Lent! The crazy days are over – and every year and again in front of many people to give up to Easter in a bad or unhealthy habits or to integrate something positive in their daily lives. Nearly seven weeks abstinence can look very different: the one hand, it is hard to let the beloved chocolate in the cupboard, another must be quite bring myself, from now to take the bike instead of the bus.
But no matter what good intention you have made for lent: With the little things that you consciously transform for a time in your life, you can create the basis for fundamental changes. The longer you practice a new behavior patterns, the more likely this is also a habit – and thus makes it is also even after Easter is no longer so hard to maintain your good intent to continue.
Lent is a tradition of Christianity. 40 days – from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday – eat many believers such as meat and eat only one full meal a day to himself. Sundays are not counted as days of fasting. That Lent is 40 days, is no accident, but should remember the time that Jesus was staying in the desert.
Countless opportunities
Who wants to take lent as an opportunity to do yourself and your body a treat, not necessarily to be without solid food. Not only that strict fasting, even small changes in lifestyle are enough to feel a positive effect.
There are many ways to use the fasting period. Refrain you can, for example:
- Alcohol
- Nicotine
- Meat & Sausages
- Sweet and / or snacks
- Fast Food
- writing SMS
- TV
- convenient tools such as for example the car
Try the beloved habit to replace it with something else. You can:
- ride a bike instead of taking the bus to work;
- to smoke a cigarette instead of a relaxation exercise to make;
- explore in place of meat and fast food new vegetarian recipes to eat more fish or
- walking, instead of spending the evening watching TV.
- last but not least, lent is also a psychological effect: Who can claim on Easter Sunday, to have resisted the temptation can be proud of yourself – and see this achievement as a motivation to continue the new habit in the future. The period from Ash Wednesday to Easter is manageable, so it always worth a try to overcome and break old patterns.
The effects
If you use the lenten season, it almost always has positive effects on health and well-being. Some examples:
Waiver of sweets
That too many sweets can be unhealthy, basically everyone knows. However, those who consciously for a while in a particularly sugary foods dispensed or consumption limits, lives not only healthier but also trains his good taste. After a few weeks ago, the personal sense of taste is so sensitive that some sweets can even be perceived as too sweet – a good basis to continue to snack less!
Abstinence from meat and sausage
Meat and sausages contain valuable ingredients such as iron and vitamins B1, B6 and B12. However, many German eat too much meat – more than 300 to 600 grams per week should not be. Even if you are in lent, perhaps not entirely want to give up meat: Try to use more on fish, fresh vegetables and legumes. You may discover new ideas and recipes that taste you. When buying meat at a low fat content.
Waiver of nicotine
To quit smoking or reduce it, is certainly no easy resolution. But the greater the challenge, the more one looks forward at the end when the project is successful. Already after 20 minutes without a cigarette will normalize blood pressure and heart rate, which is accelerated by smoking. After just one week, you make it to the physical withdrawal. Remember: Every non-smoked cigarette to your health benefits!
More exercise
They have made for the fast time to do more for your physical fitness? No matter what you do – the main thing moving! Regular, the performance status and age appropriate physical activity has positive effects on the body. With sports, you can prevent various diseases, among other things, such as diabetes mellitus, obesity, high blood pressure (hypertension) or hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis). You also improve your coordination skills and mental performance.
