weak. Balance your meals to fit your body and you’ll never look back.
Did I mention how absolutely awesome food is?
All this and more in 20 days to come!
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