Lent is the forty day period in the Christian calendar that leads up to Easter Sunday, which marks the anniversary of Jesus’ resurrection. It begins on Ash Wednesday, the day following Shrove Tuesday, now commonly known as Pancake Day. Traditionally, since Lent is a religious period of repentance and reflection, a time typically used to reflect on one’s faith and on Jesus’ sacrifice when he retreated into the desert for forty days without food or water, it is customary for Christians to make a personal sacrifice during this time, by fasting, abstaining from festivities or more recently, by giving up something they enjoy to show appreciation and self-discipline. 

However nowadays, with countless trends across social media promoting diets, weight loss and calorie counting, does Lent pick up where Veganuary and New Years Resolutions leave off? Is social media robbing Lent of its original meaning and warping it into yet another harmful tool for promoting diet culture?

Amid the non-religious mainstreaming of Shrove Tuesday and Lent, it is easy to see that these events may be losing their religious meaning for many as they are adopted by non-practising individuals with non- faith-based motives, who see Lent as an extension of their diet-focused New Year’s resolutions. With this in mind, and lifestyle choices like intermittent fasting being popularised on social media as ‘healthy’ and good for your body, it isn’t surprising that harmful diet culture is beginning to infiltrate the true meaning of Lent. The two can far too easily become dangerously intertwined, particularly as Lent coincides with post- holiday season campaigns for weight loss in the New Year. Dietary choices like adopting veganism, raw diets and taking up intermittent fasting are all too often used to conceal and excuse disordered eating, and Lent is just another potential layer to this cover. 

However, Lent can of course be a healthy and positive thing to do! It is important to focus on making sure your motivations for the choices you’re making during Lent aren’t based on fearing food or weight gain, and to chat with your friends and family who are making changes during Lent to make sure they’re doing the same. Here are some ideas for Lent that don’t include letting diet culture into your life.

Avoid cutting out entire food groups for Lent (carbohydrates for example), as these are essential in a healthy, balanced diet. If you are set on cutting out something food related, perhaps pick something that you eat every day – a snack or a meal which has you stuck in a routine, and take this as an opportunity to shake up your mealtimes and try a new recipe. You could also try cutting out something you know has negative consequences on the environment, for example beef, or something that has an unethical production chain, as chocolate often does. Changing your motivations so that they reflect your desire for positive change outside of your own body is also a more constructive way to approach Lent.

One of the best ways to steer clear of diet culture during Lent is to give up something that isn’t food-related. Realistically, nowadays giving up one food item isn’t a massive sacrifice anyway, and doesn’t truly embody the meaning of Lent. How about avoiding things that waste your time, or affect your mood or relationships, like caffeine, staying up too late, using single-use plastic or buying into fast fashion? All of these could have really positive consequences on the way you feel day-to-day.

At its core, Lent is a time of reflection, so perhaps another way of honouring its true meaning is to give up some of your time each day and dedicate it to something that will add an element of reflection to your life; a time when you can consider the meaning of Lent or your relationship with it: you could try swapping YouTube videos  for meditation, spiritual contemplation, or yoga – all of which can have positive effects on your mental health. Many Christians also choose to embody the meaning of Lent by making a ‘sacrifice’ in pushing themselves to do something each day that exemplifies God’s love and core Christian values – an act of kindness for example. Regardless of your religious beliefs, this seems a far more positive interpretation of Lent than cutting out crisps. 

So, whatever your reasons for taking part in Lent this year, we owe it to ourselves and to the origins of this tradition to not allow its meaning to be distorted and hijacked by the toxic presence of diet culture, and to preserve the themes of respect and self-reflection in the sacrifices we choose to make, rather than introducing harmful habits into our routine.

More from Food and Drink:

Are Plant-Based Diets Here to Stay?

Food of the Fortnight: Margherita Tart

Review: Beanu