Every spring people celebrate Easter and Passover with various traditions and ceremonies that symbolize the rising of Jesus after his death. Some religions, including Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, and Catholic Churches, celebrate and remember God with a period of forty days called lent which starts forty days before Easter. During lent people make a penance. Many people give up chocolate, alcohol, smoking, or meat as a penance. I drink a ridiculous amount of juice and lemonade, which contains a crazy amount of unneeded sugar, so this year I decided to give up every type of sugary drink and soda for those forty days.
Week One: I honestly thought I was going through withdrawals. I felt tired and groggy and had trouble focusing in class. I craved sugar like never before for the first three days but slowly my cravings became less strong.
Week Two: I started to notice that I was waking up earlier (I am guessing this is because I used to drink coffee every night and keeping myself awake later). Every few days I would get an uncontrollable craving for something sweet so I started to keep a green apple with me to keep the cravings at bay.
Week Three: Usually I always have one or two little pimples on my face but this week my skin was totally clear! I haven’t changed anything in my skincare routine, I was just drinking three bottles of water a day.
Week Four: I weighed myself and saw that I had actually lost two pounds, my skin was still clear and I felt so confident. Unfortunately, my cravings were back and while the apples held me over for a little bit, I did have a lemon popsicle, which is kinda cheating, but honestly no shame.
Week Five: I felt so alert and awake all week without the need for a caffeinated pick me up. I have saved so much by not spending money on iced coffees and energy drinks, I cannot believe it!
Week Six: My skin is still the best it’s ever been and I couldn’t be happier I went through this. I will definitely be limiting the number of sugary drinks I put into my body from now on, and even though I am going to continue to drink more water I am still not ready to give up on my lemonade addiction.