Lent

  Today starts the season of Lent.  Now, by no means am I a religious person - but in my house, if you're going to enjoy Christmas, you have to endure the suck of Lent.  The boy has given up all chocolate.  As usual, I have given up all added sugars.  That means candy, sugar in my coffee, all that jazz.  Not sugar used to activate yeast in bread, or to cut the bitterness of my marinara sauce, or in general purpose cooking up to 2 tablespoons in the whole dish (obviously, if you have company and are doubling a dish, you account for that.  most meals make 4 - 5 servings in my house so that's more like 1.5 teaspoons per serving).  This also does not include fruit.  Fruit is full of sugar, I don't go all out on this sugar thing.  Just do a good clean sweep of getting it mostly out of my diet in the more unhealthy ways it crops up.  Everyone else gets stuck doing it to an extent too.  I stop making dessert or buying sweets, I don't make coffee as often, things like that.
  My husband and I reverted back to an old nasty habit that we are giving up for Lent together - smoking.  I get it, it's hard to give up.  It's easy to pick back up.  It can be a continuous struggle.  Yep, and my dumb self is doing that along with sugar.  Welcome to the new roller coaster!
  Today I had pancakes for breakfast.  I know, pancakes!  It's actually quite easy to make these little buggers without sugar.  Just don't put any in the mix.  I used bananas for a touch of sweetness and omitted syrup too.  It's not about admonishing or denying yourself.  It's about making the kind of changes you can stick with.  While Lent is (only) 40 days, I tend to let my no added sugars continue for at least a month longer.
  I am also doing the 31 day water challenge starting in earnest today.  That's 2 Double Gulp's full of water, every day; more if you've consumed caffeine.  I tried starting yesterday, she wasn't kidding when she said you'd be peeing all the time.
  Finally, I'm working on doing Pinterest 365 again.  This will be my 5th attempt and yes, I'm already behind.  I have a lot of goals for this year, including keeping up on this blog.  This is my first in what will hopefully be a blogging twice a week groove.  Thursdays will be recipes, either something I've tested or something I've made up.