We gave up sugar for British Heart Foundation – March Dechox!

In the month of March, Account Manager, Georgia and I took part in the charity fundraising challenge ‘Dechox’. We gave up all sweets, treats and sugary goods for the whole month and raised a total of £180 for the wonderful charity British Heart Foundation.

Our Dechox challenge was one of five charity fundraising challenges we’re taking part in this year to mark five years of Carnsight Communications. You can learn more about this year-long challenge in our blog, but also keep an eye out for updates regarding the four remaining fundraising challenges.

We wanted to support the British Heart Foundation as it’s an incredible charity working to do amazing lifesaving research. Severe heart conditions have touched the lives of many of those I love dearly. It’s a charity that is particularly close to my heart (no pun intended!) and the more money put behind research, the closer we can get to new treatments and a better understanding of our bodies.

The Dechox challenge was as follows:

Covid 19 has put people with heart and circulatory diseases at greater risk than ever, the impact of the pandemic has forced us to cut our research in half, and 60 years of progress is at stake.

We are counting on the willpower of chocoholics like you because even before the pandemic, research into the world’s biggest killers was far too underfunded. Now the situation is worse.

There are so many things we need to change. The fact there is no effective treatment for vascular dementia. The fact that women are twice as likely to have a heart attack misdiagnosed. That there’s no cure for heart failure. That we still can’t save every child born with congenital heart disease or give every victim of stroke the best chance of recovery.

It all sounds daunting and it is. But here’s the good news – research works, and so does fundraising. When we fund research properly and put our trust in science, breakthroughs follow.

Every step forward we’ve made has been thanks to a huge collective effort and that’s what taking part in Dechox is all about.

British Heart Foundation, Dechox, 2021

With the shop shelves stacked with Easter eggs and gummy bears, I can’t say the month was easy. As a complete self-confessed sugarholic, never mind chocoholic, it wasn’t always as straightforward as it looked. We were in lockdown and I had no chocolate to keep me sane!

Jokes aside, Georgia and I were thrilled to finish our challenge and raise money for charity. After a month of blueberries and nuts, we both admitted to going all out when Easter Sunday arrived. But the truth is, what they say about less sugar being good for you is right. My skin cleared up, Georgia reported having more energy, and both of us have found we don’t have quite the same insatiable appetite for sweet stuff since doing the challenge.

The challenge was simple, fun and well worth the cause. It goes to show that even the little things can make a big difference. We can’t wait to hop into charity fundraising challenge number two!

Follow our charity fundraising challenge journey through our Instagram fundraising highlight.