I did this 6 years ago, also for a non-religious “lent”. I was actually very strict about it:
nothing with “sugar” (or an artificial sweetener as an ingredient)
nothing that is more than 5% sugar by mass.
The latter one means that most fruit was out (except lemons, limes, and (surprisingly!) strawberries & raspberries).
Everyone had told me this would have an effect on my mood or something, or that I would notice things if/when I went back to eating sugar. It didn’t. I have since concluded my body is uncommonly resiliant to eating different things.
Oh, except that that all 3 times I have tried a low-carb diet (2× “slow carb”, 1× keto) I have gotten ill (usually ~flu) about a week in. Could be a coincidence but feels worth noting.
When you tried low carb did you supplement electrolytes? I tried ~keto and it worked really well for about a week before making me feel worse, and the problem was eventually solved with a combination of drinking salt water and pedialyte.
I did this 6 years ago, also for a non-religious “lent”. I was actually very strict about it:
nothing with “sugar” (or an artificial sweetener as an ingredient)
nothing that is more than 5% sugar by mass.
The latter one means that most fruit was out (except lemons, limes, and (surprisingly!) strawberries & raspberries).
Everyone had told me this would have an effect on my mood or something, or that I would notice things if/when I went back to eating sugar. It didn’t. I have since concluded my body is uncommonly resiliant to eating different things.
Oh, except that that all 3 times I have tried a low-carb diet (2× “slow carb”, 1× keto) I have gotten ill (usually ~flu) about a week in. Could be a coincidence but feels worth noting.
When you tried low carb did you supplement electrolytes? I tried ~keto and it worked really well for about a week before making me feel worse, and the problem was eventually solved with a combination of drinking salt water and pedialyte.