Lent Begins Today
Typically I give up chocolate for Lent. I’m by no means a chocoholic, but I do like chocolate and when I consciously cut it out, it’s surprising how many things I find myself skipping (mocha lattes, hot chocolate, cookies and cream ice cream…) and that’s always seemed like a good thing!
I’ve been doing it literally since high school (so, um…15 years!) and usually add one other thing that I feel I have been overdoing and should cut out. Over the years my choices have included Papa John’s breadsticks (ah, college), ice cream, candy, and baked goods…see a pattern here? Yep, sugar and bread! I guess I have always sort of known these things were weaknesses for me, and I have to say, I always feel a lot better when I am not eating these things. Yet somehow, when Easter comes, I go straight for the chocolate eggs and Peeps, and then the things I gave up just work themselves back into my routine.
Last fall, around Labor Day I decided to “get serious” (man, I have said that a lot!) about losing weight I gained while traveling this summer and I gave up chocolate until Halloween. For two months, I felt really healthy. And then, come Halloween and right into the first week of November, I grabbed every piece of chocolate I could find because I had “missed it so much.” The funny thing is, at the time, I really didn’t miss it that much…I just caved to temptation once it was in front of me (thanks to throwing a Halloween party and shopping at Costco!) and then couldn’t stop. After Halloween came my birthday, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas…so many opportunities for chocolate, which is a gateway to craving more sugar…I think you can guess how this ended.
So, this year for Lent, I am actually not giving up chocolate. I’ve pretty much already done that now, and I want to leave the door open for the occasional healthy hot chocolate or small piece of really dark, antioxidant-full chocolate down the road a bit.
Instead, I’ve decided for Lent I will give up:
- Wheat—As I’ve already shared, I wanted to cut this out anyway, and I think making it my Lenten sacrifice will help me do it. Otherwise, it might be too easy to make exceptions (“This restaurant is known for its bread!”) and I have learned with the chocolate over the years that if I say it’s for Lent, I can stick to it completely, even on my husband’s birthday when I bake him a cake with gooey chocolate frosting. If I can do that, I can resist bread!
- Alcohol—This is not for any specific health reason, although I am sure there are good ones…Cameron and I haven’t really discussed it because I am not a really big drinker. I do like my glass of white wine at book club or at dinner sometimes, but when I do drink, my “glass of white wine” often turns into 3 or 4 glasses, and sometimes that makes it really easy to make excuses for nibbling on something I would otherwise not want or crave. Plus, being able to say “gave it up for Lent!” will cut off all the people who like to immediately say “Are you pregnant?” when I turn down a drink!
- Weighing Myself—As previously discussed, this is for my own good. And it won’t be that hard. I mean, it’s not like I had to force myself not to “just peek” at the scale in the locker room at the gym today…ok, this might be tough. But I can do it!
So here goes…and the toughest part of this goal is that I am NOT asking for any of these things in an Easter basket (like I always did through endless hints and/or instructions to my husband and my mom for specific delicious chocolate candies)…nope, the next 6 weeks are just the START of giving these things up, basically forever. Here goes nothing!
