On this day – Ash Wednesday – every year I make some kind of public proclamation about what I’m planning to give up (or take up) for Lent.
Last year it was booze and caffeine – and I managed to avoid both for the full six and a half weeks. The year before I gave up alcohol and also went on a diet – the diet actually extending past the end of Lent for 6 months in all; helping me lose a total of almost 5 stone in weight.
This year, because my weight has been gradually creeping up over the last year or so, I’m going to go back on the diet. I’ll be using an online food diary called nutra check to record everything I eat and drink over the next 46 days, and will be limiting myself to 2000 calories a day (which is a reasonable target for a guy my size). I’ll also do 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day. And the plan is to lose at least a stone in weight before Easter – and hopefully more.
I’m not giving up alcohol as such, but I’ll be cutting right back. After all, booze can contain quite a lot of calories, and I’ll be wanting to reserve most (if not all) of my daily calorie allowance for food. I’m also not giving up on the caffeine either, as the withdrawal gives me awful headaches, and I get very sleeping – and I just don’t need any of that at the moment.
I am, however, considering a new thing – but I’m not sure whether I’ll manage it. I was thinking of going vegetarian for one day a week, just to see if cutting down on my meat intake will make me more healthy. I just don’t know at the moment whether my culinary skills are good enough to be able to prepare tasty and nutritious vegetarian meals.
Richard, you can easily, tastily and nutriotiously(?) put together some good Italian vegetarian dishes. bbc.co.uk/food is a good place to look. Stir fry’s are a good bet too — chop up vegetables, throw in wok for a few minutes, cook noodles, eat.