Nothing but Beer for Lent

I've known more than a few people who have given up beer for Lent. But a man in Iowa turned the idea around this year and went throughout the entire Lenten season subsisting on nothing but beer (and water). That's 46 days without a bite of solid food.

J. Wilson of the Adams County Free Press in central Iowa told CNN he is an avid Christian, beer drinker and blogger, so giving up solid food in favor of beer seemed like a natural thing to try.

Wilson also told CNN he was monitored by his doc and priest during Lent, and began with drinking four or five beers a day before increasing to five or six "to maintain his strength." He broke his fast Easter morning with a bacon smoothie, because his research indicated that would be the easiest way back to solid food (he did later indulge in some Easter ham, though).

Could you go nearly six weeks without solid food? Wilson has been eating a diet since Sunday of special staples to help his liver and kidneys, which he "had been beating up on for a couple of weeks." The online magazine Slate looked into the issue and determined it probably wouldn't be a good idea to try a beer-only diet for much longer than that, before serious nutrient deficiencies begin (think scurvy).

It should also be mentioned that Wilson was drinking a specially brewed beer, Illuminator Doppelbock, which he helped to develop with a local microbrewery. Maybe he was spiking the hops with Centrum? The Slate piece also points out that it would be impossible to go any real length of time on the beer diet without also drinking water. Alcohol is a diuretic, which in the common speech means, makes you wee.

Read Wilson's blog, which contains religious and philosophical insights to complement the beer, here.