So Long, Sweet Sweetness

Today is Fat Tuesday, which in Detroit means paczki day:

This also means that tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) I start the Daniel Fast. As I posted about earlier, my roommate peer pressured encouraged me to do the Daniel Fast with her during Lent this year. So, during the 40-some days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, we will be significantly changing our diet and not eating meat, dairy, sugar, or really any refined foods.

Most people do the Daniel Fast (or any fast) for spiritual reasons. We're not doing it so much for spiritual reasons as much as for to-see-if-we-can-do-it reasons. I'm not sure if it's good to enter into what is typically a spiritual discipline minus the spiritual part of it, but we are anyway. If we were fasting for the spiritual discipline of it, it really wouldn't be good for me to be writing about it (Matthew 6). Lest it sound like I'm treating trivially this period on the church calendar - the season of Lent - rest assured, I am not. I do intend to use this time of year to reflect, pray, and ponder on Christ's death and resurrection.

So. The fast. Pretty much I can eat fruits, vegetables, nuts (including natural peanut butter), whole grains (oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, barley, etc), beans, herbs/seasonings (including salt) and good-quality oils (olive, canola, sesame). Sarah and I are making some slight modifications to the fast:

Fellowship trumps fast: In instances when we're having a meal at a friend's house, we are going to do the best we can with whatever food choices are in front of us, even if it means we end up eating something that "technically" is not allowed. We don't want to create any awkwardness with the host and be like "Sorry, I can't eat any of the food you prepared but I will eat the rice-and-veggies I brought from home in anticipation of this".

Beverages:  True Daniels Fasters would say water is the only acceptable beverage. Sarah and I are making an exception to this and allowing herbal tea and coffee - because really, these are drinks that are ultimately made of plants (leaves/beans) and water. Plus, Sarah still has to live with me for the next 7 weeks, which would be difficult if I didn't have coffee. I have cut out sweetener and creamer for my coffee, and have switched to using almond milk (which is allowable) and have been pleasantly surprised by how well I like it. We're also allowing 100%, unsweetened orange juice.

Other than this, we're really doing to try and stick with it. I've been relying on this website for recipes, and am really excited to see things that look pretty good. That is one thing I'm hoping to take away from this - making better choices and habits when it comes to the food I eat. I think planning ahead will be important, so that I don't discouraged. I already have the first week or so planned out: lunches will be a vegetable-barley soup that I've made before and really like, and dinner will be this stir-fry and this taco soup. I'm pretty accustomed to making a big batch of something and then eating off of it for a week, so I think I'll be okay. In case I need a break, I did buy some whole wheat pasta and made this tomato sauce, so I can always have pasta and a salad (which is pretty much a staple for me!) Plus, I have plenty of fruit, hummus, nuts, salsa, and tortilla chips on hand to munch on. Oh - and guacamole. I need to make more of that, but that is definitely an allowable food!

So tonight I'm packing up and storing in the back closet all the sweets and what-not that I could be tempted to eat...including the 3 boxes of Thin Mints that arrived last week.

I still have four hours to go...plenty time for another paczki.