Lent

So I've been taking part in Lent this year, not oweing to any belief, just because it was good motivation to try something new. Lent is the 46 days leading up to Easter, when you're supposed to give up something you enjoy. Sundays, you usually break the 'fast', although this depends on who you ask. I gave up smoking weed and sugar. By sugar, I mean all added, refined sugar. I've always had a nasty sweet tooth. I'll devour homemade dessert within hours and god halp me around bulk bins. After two weeks, i started eating honey/maple syrup again, and of course, all fruit was fine, but anything with sugar in the ingredients, or any artifical sweetener, i avoided like the plague. The hardest parts were avoiding snacking from bulk bins or accepting bites of sweets from friends. I coudn't use jam on my sandwiches anymore either. Overall, I didn't notice too much of a difference, except I was hungry more often and I never had one sugar rush. I'm really glad I stopped smoking dope though. I sleep much better and it's just nice to be un an even keal. It could've been the lack of sugar that helped me sleep better, but I think it was the lack of dope. I noticed I had a bit more energy too. It's funny how much sugar there is all around you. it's kinda like going vegan, you start to realize how many things have animal products in them. For the record though, i havne't been vegan since I left for India in September. I've been eating eggs and cheese regularly, and occasionally yoghurt (but no milk), as long as it's organic/free-run. Since I left for India, I've gained almost 15lbs (my weight had been stable for about 3 years prior), which I attribute to eating more protein and fat, but also because this was a pretty physcially active winter for me, between karate, skiing, and snowshoeing 7hrs a day for work.

I wasn't alone in Lent. CJ started it, she gave up pop this year and would go vegetarian one day a week. Alex was gonna do no dope/sugar with me, but I'm not sure how well she managed, I keep forgetting to ask. But Lindsay was the superstar, she went fully Vegan (except sundays). I was so stoked that she stuck with it, that's definitely harder than doing no sugar, I think. I'm not sure exactly what's she's gonna do when Lent ends, I think she's going to find a balance, either cutting down drastically on eggs, cheese, etc, or just going vegan a few days out of the week. She has become vegetarian sometime in the last year I believe, so i think meat was already out of the picture for her.