I think it's been about 5 weeks without sugar. Who would have ever believed that I could do it? I would say that the last two weeks have been the easiest. However, I didn't title this post cheater because it is going well. It is going well, but I have fallen off the sugar-free wagon a few times.
There is a girl who is sick in bed. She has a job that requires a strong voice. Her voice is weak and pitiful.
There is a boy who is is tired and chilled and achy and snotty. (But the girl still thinks he's wonderful.)
The girl decided that for the sake of her health, she would not go to work.
The boy decided that for the sake of his students, he would go to work.
The girl thinks that neither of them should go to work and that it is wonderful that they are both legitimately sick at the same time.
The boy thinks that the world will stop turning if he does not go to work.
The girl is, of course, exaggerating the boy's opinion.
Actually, the boy thinks that a guest teacher will have a terrible day because he would not be able to whip up a fabulous plan.
The girl thinks that that's okay, because guest teachers get paid. You see, since she teaches a specialized area, it often happens that a guest teacher cannot do what is planned. Oh well.
Apparently, the girl doesn't get the realities of high school and the realities of the small town. Somewhat of a theme.
As well, as the boy pointed out, there are far worse jobs where people have far worse days than the boy and the girl do, when they work sick.
True.
So the girl is extremely thankful that she lives in a country that is great and was able to get an education. She is also thankful that the education allowed her to get a pretty darn nice job. Most of the time, she's not too thrilled that she has to pay union dues. However, it is those union dues that got her the right to stay home when she is sick.
Does the boy not also have the same rights? Of course. He just sees things differently.
The girl is quite sure that this will be a point of contention 3 times a year for the next 27 years. Stay tuned.
My roommate moved out today. I'm pretty pleased. I'm looking forward to having my house to myself.
Except that I'm looking for another roommate.
You see, the travel bug has bitten me again!
I'm going to FRANCE!!!
The mother-daughter-daughter dream is coming true!
I'm also planning to go on a romantic get-away in August. Ooooooohhhhhhhh!
Have I mentioned that I will be a bridesmaid twice in September? So exciting!
And that I don't get paid in July and August?
A roommate would basically fix my problems.
A man named Albert is looking for a place. It's 11:00 pm and he just called me, following a few emails. Who does that? I have an eery feeling. I'm super good at ignoring the eery feeling.
Compromising my personal comfort is not worth the money.
But it's such easy money.....
One night I ate kale. I swear, it was pure health in the form of a leaf. It added 5 years to my life. Which is good, because report cards take at least 6 months off of my life, three times a year.
99 comments.
I finished them! Yay!
So I printed them. I wrote a lot and about 30% of the comments were cut off. Good think I use my school computer for non-school uses, because that prevented me from chucking out the window.
So I fixed it. I won't even bore you with how, it was just tedious and frustrating.
I have a sore throat and my shoulders ache. It's all related to the report card stress.
I would love some chocolate. Actually, I would just love to eat. I'm so hungry. I didn't bring enough lunch, but there is nothing at school that I can eat. Sometimes no sugar-juice-yeast-leftovers-ripefruit is easy. Sometimes it's terribly hard.
Wah, wah, wah.
It's not ground hog day, it's Naturopath day. In my quest for optimal health, I went to see a Naturopath. Those of you who live in WC may know her in a neighbourly sort of way. In order to rid my body of toxins, I am on a no sugar, no yeast diet. Whoa.
So this is what I can't eat:
Sugar and anything that sugar is added to.
All products containing yeast.
Fruits that have a tendancy to be moldy. I have to do some research on this (or if you know, you can tell me!) but I do know that things like melons, bananas and strawberries are out. I think the link may be that they come from far, far away.
Beer and Wine.
Juice.
In addition to the things I don't eat:
Meat
Sugar (until Easter)
Butter or margarine on bread (eww! I don't even eat that to be polite)
Fake cheese (again, eww!)
What do I eat? I'm not too sure. Some pro-biotic powder.
I will eat, I promise. Obviously, it will either be very healthy, or fattening.
Last night I went to Brewster's for a snack. I just about cried. There was nothing for me. So I ordered potato wedges. And water. I'm not sure that I will be frequenting a lot of eating establishments for a while.
*****
Finally, there is progress in the sugar free diet. I have lost fat. On my ribs. That's right, I have skinny ribs. So bizarre.
I feel compelled to mention that I know very well that I am doing this to myself. It is a personal choice that I have conscioustly made and any time I want I can go to Dairy Queen and nobody will stop me. Even though it would be breaking my Lenten promise, God would not smite me. I truly hope that there will be positive results to the more extreme cleansing diet.
Smug is way better than crazy! Besides, I have the perfect nose for smug. A slight tilt of the head and it is in the air.
So icing the brownies made me drool a little. Don't tell my staff :)
Cutting the brownies made me a little dizzy.
But they're gone! And not the tiniest crumb in my tummy! And people liked them!
However, I seem to be gaining weight. Huh? I give up sugar, but I gain weight ? Nuts.
