Okay, the month is almost up and that means that chocolate will once again be mine, all mine. While I may not be staying up until midnight so I can partake in some cocoa-based goodness, I am making chocolate chip muffins to take into work tomorrow. This may have more to do with the litre of milk I need to use up so it doesn't go off than my need to make use of that packet of choc chips. There will also definitely be some consumption of the Fruchocs (that packet in the fridge has been staring at me for a month now).
Did it kill me? No. But around the middle of the month I was definitely getting ready to hit things/people/advertising concepts. I'm glad I'll get to eat it again, that's for sure. According to my WiiFit I lost two kilos this month but I don't think that the lack of chocolate is the only cause. Work-related stress was probably a big contributor to that! It did make me realise how often I did eat it and how mindless it often was. Not a revolutionary observation but true nonetheless.
The good
Examining eating habits, establishing some new rituals/alternate food choices.
Feeling self-righteous for abstaining.
Saving some snack dollars (afterall, what I save on chocolate I can spend on drinks!)
The bad
The cravings, oh, the cravings.
Sometimes an alternative just isn't what you want.
Do you know how many products contain chocolate, even if just as a garnish?
Discovering that the Easter countdown, and all of the associated advertising, starts in January.
The ugly
Getting sunburnt on Australia Day and not being able to use my moisturiser because it was Palmer's Cocoa Butter.
Would I go without again?
Well, I will be later this year when I give up caffeine so I'll be sure to have another chocolate-related psychotic episode. Watch this space.
Would I go without for good?
Hells to the no! I think I'd give up cheese before I gave up chocolate forever.
Am now officially more than halfway through and am starting to get cravings. I think I've been pretty good, afterall I haven't caved yet but I would really like some chocolate about now. Fruchocs would be great (and they have fruit in them so are therefore healthy! Right?), especially as there is an unopened packet in my fridge. Cadbury would also be nice. Or some Lindt.
I can see it now, opening the box and peeling back the foil a little at a time to look at the rich, creamy colour. Then, breaking a square off, allowing the aroma to permeate before taking the first bite. The explosion as the tastebuds kick in while the texture changes from solid to smooth, velvety liquid chocolate...
Oh dear, I've come over all porny for chocolate.
Shopping yesterday didn't help. We went into fricken Country Road and there was chocolate for sale. I even got my friend to pose with the chocolate to prove it:
There's a whole table of the stuff. What's an addict like me to do? This I know the answer to: stock up the fridge and wait it out. In 14 days I can eat that packet of Fruchocs so hard...
You know what sucks about not eating chocolate? Going out to dinner and all of the desserts - even the non-chocolate ones - being topped with chocolate. Ended up with green tea mousse - after I scraped off all of the chocolate curls and decorations and gave them to my friend. *sobs* Who had the chocolate mousse. *sobs more*
Am focussing a bit on fruit at the moment, mainly because it's a 'legal' way for me to satisfy my sweet tooth and hey, I like it. Except bananas. Those I eat because they have a gajillion nutrients which are good for me. Following on from that, I thought I would partake in a favourite pasttime of mine: late night baking.
Late night baking must take place after 9:30pm and generally seems like a really good idea at the time. It generally involves pawing through the fridge and three trips to three different servos because I ran out of flour/sugar/eggs and was too embarrassed to make three separate trips to the same one. The batter must be able to be mixed by hand so I don't disturb my next-door neighbour and should be something I can leave to cool overnight.
Tonight's effort involved one trip to the servo (and the discovery that I already had brown sugar when I got home), several items already in the pantry/fridge and a little bit of modification.
Last time I checked it wasn't Easter yet. In fact, last time I checked Easter was a long, long way away. Okay, maybe it's in April but that's still a good quarter of the year. Three months. Thirteen weeks. So why the fuck eff are we already seeing Easter bunnies on display? I went to my local shops on Friday night and the supermarket had chocolate eggs and hot cross buns already on the shelves. Which shelves? Why, the ones right next to the discounted Christmas stock, of course.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all about preparation for religious/consumerist holidays - I start buying Christmas presents in the January sales - but why do we need to start buying Easter stuff when the summer school holidays haven't even finished? When I was younger Christmas and Easter were great (the only two days of the year where it's considered normal to eat chocolate for breakfast) but I think the fact that they came at the start of school holidays contributed greatly to that. And then I walked fifteen miles in the snow in bare feet, but I digress. Having Easter eggs on sale when you haven't used up the gift cards you got for Christmas yet just seems wrong. And it's not like a multinational corporation to use the influence of a religious holiday for evil/commercial gain at all.
It's also mightily frustrating when one has decided to skip the lolly aisle and stick to the fruit and veg section so as not to be tempted and there's a massive end display right next to the celery. Seriously peoples, don't you get that I have given up chocolate for a month and I am very easily led astray? Where's the love?
I would like it to go on record that I did not buy any chocolate (even though I really, really, really, really, really, really wanted to) but I may have bought an icy pole. Chocolate subsitution win!
I loved this book when I was younger, although I think I preferred the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (I really liked the Vicious Knids). As I was a massive nerd I never saw the Gene Wilder movie until I was in Year 11, so my opinion of the story is shaped by the book rather than the movie. I actually preferred the Tim Burton version that was released a couple of years ago but think it could have done without the father backstory. Anyways, I really just wanted an excuse to show some Oompa Loompas and, despite what I just said I prefer them in the earlier film, mainly becuase they are more similar to the Quentin Blake illustrations from the books.
And now, everybody's favourite glutton and his unfortunate demise. My only query: I'm pretty sure the Knids couldn't eat the Oompa Loompas because they burned up in the atmosphere. Yes, I am a pedant.
The Deal To go without chocolate (and other cocoa byproducts) for 31 days. No chocolate. No chocolate-flavoured items. No chocolate in things. No chocolate anything. Oh God, how depressing. It almost makes me want to eat chocolate.
Any Exceptions? None required. Even I know that there is no time that I have to have it.
The Hypothesis My chocolate addiction is well-documented. I could easily eat it every day but, as I tell my friends, I can quit any time I want. This month I want to find out how true that is. Plus, given my family's history of diabetes and high cholesterol one dy I may have to give it up for good. Now, if that's not incentive, I don't know what is.
Note: I actually gave up choccy on New Year's Day but due to travel and time constraints have only just been able to post these.
Welcome to my personal experiment. Watch me go without random First World luxuries for a month at a time. I am well aware that this isn’t going to cure cancer or solve the problems in the Middle East but I’m hoping it will keep me on my toes. Each calendar month this year I will be giving up a little luxury to see how I'm affected and ultimately whether I could live without it. The items and activities I'll be giving up are not necessarily huge items (for instance, don't expect me to give up my car); I'm aiming for those small items that I take for granted and would probably do/eat/use without even thinking.
Hopefully this will lead to a higher plane of consciousness... no, not quite that wanky. However, I am interested to see if this will cause any changes. Let's wait and see, shall we.
