The whole point about Lent when it was 'invented' was making a virtue out of a necessity. Back in the days when they didn't have deep freezes, canning factories, huge glasshouses and imports from all over the world, by the time the end of February arrived most of what had been stored from last year's harvest had been eaten - so you pretty much had to fast anyway. Shrove Tuesday was to do with being shriven so you started Lent in a state of grace. The idea of pancakes was to get rid of all those luxuries like butter and eggs, for those rich enough to have them in the first place - I think the Medieval peasant subsisted mainly on coarse bread and some sort of vegetable stew with precious little meat. The apple a day to keep the doctor away is the same sort of thing - kept in the right condition, apples can last all winter and give you that daily dose of 'fresh' veg.etc. etc.