I must hate myself. For this is what I did tonight.
I'm not above a box.
Oh the mixing...
The beaters! Proof that I'm crazy. I love licking beaters! But I didn't! Not even one little lick. They are sitting on my counter because it pains me to wash that sweet, sweet chocolatey goodness off. It should be in my mouth! But no. It will be washed away.
Cooling before icing. A treat for my staff. I hope they're delicious! I will never really know.
Lent is really hard. It wasn't that hard for the first week and a half. Now, I would like some sugar. I can't even say what I would like the most - a teaspoon of sugar might just do the trick. That would be silly. If I cheat, it will be on something good. Brownies, ice cream, cookies, the list could go on and on.
I must say, I am cheating a little bit. I have added tortillas and pitas to the list of things I am allowed to eat. I'm not sure why tortillas need sugar, but in pitas it must be for the yeast. I do not want live on pasta alone.
No matter how hard, I'm not quitting. I'm NOT a quitter.
For the season of Lent, I have given up refined sugar. I expected it to be very difficult, as I have a very sweet tooth. In the past, I have told myself that I would eat less, try to avoid some sweets, etc. I found that I just don't have will power to make good decisions. It has to be all or nothing.
When I say all, I mean all. I am reading labels like you wouldn't believe. Not only am I avoiding cookies, cake and chocolate (mmmm.....chocolate), I am not eating sauces that have added sugar, as well as bread or crackers. Even pizza, I know that a yeast crust has sugar. I have made some exceptions. On my trip to Oshawa, it was tough. We have people that organize our food and we make our lunches with this food. I had to eat a pita, because I had to eat. I had to eat a waffle, because I had to eat. I didn't have syrup though. Now that I am home and have more control, the only thing that I cheat on is tortillas.
This is not to say that I haven't really cheated. I'm pretty sure that a Singapore Sling has plenty of sugar. So once I had already cheated, I had a cookie. Or three. Because I have no self control.
I got back on the wagon and have been good ever since.
So the benefits? I feel better. Less sluggish. Smug. Yes, very smug.
So why Lent? Well, I am a Christian. This is a time to get closer to God. So how is not eating sugar getting closer to God? Well, every time I am tempted to eat sugar, I think about God, I think about Jesus in the desert fighting Satan and how that would have been far harder than avoiding sugar. Really, if I didn't have Lent and the reasons it gives me, I could not do this. Not that my motives are 100% pure. I want to be skinnier.
I'm interested to see what the results will be. Will I be able to maintain ? Will my family and friends go crazy? They already find that I'm too picky because I avoid meat. Will I be skinny like it's 2002? Will I go back to my sweet crazy ways? A little over a month to find out.
Good News:
My dreams came true! I participated in a Canadian Skating Championship. What was once a "Just imagine if..." thought from 15 years ago became reality! Not in the way I thought it would, à la Josée Chouinard stunning performance landing triple-triples in front of adoring fans, but in a much more realistic three-turn, chassé, chassé, mohawk, kind of way. In front of judges and an adoring coach. It was an amazing experience to compete at Nationals.
Bad News:
We got really nervous. Personally, I didn't screw up in a big way. But I was shaky and fake and did not help the team for our first skate. Big mistakes were made and our score was terrible.
Good News:
With our joking around in practice and before our performance, we did much better the second time around. We wore garters on our official practice and our coach wore her dress over her clothes as we performed. She has a dress made because if something happens to one of us, she is in. It was ridiculous and inappropriate, but we had nothing to lose.
Bad News:
There were still two falls in our second performance, which lost us a lot of points and we ended up 16th. Out of 16. We were not medal contenders anyway, but it would have been nice to be12th or 13th, which was possible, had we skated well.
Good News:
Our second skate was my personal best of any competition in my life. Now that I have done that, I really don't think that I will be as terribly nervous at future competitions.
Bad News:
We went shopping and as is a frequent occurence, it made me feel awful! Nothing fit. A teammate made the comment that duh, I have muscle. It's true, I do. That's supposed to be a good thing, but not when I can't shop!
Good News:
My friend from Montreal stopped at the rink Saturday and brought me bagel and visited on her way to Toronto. It was wonderful to see her and the bagels were dellish!
Good News: We were able to see the most amazing skating on Saturday night, watching the teams that were competing to go to World's. It was beautiful!
Good News: We pulled out all the lower-middle class sexy we could for the lounge in the hotel. After a drink, we were brave enough to venture out into the world! Or a small Scottish pub within stumbling distance from our hotel. My outfit included bangles, yellow hoop earrings, back combed hair and a banana clip. Others had fish net stockings, gold or silver tube tops, lingerie over clothes and of course, the garters. We had an under 10$ gift exchange, which was how we obtained the goodies. We totally took over the pub, it was hilarious.
Bad News: Our flight was delayed over 2 hours in Toronto, meaning we spent a total of 5 hours at YYZ.
Good News: They held our flight in Calgary for us.
Bad News: We arrived at 2am.
Good News: We arrived and I was able to go to work.
