Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Lent

While I'm no longer a practicing Catholic, I do find myself observing certain practices with which I was raised.  Giving up something for Lent is still something that I do.

In years past I've given up various things---fast food, staying up late, swearing, sweets--the usual sort of things.

Over the last year I've given up fast food (with the exception of the once a month salad at Chick Fil-A during Sunshine's SuperAwesomeSchool's Spirit Night), & Diet Coke on my own.

As we know, I tend to not curse anyway as I have little ears in my house who like to copy Mommy's actions.

Last year I made an effort to be in bed by 10 every night & with a couple exceptions, stuck to it.  And it's stuck---I try to be in bed by 10 on school nights.

So, what's a girl left to give up?  Sweets?  I don't eat enough of them that it would be a sacrifice.  Chips & the like?  Again--I don't eat enough of them for it to count.

It narrowed down to wine/alcohol, garlic stuffed olives (don't knock it until you've tried it!) & my 2-a-day Sweet-n- Lows in my morning coffee.

Well, a girl's got to have once vice & really, while I enjoy my cocktails/wine I don't drink regularly enough that it would be a hardship.  Garlic stuffed olives are medicinal with the garlic, right?  So, it came down to the Sweet-n-Low.

Before you judge me for my 2 S-n-L's please remember that I'm diabetic.  Those 2 pink packets in my coffee allow me to enjoy a sweeter version without the sugar that can be detrimental to my health.

Or are they?

Is one & a half teaspoons of sugar in my coffee really going to be that bad?  Especially considering the long term health problems associated with artificial sweeteners.

So, 40 days without pink packets.

I'm pretty sure I can do it.

2 comments:

  1. You should give up Lent for Lent. LOL

    You can do this.

    I know being a diabetic makes sweeteners a difficult thing, but have you looked into agave nectar at all? I know it's pricey, but it's natural and doesn't have a funny licorice taste the way Stevia does.

    Agave nectar is safe for diabetics. It's kind of like honey, but a bit more runny. It's not as sweet as honey, either.

    You can pick it up at Trader Joe's for a reasonable price just to see if you like it and if you do, you can get it at Costco for a GREAT deal. That's where we get ours.

    My husband was having issues with high blood pressure and cut out high fructose corn syrup (he won't eat it in any processed food or drink anything that has it) and sugar. He uses agave nectar or nothing. His doctor wanted to put him on blood pressure meds, but he doesn't need them. He corrected his blood pressure issues by cutting out processed sugars.

    Granted his situation is different than yours, blood pressure and diabetes are two vastly different things.

    Anyway, you can do this. Once you acclimate to the taste of things without S&L, you won't be able to go back to it.

    Good luck!

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  2. I haven't tried the agave (I'm the only person on earth!) but for some reason, putting something liquid-ish in coffee is weird to me. I can't explain it.

    Diet Coke was my drug of choice for years for my morning caffeine, when I gave it up, it was my last tie to carbonated drinks, period. If I'm really sick I might want sips of ginger ale but that's it. I have my morning caffeinated drink (coffee now) & then drink water the rest of the day. I probably drink 100 oz of water in a day, depending on what I'm doing.

    When I gave up the DC & accepted coffee as my morning ritual, I felt weird about the whole sugar vs. Sweet-n-Low thing. If I go to Starbuck's, I don't get the skinny version of drinks unless it's the peppermint mocha which has more carbs than most people should take in in one sitting.

    The last few years, I've used the Lenten season as a time to make positive changes in my life rather than to sacrifice something. It just makes more sense to me than to say, give up prosciutto for 40 days and then gorge on it come Easter. I don't eat a lot of junk on a regular basis that giving up sweets or chips or something would be a sacrifice so why not do something that will leave me healthier in either mind or body at the end of the 40 days?

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