I'm giving up sugar for Lent - anyone in?

[tinselandlights]

Since Christmas my sugar consumption has been out of control.

I've decided to give up sugar and wheat for Lent, and give the money I would spend on it to the Trussell Trust to keep me on track.

Anyone else in?

When I have done this before my rule has been to look at the label and not have anything that has more than 4g of sugar per 100g - getting it to zero was just too much worry.

I am very tempted to do it again, I will have to be a bit careful though as I have a teenage daughter who is starting to set herself some rather strict and tending towards obsessive food rules and I don't want to feed in (so to speak) to that for her.

Ok this sounds like a goer!

Lent starts Wednesday, I'm going to try a soft launch today and tomorrow (definitely having pancakes though!)

Then straight into it on Wednesday!

@OddBoots I know what you mean.

Sugar is the one thing that a) is really hard to totally cut out and b) our bodies can be 100% healthy without, so hopefully your DD won't interpret it as another rule to implement in a restrictive way, as it's not a nutritional issue to avoid sugar.

Easier said than done with teenagers though!

Can recommend reduced sugar baked beans! Much nicer anyway, as well as being healthier.
I've got some valentines chocolates to dispose of into my face, then I'm ready for Wednesday!

Tomorrow we're going to have pancakes with lemon and sugar! It will be the most carby thing I've eaten since Christmas, looking forwards to it!

Afterwards, I''l only eat fruit once a day- eaten with a few nuts to lower blood sugar (GI index) Already given up bread, dark choc and swapped wine for gin and diet lemonade.

I gave up processed sugar for lent in 2019, first 10 days was hell but after that I felt amazing!

I had bags of energy and lost 2kg.

I still ate naturally occurring sugars and carbs such as bread/pasta but stuck to wholemeal rather than white.

First day has not been too bad!

Loads of water, few coffees and teas (I don't have sugar in these anyway)

B-streaky bacon, egg, half an avocado and some mushrooms
L- few slices of ham with pickled onions and some melon
D-steak and spinach salad
Handful of cashew nuts

Evenings are my picky time though!

That sounds great @troppibambini6, I love a pickled onion!!

That sounds great @troppibambini6 Is it keto? Mine is not so virtuous

Breakfast- bran flakes & semi skim milk
Lunch - meal replacement soup
Afternoon snack- smoked salmon, tomatoes and cucumber
Dinner- grilled chicken, peppers and rice
Evening snack- blueberries and almonds

Its been sugar free except for the blueberries, but I ate them with almonds to lower the Gi. Due to my weight, I need to eat about 1775-2225 calories a day to lose weight so am not going drastic.

@SugarfreeBlitz to be honest I'm not sure what it is
I've been doing slimming world on and off for about 5 years but I feel like it I'm eating a lot of carbs and sugary (sweetnery!) things which I'm thinking are creating a vicious cycle. I've lost a bit but still more to go so I'm hoping giving up sugar and cutting down on carbs will help shift it.
Just basically healthy eating without constantly rewarding myself with sweet treats.

I've just had the same brunch today as it was really nice and it really filled me up yesterday.
Chicken stir fry tonight.

@tinselandlights me too!! The stronger the better! Dh loves it when he comes home from work and gives me a kiss

I'm in please. I did it before and lost weight but lockdown boredom eating is piling on the pounds.

I would love to join in but am scared!
I only have sugar in tea. I don’t eat sweets, cakes, fruit, chocolate, but not so I have a lot of tea and therefore a lot of sugar.
I hate hate hate water and when I have tried to ditch the sugar before I found I just became dehydrated because I simply didn’t drink anything else.
Anyone else in my boat? Would love a sugar in tea no more buddy🙂

I’m in

I’m in too- have find it before and like others I’ve eaten too many crisps, cake and sweets in lockdown. Lost weight last year and it’s creeping back on. I’m going to allow myself a bag of crisps a week, but no cake, sweets, biscuits etc. my issue is eating crap in the evening

Yes please! I've started binging on chocolate, not good. I always feel better when I give up processed sugar but could do with moral support this time!

Are you all aware that Lent is meant to be about doing something to make you realise how lucky you are or giving something back to the world.
How about using lent to give to charity? Litter pick? See a lonely person?

Lent is not meant to be an opportunity to diet!

I do see fasting as a part of global faith activity and fasting from refined sugar / added sugar which is a huge luxury is a reasonable thing to engage in. It does give rise to stopping and thinking (for me then praying). I have done this for the last couple of years (and don't tell my family - it's not about virtue signalling) and it's amazing how long it takes for added sugar to creep back in after Easter; Christmas is what does for it really! As such, I am in from tomorrow.

I should add that I don't relent on Sundays though I do have a lockdown birthday and my children do like to bake for Mother's Day so I will pause on those two days to enable celebrations.

I'll join to give up processed sugar. I won't cut out fruit but happy to cut out cakes, sweets, biscuits, cereals, jam etc. I've started to get spots from the sugar consumption!

But pancake day first...

@Pileonsally

Are you all aware that Lent is meant to be about doing something to make you realise how lucky you are or giving something back to the world. How about using lent to give to charity? Litter pick? See a lonely person?

Lent is not meant to be an opportunity to diet!

Lent is about many things. It’s about self sacrifice and reflection. Giving up things that are hard for you to give up requires a lot of self reflection and often suffering.

@Pileonsally

Are you all aware that Lent is meant to be about doing something to make you realise how lucky you are or giving something back to the world. How about using lent to give to charity? Litter pick? See a lonely person?

Lent is not meant to be an opportunity to diet!

I think Lent can be whatever you want or need to be personally. For a lot of people it's a defined period of time where you can give up something unhelpful or take up something useful.

Dieting and picking litter are not, unless you're going to tell me otherwise, mutually exclusive .

Yes please OP, I'm in. I used to (pre offspring and thus 12 years ago) do a complete detox for the whole of lent, no wheat, meat, dairy, caffeine, sugar or alcohol. I'm not going to do that but I do need to cut out bread, sugar (although I don't have a lot of that), flapjacks (we have a lot of sugar-free ones which sounds healthy but are laden with butter) and alcohol I think.

I will be taking up a daily Lent bible reading and trying to get back on track with God a bit more.

pileonsally without sounding goady, why can’t lent be about restricting sugar? And only that?

I am in too! Fresh fruit is reasonable becuase the water in it negates some of the impact of sugar on your teeth, and also has fibre and vitamins so in moderation is fine. Dried fruit though is very sugary and sticky so needs to be avoided.

Are you all aware that Lent is meant to be about doing something to make you realise how lucky you are or giving something back to the world.How about using lent to give to charity? Litter pick? See a lonely person?

I always learnt in church it was demonstrate self discipline and to help empathise with Jesus' plight of sacrifice in the desert (atheist now but can't imagine it's changed much). What denomination are you?