"The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free." - Swami Vivekananda
Early Mardi Gras is never a good thing in my book. When I used to walk in a parade, it meant freezing temperatures with not nearly enough clothes on for that kind of weather. Now it means at least one of us is likely to be sick during parade season, and this year in particular, it also meant not enough of a break from last year's holiday meals before king cake season began. Between last Thanksgiving and this Mardi Gras, I gained ten pounds.
This is the third year in a row that I've given up sugar for Lent. I went to Ireland in 2012 and while I was there, discovered the grass fed cattle. Not only is the meat better for you if animals are grass fed, but the dairy products are, too. I felt like everything tasted better, and I'll bet that the use of high fructose corn syrup is much less common if used at all in their foods, too, although I didn't start checking ingredients labels until a couple of years ago. Now I regularly check labels, and it's sad sugar is used in so many things. Palm oil is another very commonly used ingredient, as is high fructose corn syrup - palm oil isn't so much an issue for us as it is more of a concern for primates habitats (yep, I'm a tree hugger), but hfcs is awful for human consumption.
Nineteen days into Lent, I've failed more than a few times, but the fail today was pretty intense. It actually started on Friday night when the hubs and I got home from Cirque de Soleil. We'd gotten seafood dinners from Rouses to scarf down before the show because our little one was diagnosed with strep, and the sitter wanted minimized exposure so we had to cancel dinner plans at Maypop. Dinner was fried food - shrimp, fries, and hush puppies. When we got home from the show, we were both hungry again, so I finished off leftovers and went to bed. The next day, I had more fries and then began the tummy troubles from way too much fried food. Today I woke up dehydrated - weak, crampy, lethargic. I drank an entire 2 liter of pH balanced water (Evamor) over the course of a few hours and eventually felt much, much better.
But then...by this afternoon, it was getting to be nap time and I didn't want coffee. Or I did, but it hasn't been agreeing with me lately mentally, so I decided to do an experiment. Little one and I went to Starbucks and I got a green matcha frapp and a brownie with chocolate chunks. Green matcha tea is good for you but all the sugar that goes into a frappuccino and the whipped cream is not, and the decadent brownie tasted really good, so all of my taste for sweets hasn't yet diminished. When we got home, the tummy revolt began! When all was said and done, I felt like I had taken a huge step back in my sugar detox. Last week I had even participated in a flush and was doing pretty well - I lost two inches around my waist!
After a soak in Epsom salts and essential oils and drinking tons more Evamor, plus having delicious homemade chicken noodle soup courtesy of the hubs, I'm feeling better. Still not as great as I was earlier today, but not nearly as bad as post coffee shop. The sugar addiction is real, y'all. And the further into my detox/Lent we get, the more reason I'm seeing to continue limiting my sugar intake, but also our daughter's. She doesn't understand value or time yet, but I'm trying my hardest to explain that we need to eat better and we don't have to buy everything just because it looks good or we're hungry at that moment. As parents, we've got to set good examples for our kids and take care of ourselves so we are able to take care of them.
