Granny Trude’s favourite time of year – apart from summer – is the fifth season, Fasching or Carnival. But the fun and games are soon over, and that’s when the fasting starts. Granny Trude has worked out her own personal plan for healthy fasting – and she’s quite happy to be abstinent from time to time too.
My dears,Goodness, what a time we had this carnival season, I’m still quite worn out from all the festivities and dancing! My granddaughter Miri and her two children in Hamburg hopped on the train especially. We went to lots of Fasching events together. It’s like stepping into a completely different world – the world of the carnival fool.
There are many ways to fast
But it’s all over now, from Ash Wednesday you’re meant to fast until Easter, and that’s 40 days. I fast too – and by the way that doesn’t mean I stop eating completely. After all, these days you can give up anything you like and still call it fasting. I’d like to show you how to do something that benefits you as well as the environment by going without.In my family – which is pretty big – we’re acquainted with fasting in all its variations. Options include giving up sweets, meat, TV, driving the car or alcohol, the usual kind of thing. And now we’re seeing something not quite so traditional – cutting out plastic, energy, electronics consumption, but also abstinence from food waste, impatience or pessimism. I’m certain there would be something there for each and every one of you.
Granny Trude’s personalised fasting plan
One of things I’ve chosen to fast from is my mobile and the internet – my daughter Silke’s idea. Have you ever heard of that? Instead of reaching straight for my phone or computer when there’s something I don’t know, I ask other people instead. To begin with it was shockingly difficult, after all you automatically reach for your mobile. But after all the point of fasting is to exercise a bit of self-control.My first realisation was how little I talk to other people when I have questions nowadays! Almost every question that I would otherwise have typed into a search engine is now met with astonished but interested expressions. All of a sudden completely different conversations are taking place, discussions even, a bit like things used to be – even though I don’t really believe that everything was better in ‘the good old days’. The chat with Georg next door about the difference between the brown and white eggs he always sells me was my favourite – it’s been a long time since I spoke to him in so much depth, and a long time since I laughed like that! Why don’t you try it for yourselves …
Plastic fasting
Some time ago I read about the ominous mountains of plastic waste, and at the same time I hit on an interesting idea for a way that I could manage without plastic bin liners. There are lots of websites that show you how to fold newspaper into rubbish bags. Enter this – maybe not until after Lent ;-) – into your search engine: “folding newspaper for bin liner” and you’ll find what you need straight away. That’s something I’ll definitely keep doing, even after Lent. The newspaper idea isn’t new, but I’m rather excited to have these handy folding instructions.Fasting for your health
When I was still working as a practice nurse, the patients often used to come into the surgery asking about the healthiest and most effective fasting methods. After all, doctors and alternative practitioners have come up with a variety of ideas on this subject. But each one of us is in some way concerned about our health, achieving a longer life, cleansing our body and soul, having more energy, feeling happy, and goodness knows what else. And if we can even lose weight at the same time, it’s often a pleasant side-effect.Consumer fasting
But let’s be honest: it’s really quite dreadful that we even have to do that in this country, because we’ve got too much of everything in our world of excess – and people are frequently a bit on the chubby side too. It’s a real civilisation problem, as my grandson Michi’s always saying. Perhaps we should spend more time asking ourselves: what do I really need in order to be happy? Why don’t we just go without something from time to time! Let’s focus on being kind to our fellow human beings and conserving our planet.But for the moment, just make sure you get through Lent. Maybe I’ve inspired you to give something up in your life until Easter – or longer. But don’t be too hard on yourself if it doesn’t work out. You can have another go next year …
All the best, my dears,
love, Trude – who is feeling a little bit philosophical today
April 2019