I gave up sugar for lent.

Yesterday was the first day of lent and I failed already.  My friend brought me the most delicious looking (and tasting) cupcake.  It was rasberry lemon, how could I resist?!?  If you know me, you know my two favorite things are  gifts and food.  So, a gift that is food?  Well, that’s enough to make me slip on a pact with God.  Yikes!

But, today is a new day.  I’ve decided that I am still going to give up sugar for 40 days and I’ll just have to wait until the Monday after Easter to indulge.  It’s perfect because that is the frist day of my in-laws visit to Cali.  It’ll be extra reason to celebrate!

You may be wondering how someone gives up sugar, exactly?  I know it’s vague, but I set some rules for myself to follow.

1. No grain sugar, agave, or syrup of any kind.  This means no sweetening my coffee and nothing fancy from Starbucks (Americanas are awesome and relatively cheap!).

2. No desserts, including but not limited to; pastries, cakes, chocolates, ice cream, pies (NONE!).

3. Fruit is okay despite having sugar in it, because it’s fruit.  It’s all natural.

4. No soft drinks (which I don’t drink anyway) or juices except all natural ones that have no added sugar.

5.  Finally, though I don’t eat these things anyway, nothing that is sweet tasting but claims to be “sugar-free.”  That just means they’ve added artificial sweetener and well, that stuff will kill you someday (ask me if you don’t know what I’m talking about!)

The hardest part, so far, is my morning coffee.  I’m admittedly addicted so to change my routine has been tough.  I will only be able to drink good coffee, since I can’t drown out any bitterness with sweetness.  It is day two of cream only coffee and really it has been fine.  I buy good coffee and make it in my french press, so it tastes awesome.  Like I said, I’m addicted, so pretty much I’ll take it how I can get it.

Dave is doing this thing with me.  I’ll have to let you know how it goes.