{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "content": {
    "$type": "site.standard.content.markdown",
    "text": "Some people do 'dry January'. I never have. My birthday is in January after all, and it's always nice to have a glass of wine or a few beers on your birthday.\n\nBut I've always found the concept of 'dry January' an interesting one. A sort of 'fire break' after overdoing it over the holidays. A while back I decided that I would quite like to do something similar, and settled on dry February (it is the shortest month after all...)\n\nDry February grew a bit of a life of its own over time. My wife needed to start on a very restrictive diet for medical reasons, and so I decided to do a bit of a 'sympathy diet'.\n\nThe one constant has been giving up alcohol, but in parallel, I've also done:\n\n- Sugar-free\n- Vegetarian\n- Vegan\n- Gluten-free\n\nThe most extreme version so far was vegan, sugar-free, and gluten-free, on top of the alcohol-free.\n\nMost years, I do cut out sugar. It makes things a bit more difficult, but we do cook a lot from scratch anyway, so in practical terms, it mostly just means cutting out snacks.\n\nThis year though, I wanted to set myself a bit of a challenge. On my 'TIL' page recently I posted [an article about caffeine](https://neurosciencenews.com/caffeine-neuoplasticity-ltp-25255/), and I've decided to go caffeine-free, and to give up processed foods ([Nova Categories 3 & 4](https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/an-introduction-to-food-science/0/steps/163454)).\n\nOut of all of the Fun-Free <span title=\"Apparently, it can be either: https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/February#:~:text=plural%20Februaries%20or%20Februarys\">Februaries</span> I've done so far, this one I think is the most interesting. I have been drinking more and more coffee, especially with a nice coffee machine, and working from home, but it feels like I have got to a point where I am having a coffee because I can't think of what else to do, and I don't think that's a great place to be in.\n\nI'm also interested to see how hard I find the processed food one. I feel like there are a couple of areas where this will be difficult (I eat a lot of ham and cheese) but there's also quite a lot of potential for me to learn more about the food I eat there. As a small caveat, I've decided that if _I_ am the one doing the processing, then I'm also allowed to make things that would otherwise be considered category 3 or 4 (so far example, homemade bread is OK, homemade hummus is OK), provided all of the constituent ingredients are category 1 or 2. I'm not sure if that's how the framework is intended to be used, but it will do for me.\n\nSo, wish me luck!",
    "version": "1.0"
  },
  "description": "Every February, I challenge myself to give up a bunch of different things, and 2024 is no exception. Will this be the hardest year yet? Probably not, but it certainly won't be easiest either.",
  "path": "/blog/fun-free-february",
  "publishedAt": "2024-02-01T17:14:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://joeinn.es",
  "textContent": "Some people do 'dry January'. I never have. My birthday is in January after all, and it's always nice to have a glass of wine or a few beers on your birthday.\n\nBut I've always found the concept of 'dry January' an interesting one. A sort of 'fire break' after overdoing it over the holidays. A while back I decided that I would quite like to do something similar, and settled on dry February (it is the shortest month after all...)\n\nDry February grew a bit of a life of its own over time. My wife needed to start on a very restrictive diet for medical reasons, and so I decided to do a bit of a 'sympathy diet'.\n\nThe one constant has been giving up alcohol, but in parallel, I've also done:\nSugar-free\nVegetarian\nVegan\nGluten-free\n\nThe most extreme version so far was vegan, sugar-free, and gluten-free, on top of the alcohol-free.\n\nMost years, I do cut out sugar. It makes things a bit more difficult, but we do cook a lot from scratch anyway, so in practical terms, it mostly just means cutting out snacks.\n\nThis year though, I wanted to set myself a bit of a challenge. On my 'TIL' page recently I posted an article about caffeine, and I've decided to go caffeine-free, and to give up processed foods (Nova Categories 3 & 4).\n\nOut of all of the Fun-Free Februaries I've done so far, this one I think is the most interesting. I have been drinking more and more coffee, especially with a nice coffee machine, and working from home, but it feels like I have got to a point where I am having a coffee because I can't think of what else to do, and I don't think that's a great place to be in.\n\nI'm also interested to see how hard I find the processed food one. I feel like there are a couple of areas where this will be difficult (I eat a lot of ham and cheese) but there's also quite a lot of potential for me to learn more about the food I eat there. As a small caveat, I've decided that if I am the one doing the processing, then I'm also allowed to make things that would otherwise be considered category 3 or 4 (so far example, homemade bread is OK, homemade hummus is OK), provided all of the constituent ingredients are category 1 or 2. I'm not sure if that's how the framework is intended to be used, but it will do for me.\n\nSo, wish me luck!",
  "title": "Fun-Free February",
  "updatedAt": "2024-02-01T17:14:00.000Z"
}