Pancake Day used to be my favourite day when I was little (ok, 3rd favourite, after Christmas and my birthday). Pancakes were just the BEST food. Tasty, sweet and delicious; and somehow so different from all the other meals we had back then, with the added fun of pancake tossing – they had it all. The fact that they had their own special day which only came around once a year just added to the allure.
Nowadays though, I tend to steer clear of the typical pancake ingredients of flour and sugar – although I still have plenty of lemon juice 😉
At the shops today I was constantly reminded that it was pancake day. It would be hard to forget actually, as the shelves were piled high with pancake ingredients: ready-made mixes, a variety of different flavoured syrups, bags of sugar, and squeezy fake plastic lemons.
What’s Pancake Day really about?
It got me thinking – hang on – what’s Pancake Day all about, anyway? Traditionally, it was a day when all the richer ingredients such as eggs milk and sugar were used up in preparation for the next 40 days of Lent, during which a period of abstinence would be undertaken and plain foods would usually be eaten.
It strikes me as enormously absurd that we should cherry-pick the feasting aspect of this tradition and actually go out and buy pancake ingredients, while largely ignoring what it’s all really about – a preparation for a time of moderation, introspection, and spiritual renewal.
This is typical of modern society’s obsession with ‘more, more, more’ – Pancake Day is now just another excuse to overeat; with a focus very much on the feasting, while the fasting part of the custom is conveniently ignored. This is a real shame because it is excellent for the health to have a period of reducing our food intake and eating very simply for a while.
Perfect time to Spring Clean
We are now approaching the Vernal Equinox and it’s a perfect time to ‘spring clean’ the body by eliminating junk foods and moving into a diet of fresh, natural, simple foods. And if you need any more motivation, surely the thought of summer, beaches and bikinis around the corner is enough for anyone 😉
Need some help getting motivated to start eating healthily? Click here to contact me about hypnotherapy and other natural therapies to help with weight loss and healthy eating.
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