In my adult years, every Lent, I decide to give up meat and alcohol. However, in recent years, I haven’t been able to stick to it. Something always gets in the way i.e. devil wins at pushing his temptations and I end up breaking my Lenten abstinence.
This year was different. Today marks 40 days since I embarked on this alcohol and meat-free journey, and boy, am I glad I did.
My health related metrics have gotten better compared to previous month,
- HRV (Heart Rate Variability) is up by 4 points.
- Resting Heart Rate is down by 6%.
- Restorative Sleep is up by 36%.
There can definitely be some confounding here, these changes could also be due to an increase in my average strain/exercise minutes over the last month in the lead up to my late spring goal half marathon training. However, I’m quite certain that abstaining from alcohol and meat has definitely played a role as well.
The biggest win has been breaking the habit of drinking on Friday/Saturday nights. There were weeks when I eagerly looked forward to my Friday/Saturday date night with my favorite IPA. This abstinence has made me realize that alcohol doesn’t have to be a part of my weekly routine. I do not need it to be part of my routine as much as I thought it did. I can imagine my mom reading this and thinking her prayers have been answered.
Going forward I’ll likely add a constraint to this habit—alcohol only when socializing. Because, in my case, this equation definitely holds true:
INTROVERT (ME) + ALCOHOL = EXTROVERT
Giving up meat has also encouraged me to explore vegetables seafood and grains that we seldom or never have cooked before. My families new favorite? Char-roasted Brussels sprouts or Lemon Couscous —boy, are they good!
I’m by no means advocating giving up alcohol or meat, nor do I plan to do so myself. Moderation is the operative word. Enjoying alcohol and meat in moderation makes you appreciate them even more. A quote by Hosea Ballou comes to mind:
“Moderation is the key of lasting enjoyment.“
Also, I have always wondered, when we go about choosing lenten abstinence or sacrifice do we almost always give up something that would benefit us, specifically health or wellbeing? I am not sure about others but it is definitely the case with me. From next year on, I have decided to add to the list of things I give up and thus build on the previous year. So next year – alchohol, meat and ______. I have a year to think about what to fill the blank with.