To my friends, family, co-workers and housemates, it is no surprise or secret how much I love pizza.

I love pizza, and I'm not afraid to say so.

I'm very particular about what I like, and it's not really too intricate. A regular, hand-tossed crust, hefty marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni.

As a pizza enthusiast, I obviously have my favorite places, local and chains.

My favorite chain, which now lets me order online and which my university has struck a deal with me to let me pay with food points is:

I will defend Domino's Pizza to the death.

However, my university's lunchtime marketplace offers four kinds of Papa John's personal-sized pizzas, along with cheese sticks and four-piece packets of breadsticks. I grab these when I have lunch meetings (which is more often than I would like) and just need something quick, since the lines for the better food (you know, burgers, wraps and pasta) are much too long for my impatient ass.

My love affair with pizza, sadly, has come to a halt.

I've tried promising myself that I will be healthier every semester of college, and pizza being one of three meals almost every day is certainly not healthy. But there's also the fact that I was raised Catholic, and it is Lent, and for Lent, I was raised to give something up as a sacrifice until Easter.

My freshman year I went the route of giving up soda, because I had access to Coca-Cola products for every meal, and I knew that was terrible for me. That spring, I drank so much water and strawberry juice (which sadly is something they don't stock at the school anymore) and it was so much better than soda. And I kind of decided to make it a thing, and now I barely drink soda. I don't think it makes that much of a difference for my health, but it sure as hell makes me feel good about my choices, even if it is a cup of water with a pizza.

This year, I wanted to give up something that would be more of a sacrifice, like the soda was during freshman year. The only option I could come to was pizza, but I decided to narrow it to the pizza available in the Campus Center marketplace, because realistically I can't go forty days without eating my favorite food.

And it's been real hard. And it's only been like a week. The temptation is real, so I guess I made a good choice. But at what cost?

So while I am suffering, please enjoy these beautiful pictures of the greatest food that has ever graced this godforsaken planet.