As hard as it is to believe, we are about to embark upon another Lenten season. It seems like I just took down my Christmas tree* and now we're preparing for the 40 days that lead up to Easter. I've been trying to come up with something good to give up for Lent that will not only be a challenge, but something that will help me as I work towards my goals. Last year I gave up my snooze button which helped me to stay more faithful to my workouts. It worked well and for the entire Lenten period I was faithful to every single scheduled workout. However, I'm in a really good place right now when it comes to my exercise. I do, however, need a boost with the diet. So this year I decided to do something related to that.
My first thought was to not eat out at all but I really only eat out about once each week and it doesn't really seem like that much of a sacrifice. I think right now my biggest diet weakness is sugar. I don't know why but ever since Christmas I just can't get enough sweet treats. Therefore, starting on Wednesday I will abstaining from all sweets until Easter. Now, I'm not counting fruits in this because they are a necessary part of our diets and I don't really feel that fruit hardly counts as a sweet. I'm also, for the sake of my GI system, not giving up my daily fiber bar. I've tried fiber supplements and they don't work as well for me as my fiber bars do. I am, however, as much as it pains me to say giving up coffee. I love the taste of coffee but I like to sweeten it. I think that I'll miss coffee more than anything else and I can already feel the caffeine headache coming on. Oh well, after the first few days I'll be alright!
As a last hoo-rah before Lent starts we are having a Fat Tuesday potluck at work. It's a soup and chili potluck so I decided to make my chicken and wild rice soup. It's so tasty and so healthy...I guess I fail at Fat Tuesday. I am, however, making a batch of my caramel corn for the potluck. I figure if I can't have sweets for over a month I might as well have something amazing the day before I have to give it up!
*In the spirit of full disclosure, I did, in fact, just take down my Christmas tree last Sunday. :-)
I'm constantly in awe of your discipline. I would be in serious trouble if I couldn't have coffee. I have a hard time with sweets too. Just taking down your Christmas tree isn't that bad. It's still winter, and there is still snow on the ground. Good luck and definitely enjoy Fat Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteI really need to pay better attention to Easter. I'm surprised that Lent is around the corner. I too am impressed by your discipline (all year round). Giving sweets up is tricky and I wish you good luck. My Cliff Bar fruit ropes and Skinny Cow chocolate crisp are my main go-to sweets lately.
ReplyDeleteI still have wintery things up since I believe all snowmen-related decorations should remain up until the risk of receving snow has officially passed in Marchish.