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Im definitely giving up alcohol for Lent, which is harder than it seems being a college student at a major "party" university! haha. Im also probably gonna slow down on energy drinks, so expensive and bad for you! :)

I've tried giving up meat before (for the whole of Lent) and failed spectacularly. Unsurprisingly, it was bacon that did me in. Another year I gave up sugar in my tea, and never went back to it. This year I'm going to give up caffeine - particularly in the form of tea - and potato chips. Also, I'm going to try to make some positive additions to my life...which is often a lot harder than giving things up!

Brussels sprouts, lima beans and turnip .. I give them up every Lent : )

I am thinking about giving up chocolate and soy cheese and yogurt, but I have not decided yet. My birthday's on the 27th, so I don't start Lent until afterwards. I want chocolate then, damn it! I'm also recipe testing, so it might be hard to give up sweets. :-(

Last year, I gave up yogurt. It was hard, since I ate it almost daily, but it was easy enough by Easter.

like @dhorst - I'm not giving up anything since I'm a total heathen. I am trying to cook more after a few weeks of being lazy and not wanting to just cook for one. I made eggplant parm last night. woohoo!

I'm giving up - i.e. surrendering - bad eating habits. The between meal mindless snacking, the 2nd helpings, the spontaneous "oh, heck - it's freezing out and there's a Dunkin' Donuts so I'll quick grab a coffee and something to go with..."

Yeah. All that mindless self-indulgence. It's gotten me into a lot of trouble.

In addition, it's meatless meals on Wed. and Fridays. I actually look forward to making different varieties of soups and breads for simpler meals. Sometimes less really can be more.

Would giving up Peeps for Lent be considered a venal or a mortal sin?

Haven't decided if I'm giving anything up this year. Back in my 20's my sister & I worked full time at Pizza Hut. We gave up pizza one year for Lent. It was one of the hardest things I've done in my life....don't care what your opinion of Pizza Hut pizza is...when you're working there & smelling what you can't have....it somehow makes it appetizing!

Is vodka food?

Ok maybe some of you Catholics can enlighten this atheist/heathen/jew. I thought for lent you were supposed to give up something gluttonous. Why are people giving up things like brussels sprouts and yogurt? Thats just depriving yourself of nutrition.....

embackus & brooke29 -

not to speak for them, but I think they're being a touch sarcastic.

The idea IS to "give up", meaning make a sacrifice of, something that you like, some unnecessary food or behavior that you can rather safely go without. Lent is not only about a negative, though. There are positive things you can do as well, things you add into your daily life that are meant to grow you spiritually, such as increased prayer, almsgiving, and everybody's favorite - fasting. The idea is to do this as a loving response to Christ's sacrifice for us.

That's it for catechism class today!

@moibec - thanks!

i'm giving up taco bell. and clams because the water is to cold.

Ooo! I know! I'll give up fast food. It's something I like, but it's wasteful (sp?) and expensive. And? It's making me FAT. So by Easter, I should be svelte and more Godly, right?

@moibec - Thanks for that clear explanation! (I'm Catholic and am aware of the reasons behind Lenten fasting/abstinence, but it's nice to see you step in and write a great post about it.)

all desserts. maybe the fear of sinning will keep me on my diet.
(probably not, there are chocolate dipped macaroons at work tomorrow and i keep wondering if it's dessert if I eat it in a salad...)

No. And I didn't when I went to Catholic school either.

*sigh* I should, but I'm too much of a foodie. Maybe carbs?

McDonald's sugar-free iced coffee.

Nope, atheism/Freethought FTW.

I am not a religious person, and neither is anyone else I know that gives up something for Lent. The idea of giving up something for forty days is much more appealing than making a New Year's resolution, which I never do. This year I am giving up burgers, as well as all fast food. (Burgers will be most difficult, because the restaurant in which I work makes fabulous medium rare burgers covered in manchego...yum.) It will be a difficult forty days, but I plan on rewarding myself at Flip when my time is up, so it won't be all bad.

I'm giving up religion.

Sausage and bacon...two divine creations that will cause serious heartache, though the side benefit may be less heartburn.

Last year I gave up alcochol. This year I am also ditching the cancer sticks. I think if I can make it forty days I'll just stick with it and hopefully be a non-smoker for good.

I am giving up chocolate... sigh... however, like Perky said, "it's a small sacrifice to pay for Jesus' sacrifice for me." Well said, Perky! Oh yeah, and my family is giving up meat on Fridays.

My fiance has decided to give up eating between meals because we are big snackers... being its Girl Scout cookie time, i try to explain to him that just because he eats the whole box of thin mints "for lunch" doesnt make it any better than eating it between meals...

Diet Coke...I've been drinking way too much. Actually, all sodas are off limits for lent this year.

I'm giving up caffeine. I work at Starbucks. This is gonna be interesting. :D

I'm Presbyterian, so it's not mandatory for me, but it's a good form of self-discipline and preparation for Holy Week. I also think it's a form of countercultural action, since we live in a society that thrives on consumption and instant gratification; it's a way of saying, no, I don't always have to have what I want when I want it. I don't have to let my desires control me, but instead be ruled by the Lord.

Watermelon and strawberries!

I want to share what a friend of mine is doing.

She read somewhere that the average Middle Class Person in India only spends USD 2.50 a day on food, and the poor & poverty stricken spend much, much less.

It got her thinking about how much abundance we have & that while our grocery budgets may be stretched to the limit at times (especially now), we are still better off than most in the world.

Her goal for Lent, is to feed her family of 4 as frugally as possible without sacrificing nutrition. Because she maintains a monthly grocery budget, it was easy for her to prorate what they would spend daily.

Each day she creates a menu/dietary plan to come in under that daily budget, and the excess goes into a rolling bank. She & her family have yardstick to see daily how they are doing.

At the end of Lent, she is going to donate the money they save to a food assistance oriented charity.

While she realizes this will not produce giant sums of money, it is an exercise for her family to stop and take pause. She's been blogging her progress, what they eat, and the sum in the bank for charity. I can tell you from reading it, they are eating well but frugally (and thoughtfully).

Whatever amount they end up donating, it will have come not from their excess....but rather from their sacrifice.

When it comes to Lent or any religious practice, you can take or leave it, regardless of your own beliefs. Regardless of the reasons, I think my friend is teaching her two daughters a wonderful lesson...to be both grateful and thankful for our relative abundance of food....and to be charitable to others even to the point of sacrifice.

It's a better Lenten exercise than using no meat on Friday as an excuse to grab a .99 fish filet or hit red lobster for all you can eat shrimp!