Lent, and Resolutions
Feb. 21st, 2007 10:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Today is the first day of Lent. Traditionally, that means it's the day when Christians begin a 40-day fast, usually of specific types of food. I cannot count the number of times I've resolved to give up chocolate. Most of the time, I haven't made it all the way to Easter. So I'm not going to try that this time.
Instead, I'm going to resolve to eat smarter. For the next forty days, I will eat three meals a day, two snacks, and one dessert. One of the snacks will be either vegetables or fruits. The dessert will be half the size I would normally have taken.
The only exceptions are water, milk, and tea. I reserve the right to drink these at any point in the day. I'll just forgo the cookie.
Today's morning snack will be celery with cheese whiz (for lack of actual cream cheese) and a bit of red pepper jelly. Breakfast was toast with peanut butter and peach jam. Lunch will probably be leftover stew, since we need to finish it up. Afternoon snack will be a bit of the yogurt cake I made yesterday. Supper tonight is a chicken casserole. I will allow myself a small amount of ice cream after it. There will be no before-bed snack.
Instead, I'm going to resolve to eat smarter. For the next forty days, I will eat three meals a day, two snacks, and one dessert. One of the snacks will be either vegetables or fruits. The dessert will be half the size I would normally have taken.
The only exceptions are water, milk, and tea. I reserve the right to drink these at any point in the day. I'll just forgo the cookie.
Today's morning snack will be celery with cheese whiz (for lack of actual cream cheese) and a bit of red pepper jelly. Breakfast was toast with peanut butter and peach jam. Lunch will probably be leftover stew, since we need to finish it up. Afternoon snack will be a bit of the yogurt cake I made yesterday. Supper tonight is a chicken casserole. I will allow myself a small amount of ice cream after it. There will be no before-bed snack.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-21 03:48 pm (UTC)In my house, there is no dessert directly after dinner, only before-bed snacks. Of course, we eat between 7:30 and 8:30, so they're not TOO far apart, but it's definitely something I'm completely in the habit of now. hard to break, even when i DO go out to some sort of dinner with dessert included. sometimes food habits can be terribly hard to break.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-21 03:54 pm (UTC)The celery was really good, too. It's amazing what a bit of red pepper jelly will do to liven up a snack. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-21 04:02 pm (UTC)I've gained weight at work...free school lunch is almost always unhealthy, and I need to learn to cook more so I don't eat so much frozen crap. I've been watching my mom this week to learn how to cook. I'm going to make an effort to utilize the salad bar/fruit bin more and not have pizza and chips and such.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-21 04:10 pm (UTC)If you want to learn to cook, check out
Once you start fiddling with tastes and textures that go together, cooking becomes easy. Try this: take one chicken breast or two thighs, and put it in a small casserole. Chop up a carrot, a stalk of celery, and a potato, and throw them in on top. Add some oil-based salad dressing. Throw the whole thing in the oven long enough to cook the chicken - it will be faster if you cut the chicken up first. You'll end up with a healthy three-course meal in one pan, with lots of flavour. Then experiment with different dressings, soups, and veggies. You'll be able to eat chicken three times a week and not get sick of it.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-21 06:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-21 07:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-21 07:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-21 08:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-21 08:06 pm (UTC)I swear it's true.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-21 08:12 pm (UTC)I think, if I'm trying to make it a habit, I should stick to it for the entire forty days including Sundays. Maybe I'll make another resolution after that - to abstain from sweets other than birthday cake until the end of May, or some such. (That's an important distinction - both my daughters, my husband, and my brother all celebrate birthdays in the second half of April or May.)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-21 08:14 pm (UTC)