Why I'm going sugarfree

Thanks to "twitterverse" I came across Sarah Wilson's "I Quit Sugar" e-book. Within a few pages of this little beauty I felt like this was the lifestyle change for me.

For as long as I can remember I've been addicted to sugar (of course, I've only identified it as an "addiction" recently. Up until then I considered it a "sweet tooth"). I remember as a young girl (maybe 5 years old) being rather enthusiastic about accompanying Dad to his weekly squash game. While he sweated it out on the court, I'd be sneaking into the tea room to steal a few cubes of sugar. That memory still carries the same emotions as sugar does for me now: sheer delight coupled with shameful guilt.

Now as a grown woman, a wife and a mother of two toddlers, I'm still sneaking sugar in where I can. Now it comes in the form of an impromptu "urge" to whip up a batch of meringues; the curious "need" for something at the supermarket, just so I can add a chocolate bar to the list; and even the very unhygienic habit of licking the sugar spoon between my two-spoons-of-sugar cup of tea.

Here's the weird bit: I'm a fitness instructor . I live and breathe exercise. I'm also a huge advocate for toxic free cleaning and personal care products (this is me). On the outside I take very good care of myself. On the inside I'm poisoning myself.

I'm quitting sugar because I need to balance up my values a bit. And, like Sarah, I also have a lurking thyroid issue going on, but in the form of hypothyroidism. It's not fully blown yet, but my GP tells me its only a matter of time. And, well, a few kilos shed wouldn't go astray either.

A few less kilos + more energy hopefully = a faster half marathon time.

So far, Sarah's e-book has taught me that aside from the obvious sugar hits I'm grabbing, I'm also taking it in with almost every meal of the day, and one bit of sugar (or fructose) just activates my brain to want more.

So, I'm committed to giving it go.It's going to be tough. I expect these are going to be my biggest hurdles:

BREAKFAST TIME: I've got to find an alternative to my beloved natural muesli, yoghurt and fresh fruit. There's sugar in the dried fruit of the muesli, the flavour of the yoghurt and the fructose of the fresh fruit (NB: as Sarah writes "when I talk about quitting sugar, I'm talking about quitting fructose").

PEPSI: I know, a no-brainer right? But my husband and I are literally hanging out for our weekend fix of this dirty stuff. It's clearly gotta go.

CHAI LATTE: After taking 3 fitness classes in a row on a Tuesday morning, my vanilla chai latte bides me and my appetite some time to get home, have a shower and fix myself up some lunch. I'm going to have to go - nuts!

FRIDAY NIGHT = CHOCOLATE NIGHT!: This implies that I don't have chocolate on any other day, when in fact I probably have it in some form, at least every second day. But on Friday nights my husband and I usually enjoy half (or a full!) block together. This ritual normally extends to Saturday and sometimes Sunday night - meaning, I have had a big chocolate hit 3 out of 7 days of the week. Because of the marital bliss this brings us, I'm actually going to try to hang on to this. But it will be strictly one block for the weekend and if I find it's making me fall off the wagon - sorry DH it might have to go!

Wish me luck! In fact, better than that - wish me good health!