Though I've left behind many of the traditions and customs that come with growing up in a church-going family, one that has always stuck with me is the idea of fasting for lent. Across different religions, the act of giving something up (usually food) for a pretermined amount of time is quite hip.

My Dad (Roman Catholic) and Mom (Orthodox) both grew up in Iraq with a strong understanding of the spiritual importance of fasting, which stuck on me too.

So the way it works is you're supposed to pick something to give up for the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter - usually meat. Even though my spiritual beliefs have changed some in the past, say, 15 years, I still fast every spring. Not so much for religious reasons, but for health reasons. The Lent fast has become something of a spring cleaning ritual for my body, and I always tend to work out a little more, and eat a little healthier during this time of the year.

Giving up meat isn't really the reason though - lean and white meats are excellent parts of my diet. It's just that because I'm fasting, my grocery cart tends to leave out the shadier foods that accompany the meats I eat; sauces, potatoes, gravies, thick breads, etc. Without the starch, bad carbs, and bad fat, my shopping cart is left with lots more fruits and vegetables. This ends up having a "long-tail" effect on everything else I buy too: low-carb beer (Sleeman Clear) instead of regular beer, whole grain pastas, light organic marinades, sauces and vinaigrettes instead of gravies and dressing, plantains instead of potatoes, more tea instead of coffee, etc.

Whether it's related or not is beyond me, but this also tends to be the part of the year when I work out most often and most consistently. It gets warm enough to do my morning jog, I start biking, and this year I also started swimming (I use the term "swimming" very liberally - I actually flail my limbs around in the water like an epileptic octopus and pray that I go up, not down). Maybe I just feel "lighter" and more full of energy, or maybe it's a subconscious effort to get back into shape for the summer, where I can hang out with beach bunnies on an imaginary beach somewhere here in Montreal. Whatever the reason, for the past few years, Easter is inevitably the time of year when I'm in my best shape.

So I thought I'd go ahead and knock it up a notch - not only would I give up meat, but also the following vices: chocolate, alcohol, and coffee. Ok, maybe it wasn't as hardcore as this guy, but it was a start.

More than halfway through, here's my status report

1. Meat (except fish): So far, so good. This is easy; there is so much good vegetarian food, both at the market and at the restaurants here in Montreal.
2. Chocolate: Failed, as of one week into the fast. No way in Hell can I give up chocolate. On second thought, I did it in Cuba for more than 2 months...
3. Alcohol: Failed. Yeah, right. Give up alcohol. Good one.
4. Coffee: Failed. I live in Montreal. What am I supposed to do?

   - Beautiful friend: "Hi Steve, I miss you - let's go for a coffee!"
   - Me: "NO I'M SORRY I CANNOT SEE YOU I AM UNABLE TO CONSUME COFFEE PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE GOODBYE." "I'll be there in 10 minutes."

In my defense, though, I did cut down on all of those things. More fruits, water and tea and less chocolate, alcohol (read: beer and wine) and coffee.

Meat's the easy part (I was also a vegetarian for 2 years a while back). It's the rest of it that I have a hard time with.