Coughing Up Ideas For Lent

Mid-morning snackage

Resting when you're ill is so bloomin' boring! I've been keeping myself entertained in between sleeping and coughing fits with power watching Glee and copious trips to the kitchen; feed a cold and all that. 


Even though I have probably eaten marginally more than I would have on a normal day, I have actually - surprisingly - made some very good, healthy choices. After a porridge and prune breakfast, I made a cracking fruit salad to munch on throughout the rest of the morning. 


I think possibly the main reason I made such healthy choices could be something to do with the fact that I ate all the chocolate and sweets I had in the house on Sunday and since then I've felt too poorly to leave the house, so I've had to be more inventive. Nonetheless I felt extremely righteous with my fruit salad and this inspired me to start thinking about Lent and  how I can use it in the war against unhealthiness!


I did say at the start of the year that I was going to veto giving up stuff in favour of taking the "everything in moderation" approach, but it's the challenge of Lent that I love. It's also a great excuse for a major detox! 


So in true 'Egg Goes Healthy' fashion (i.e. if you're gona do it, do it all guns blazing..) I am going to give up a whole host of unhealthy stuff from tomorrow until Easter Sunday:


Cake - I haven't been too bad recently but with lots of long rides coming up, tea shop breaks with be inevitable.
Biscuits and Cookies - My classic gorging items, and by having biscuits, cookies and cakes that means that I can't get away with Jaffa Cakes either, however I choose to define them!
Takeaways - Again not something I have very often at all but I'm going to throw it in the mix to encourage more home-cooking.
Wine - Yes family, that's right. Stop coercing me you tinkers!
Sweets (except Jelly Babies on the bike) - I have to include sweets because if I give up all the other treats I have loads of then sweets become the naughty, sneaky back-up. But Jelly Babies are absolutely necessary for long bike rides.
Chocolate bars and eggs - I feel like I always eat more chocolate eggs on the lead up to Easter than I do at Easter itself. What is it about chocolate in an egg shape that makes it so much more appealing?! I have specified bars and eggs because on the last 'all chocolate products' ban I didn't like not having my chocolatey protein recovery shakes and I feel that the healthiness of those outweighs the unhealthiness of the chocolate. Not that I need to justify myself. Not at all.


So, that is a pretty thorough list I think. Cue more late-night trance-like amblings up and down the supermarket aisles dribbling at all the stuff I can't have! 


Now to just get through the rest of the day without a Chinese, five Easter eggs, a bag of liquorice allsorts, a toffee cheesecake and a triple pack of jaffas...