I haven't eaten chocolate for 43 days.
This is an unheard of accomplishment. Before that, it was a mere 24 hours. It doesn't really count though, because it was Fast Sunday, and I wasn't eating anything. (Actually, there was a week in 1995 where I didn't eat chocolate, but I was in the hospital, on IV feeding, and they weren't even letting me suck ice chips. It doesn't count if you aren't given the choice).
I am astonished at the power of a spiritual fast. When I am fasting for religious reasons, I can go 24 hours with out eating. I once fasted for 24 hours, two days in a row (with a one hour break in the middle to frantically gulp water and -yes- chug chocolate). But I did it, because it was spiritually motivated. If I'm not fasting, I can't get from one meal to the next without some kind of snack to tide me over.
My niece gave me the idea of a long term fast. She and her sister were fasting for another sister in the mission field: no refined sugar for 18 months.
That sounded a bit extreme to me, but it captured my imagination, and I decided I would try the same thing. (I'm fasting for my school application though; this fast should end some time in April.) And for me to give up chocolate would be as big as refined sugars would be for them. I didn't think I could do it.
Here it is, 43 days later, and I haven't had any chocolate. Not a chip, not a nibble, not a lick.
Are you reeling yet? No? Let me add: there is abundant chocolate available. I make homemade cookies for my kids lunches every week: triple chocolate, oatmeal chocolate chip, simple chocolate chip cookies. There's been ice cream. My kids have had chocolate frosties from Wendy's. And the cruelest test of all: my mother has been teaching Addie and Jake how to bake. Every week they come home with a new brownie, or a new cookie; last week, it was chocolate cheese pie. (I think my mom hates me.)
I've not eaten one bite.
Want to know how I can tell this is entirely a spiritual experiene? I haven't lost one. single. pound. Apparently, I've increased my refined sugar intake to compensate.
Sigh. I wonder what I can fast for that would be worth giving up refined sugar, and if I would increase my fried food intake to compensate?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
AAAHHH! You are my hero. I will tell you that i have had enough Chocolate for both of us in the last couple weeks. So no worries. You totally have way more self control than i could ever hope to have in a lifetime. You should teach a class.....write a book.... go on a speaking circuit. Good luck to you!
ReplyDeleteWow. That's pretty impressive. I think I wouldn't miss the chocolate, but the refined sugars...aye,there's the rub. I've been cooking a lot of veggies lately, but still I just WANT something terribly bad for me sometimes. As far as the lack of weight loss, it's just a test of your faith. Keep up the faith!
ReplyDelete