Fast

When I was a lad, my father and I used to give up snacks during Lent. The definition of "snack" varied from year to year. Cookies cake and candy were always out; some years pretzels and potato chips were allowed (they're not "sweets"), sometimes not. Some people gave themselves free passes on Sundays but we always thought that was for wusses. The Fast was traditionally broken with a Cadbury Cream Egg on Easter Sunday.

The weak link in all of my training has always been my diet; I love me my cookies. So this year I'm going back to my roots and having a snack-free Lent. It's been 10 day and I still haven't quite figured out what all the rules are. Certainly no cookies-candies-cake. Potato chips are definitely out. Soft pretzels like you get at the movies are OK because they're really just bread. But is that fundamentally any different from a hard pretzel? Yes. Because I will eat a soft pretzel because I am hungry; I will eat a hard pretzel because it is yummy. And yummy things are what get me into trouble (I never eat just one pretzel.)

During the Fast, I can have peanut butter on a bagel for breakfast. I can have crackers. But I CAN'T have peanut butter on crackers (again, they get me into trouble). Protein bars are allowed. So oddly enough, I can eat my Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Peanut Butter & Pretzel protein bars, even though they have chocolate, pretzels, and peanut butter in them.

I'm debating whether or not to allow pretzels (I have not eaten any, aside from the Protein bars). I have very odd eating habits and it's difficult for me to take in enough calories of "real food" if I'm not snacking. Especially if I'm training. Apples, grapes etc. aren't satisfying enough, and the protein bars are TOO filling. Pretzels are a relatively healthy snack that would take the edge off. We'll see.

And I'm still allowed to drink all the Mountain Dew I want. No reason to be stupid about it.