This post is part of a regular feature I have creatively titled, “Things that are awesome” Wednesday.
In this weekly post, I am going to share something that struck me as awesome during the past week. It may be a great recipe, a cool event, a favorite blog, a special moment or whatever else scores a 10 on the awesome-meter .
And if you have something awesome to share, I’d love to hear about it! Post to comments or e-mail me and let me know.
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Last weekend, my sister Lauren and I started another 30 day paleo challenge, our third this year. We design the guidelines of the challenge based on our experience of which food choices make us feel our best and which do not. It’s a relaxed version of some of the more formal challenges, like the Whole30 or the 21-Day Sugar Detox. One of the elements is that there’s no booze allowed.
Surprisingly to me the first time, this was really hard! I don’t drink that much – maybe a glass of wine after work now and then or a cocktail when a friend invites me to happy hour. Oh, and pretty much always at dinner parties. But it’s not unusual for me to a week without a drop of alcohol.
But what I discovered from this self-imposed 30-day prohibition is how deprived I felt not having a drink when I want one. It seemed somehow ridiculous to pass on a glass of wine. (Some, including my friend Rob, might argue that it was ridiculous). I would stare at my friend’s drink and wonder, “Why did I ever think this was a reasonable idea?”
So I asked myself (soberly) what exactly I missed. At first, I thought maybe it was just the ritual of drinking so I tried drinking water out of a wine glass. Fail. That did nothing to mitigate my cravings. Then I thought it was treating myself to a special beverage. Not exactly, I discovered, as tried to enjoy a kombucha on the porch one afternoon.
For my third booze substitution attempt, I poured an icy glass of sparkling water, added fresh lime juice and a few mints leaves. It was perfect! The flavor was zippy and interesting. I served myself another. This drink was good on its own and paired well with food. Winner! Matt – who wasn’t even on the challenge — started drinking them regularly. We both fell in love with the cold bubbly tartness. The bonus is that no matter how many we have, we always feel good the next day. Since that discovery, it has gotten easier to go 30 days booze-free. My alternative beverage makes me really happy.
My intention was to highlight this delightful drink for a post on Labor Day Monday. When Matt saw me taking a picture of my glass, he asked “Are you featuring that for ‘Things that are awesome’ Wednesday?”
“I wasn’t going to.” I admitted, “I’m not sure that people would really think sparkling water is awesome.”
“Are you kidding me?” It’s totally awesome,” he said as he took a swig of his second sparkling water and lime mocktail of the afternoon.
“You know, you are right.” I said, looking lovingly at my glass of icy cold delightfulness glistening in the sunlight. “It is awesome.”
