Lenten fast: sugar detox, mindful eating and less meat

Today, lenten season has begun, and with it my annual fast. Although not fasting for purely religious reasons, over the years, lent has proven to be an excellent opportunity to rethink my eating habits and make an extra effort to be more healthy and mindful.

This year, I am going to tackle two things: first, reading so much about the toxicity of sugar, I am going to cut out sweets from my diet (we'll see how long I am going to last!); and secondly, for the next forty days I am going to try to reduce the amount of meat and instead focus on more vegetarian dishes.

Here are my rules:

1. Sugar detox
No chocolate, gummi bears, candy, cookies, cake, pastries, dessert, ice cream, sweetened drinks;
Exceptions: yogurt (aiming for yogurts with less sugar), occasional traditional flour-based lenten dishes (aiming at using as little sugar as possible, replacing industrial sugar with honey etc. as often as possible).

2. Less meat
At least two meat-free meals a day, aiming at three completely vegetarian days a week.

Right now, I am thinking part 1 is going to be more difficult for me, and if sugar is really addictive, it will be interesting to see how I am going to react to the sweets withdrawal. Luckily, the Santoku master is in it with me, hopefully making things easier! And who knows, maybe I am going to be surprised by strong cravings for meat instead...

As we move towards Easter, I will keep you updated about my progress (and fall backs). And for motivational purposes, here's a link to an article by someone who already succeeded in 40 days and 40 nights without sugar.

Anyone else in to give something up and what is your resolution?

Life is good!