I gave up Coke Zero for Lent.
I have no idea why I decided this would be a good idea. I mean I know artificial sweeteners are no good for me. I never considered Coke to be a health drink or anything. But I have been drinking this stuff for 3 decades. Ya’ll this isn’t a habit, it’s a lifestyle.
And never in my whole Baptist existence have I given up anything for Lent. It’s just not me.
But for some reason I decided to do this thing.
It wasn’t pretty. For one thing I learned that when I deny myself something I really like, my personality turns into that of a spoiled 3 year old. I whined for 40 straight days.
At restaurants, my family sipped their delicious drinks and I glared at my water glass and that stupid, stupid lemon. At home I guzzled gallons of herbal tea just to give myself the appearance of enjoying hydration. At the gym, I drank my water happily as I always do. I find extreme sweating is the only thing that makes plain water enjoyable to me.
By the halfway point, I probably would have murdered the pope for a glass of fizzy chemicals.
At my all time low point, I sobbed over my glass of unsweetened iced tea. “Jesus died so I could have Coke Zero!” I’m not proud of this ya’ll but there ya go.
And then something weird happened. I kinda forgot about the whole thing. After about 4 weeks, I had just grown accustomed to not having Coke around. I’m not suggesting that I loved the flavor of unsweetened iced tea but I got used to it. And I honestly started viewing almost all my drinks as just a hydration method. My body needs it. I provide it. (This does not apply to my morning coffee which is still akin to a spiritual experience. You’ll have to pry that coffee mug outta my cold, dead hands!)
As Easter (and the end of my Lent experience) approached, I laid in a supply of Coke to celebrate. Don’t shake your head at me. I had a plan. I have denied my family Coke too so I knew that other than the one can I was saving for me, the rest would be gone before Easter dinner was on the table. As the kids tore through their baskets, I popped the top and took a sip of the delicious nectar I had been denying myself for 40 days.
Ya’ll, it tasted like crap. I was so disappointed. And relieved.
I wouldn’t tell you that I was ‘addicted’ to Coke. And I am not even hinting that I won’t have one again. But it is nice to know that I can eliminate one more thing from my nutritional baggage. I really don’t think Coke Zero was hurting my weight loss efforts. But it certainly wasn’t helping either.
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