21 days sans sucre

Inspired by my good friend Ibrahim Abdul-Matin who himself was inspired by Adrienne Marie Brown I have decided to do a 21-day sugar fast. As a Catholic I’m in the midst of the Lenten season so one might presume I’m giving up sweets for lent, but I had already given something else up so this is a personal pursuit. Reading Ibrahim’s post reminded me of my recent airport experiences where I was surprised to find that most of the new stands and snack shops carry 2x candy bars.

To put that in perspective that’s a 480 calorie bag of peanut M&Ms, or about 1/4 of a persons recommended calorie intake-give or take.

Rushing to one’s gate is exasperating at times, but unless airport lounges have hidden treadmills that I’m unaware of, there’s no real reason for anyone to snack on 500calories while waiting for a flight.

And as a parent I’ve grown tired of the disruptive candy placement at checkout lines. Every time I take my 3yo to the grocery store I’m having to either work overtime to distract her from the piles of candy bars by the register, or just brace myself for a tantrum when I say no.

Look, I know the candy industry knows it good some good product and when fiends like myself procreate they see my offspring as their inalienable right, but it’s not like by the time I get to the register I hadn’t already re-upped, so why hit me over the head? Weren’t the cookies I purchased in aisle 6 enough?

So over the next 21 days I’m going to spend some time thinking about my sweet tooth, the way that the sugar industry has sunk its claws into so many facets of our lives, and why is it that as we become more sedentary the candy bars are getting bigger?