Lent

Lent is considered a time of penance and discipline. It recalls the 40 days that Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by Satan (Matthew 4:1-11). (You can read more about it here, if you'd like.) Jason and I try to give up something that we feel is a 'staple' in our lives each year. This year, its meat! Jason was thinking of something that he hadn't gone without in a long time. Since I've known Jason, I must admit, that I too have started eating more meat. (I didn't really eat red meat often before I met him.) I love vegetables and don't care too much if we don't eat meat at every meal.

I think this will be one of the harder Lenten seasons that we have done. In past years, we have given up things like soft drinks, candy (I love Easter candy!), and fried foods. However, since we are trying to be healthier, we figured this could help us as well. We've gotten the whole working out thing down, and I'm impressed with how well that is going for us. I've had so much more energy and I feel better in general. Since we do workout so much, we both understand that getting protein will be the hardest part, but we are up for the challenge. We are still going to allow ourselves to eat dairy products and eggs. Since these things are in most products (like bread), it would be very hard to rule out things.

Luckily, we have several friends that are vegetarians, so we've gotten some really good recipes. (I'm going to add a new section for recipes/menus as we go along). I've also noticed lately, as we have been trying to think about substitutions and preparing for Lent, that more and more restaurants are offering more "meatless" options. I even saw a Garden burger at a fast-food restaurant.

I think the hardest meal will be lunch, we normally take our lunches to work with us. However, it normally consists of a sandwich with some type of deli meat on it. Now, I guess if it is a sandwich, it will be peanut butter & jelly.

I'll keep you posted on our progress!