A few years ago, a close friend was diagnosed with ME (a type of chronic fatigue syndrome). Unfortunately, she has discovered that treatment can be a bit of a lottery depending on where you live, that research is underfunded compared to other long-term conditions, and that people's awareness of the condition is generally pretty poor.

As such, I wanted to do something to contribute to a cause supporting people with ME and investing in research, so I decided to set myself a challenge. Given that ME sufferers sometimes have to alter their diets because of their condition (and may become intolerant of certain things like lactose, fructose etc), I've decided to give up added sugar. That means everything I eat from Monday 15th February to Sunday 13th March will only contain natural sugars and have no added sugar in it. The only exception I'm making is with using a lower calorie fruit-derived syrup for sweetening coffee. You might think that this is relatively easy (if a bit dull on the tastebuds). However, the fact is that so many things surprisingly contain added sugar, from Weetabix to baked beans. This therefore makes cutting out added sugar much harder than you'd think.

In any case, you know that I'm notorious for having a sweet tooth, so this will definitely be a challenge! ;) Please donate above; even just a couple of pounds (or euros/dollars etc if you're not in the UK) will mean a lot. :)

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