Sugar Sweet Sugar

Is sugar really worthy of it's own blog entry? YES.

I'm sitting here at Panera working (okay - taking a break) and munching on a caramel pecan brownie. Totally yummy. These things have mocked me from the counter when I went up to order my sugarless food. Now the brownie is mine. Mine I say!

So, what's with the sugar? Well, I was thinking on what I learned over Lent (aka - those horrible weeks when I had no sugar).

1. I'm a little too dependent on sugar. I use it as a stimulant. I use it as a pick-me-up. I use it as a reward. Not a good thing

2. This year I went with the tradition of taking the Sabbath off from giving things up for Lent. More simply stated, I ate sugar on Sundays. I didn't run out and eat 3 candy bars each Sunday, but I also didn't avoid sugar like I did for the rest of the week. This had the result of making me look forward to Sundays and be a little sad when the sun started going down on Sunday. It's a really cool thing to anticipate the Sabbath.

3. Giving up something for Lent isn't nearly as effective if you just substitute something else just as bad. As in "okay I won't eat that cookie because it's Lent - I'll have some potato chips instead".

4. Giving up something for Lent isn't as effective as fasting.

5. Fruit is yummy and very sweet. Perhaps I should eat more of it.

One of my favorite memories from Lent will be me and my friend Trish (who had also given up sugar) at her window on Saturday asking each other if we thought the sun had officially set yet (making it the Sabbath). Too funny!