The Lenten season is a time Christians give up certain luxuries, including specific types of food to commemorate the sacrifices of Jesus Christ.
A man in Ohio is giving up food during the 46-day Lenten season this year but his fast comes with an ironic twist.
Beer Only Diet For Lent
Del Hall, an employee at Fifty West Brewing Company in Cincinnati, said he will consume only beer during Lent. He is giving up all kinds of solid food and will consume only beer and water until Easter Sunday.
Hall said he is inspired by the German monks in the 1600s who would fast during lent and only drank bock-style beer.
Hall, an Army veteran, has done four-day water fast before, but he acknowledged that consuming only beer for several weeks can be challenging.
"I'm just curious if I'm up to the challenge, if I'm going to be able to do it or not," he said.
Hall is so far consuming between two and five beers per day. He is apparently aware of the potential dangers of subsisting only on beer for the entire length of the Lenten season, so he is taking a vitamin daily and will be checking in with a doctor.
Hall is documenting his lent diet on social media and is tracking his weight. On March 8, he tweeted he lost 7.2 pounds on his day 3 weigh-in.
Homebrewer And Author J. Wilson's Beer-Only Fast
In 2011, homebrewer and "Diary of a Part-Time Monk" author J. Wilson also embarked on a beer only fast for the 46-day duration of Lent. He lost 25.5 pounds, but he claimed he gained so much more from the experience.
"The experience proved that the origin story of monks fasting on doppelbock was not only possible, but probable. It left me with the realization that the monks must have been keenly aware of their own humanity and imperfections," he wrote of his experience.
