Ash Wednesday and the Start of Lent

I decided this year to participate in Lent. It all started with my explaining to a co-worker how I needed to find a place to get a good jelly doughnut for Tuesday. Growing up in Michigan, I was around a lot of Catholics, and one of the Polish Catholic's traditions for Fat Tuesday is to eat Paczki's (like a huge jelly doughnut, but bigger and far more unhealthy than any jelly doughnut you've consumed). 

My dad's co-worker would drive down to Hamtramck early in the morning to pick up these doughnuts for the celebration. So we would wake up every Fat Tuesday to a fresh, authentic Paczki. We'd cut them into small pieces, and eat a portion of these pastries. So now, when I think if Fat Tuesday I must get my hands on a jelly doughnut!

After explaining this to a coworker, she asked more questions about Ash Wednesday and Lent. We discussed how the Catholics give up something in sacrifice for the 40 days prior to Easter, representing Christ's 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. I went into details about back in the day the Catholics would obtain from meats, fruits, and veggies and give the money they would have spent on these more expensive foods to the poor. Also bringing up how some congregations are still asked to give up meat during lent, and only eat fish on fridays.

This co-worker, myself, and a few other coworkers that were in on the conversation decided we would participate in lent together this year. I'll be giving up sweets during the week. I've had the craziest sweet tooth since I've become pregnant, and since we don't buy sweets, the main time they're a temptation is at work. We have a fully stocked snack bar with candy bars, swedish fish, cookies, fruit snacks & fruit rollups, ice cream in the fridge, and pretty much any sweet you can imagine. We even have doughnuts in the morning from time to time. And about once a week someone has a birthday and they bring in any treat the person wants. I probably only have one unhealthy snack a day, but it's not a great habit to get into.

So I'll focus on eating healthy snacks instead of the sweets. We also have a plethora of healthy snacks, which prior to pregnancy I loved. I just need to get back into the habit of fruits, baby carrots, cheese & crackers, hummus, yogurt, and applesauce. We even have a huge jar of peanut butter that goes great on crackers. So I'll be sacrificing sweets for Christ, my general health and the health of our baby! It's a win win