The "Krone" is fasting

If you don’t drink with us, you make yourself suspicious

"Krone" editor Hannah Michaeler is giving up alcohol for 40 days.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christian Jauschowetz)

The "Steirerkrone" team takes you through the forty-day fasting period. We are giving up coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, meat and much more. Day 1: Have we gone overboard again before Ash Wednesday?

I'll be honest: I'm going into these forty days of abstinence with practice. I swore off alcohol back in January - partly to take a break after the Christmas holidays with lots of (mulled) wine, but also because it's becoming increasingly clear that alcohol is much more harmful than it seems. "There is no safe level of alcohol consumption," announced the WHO in 2023. For women in particular, the risk of cancer increases significantly. 

My wild student days are long behind me, but I never really questioned my - albeit moderate - alcohol consumption. I drink white wine because it goes well with fish, Aperol because it's such a nice evening with my best friend, and gin and tonic because my uncle mixes the best. That's part of it. If you don't drink, you make yourself look suspicious - especially as a woman of a certain age.

So on Shrove Tuesday, I was sitting in a sushi restaurant with a friend in the evening and my eyes lingered on the spritzer. I decided against one last indulgence before abstinence, but I'm sure there will be situations where alcohol will be very tempting. I will tell you about it honestly!