I’m not sure why but for the last few months I seem to have become super addicted to sugar. I’ve always enjoyed the odd cake here and there, biscuits with my cuppa and a chocolate bar now and again, but my real downfall was more of a savoury nature and crisps were my biggest vice. However lately I seem to have gone just a little mad when it comes to the sweet white stuff and if I wasn’t buying sweet things, I was making huge quantities of cake despite nobody but me at home to eat it! Last week I made brownies that required a massive 700 grammes of chocolate. The end result was a huge batch of super rich cake which could have fed a small army for weeks on end. But I’m not a small army and no way could I have eaten a fraction of what I’d baked. Such a waste of money and effort!

The bread bin contained more biscuits than bread and an evening in front of the TV wasn’t complete without a bar of chocolate. Being the rather curvy person that I am, the last thing I should be doing is stuffing my face with sugar. I feel lethargic a lot of the time, and wake up with an uncomfortable tum. Carry on like this and my health will suffer, and that’s something that I really need to avoid.

So, things need to change, and yes, I hear you say that you’ve heard that old chestnut once or twice before, and yes I’ll be the first to admit that all my good intentions tend to fall by the wayside eventually. Thinking myself as a hopeless case reeks of defeatism and no way am I going to be defeated, so I’m going to give changing my awful eating habits another shot. I’m in the right mindset and determined to make changes. So, Brigitte…think positive..and lets get the show on the road!

Today I embarked on a six week plan which claims that by following it I can eat my way to the hottest, healthiest and happiest me by transforming my attitude towards food and overhaul my health. Each week you make a change to your diet. and the way you eat. This week I need to ditch sugar. Now that’s really going to be a tough one. I’ve binned the remaining brownies and making sugar roses this afternoon for Sam and Sam’s wedding cupcakes was a tested my willpower.It was so tempting to nibble the cut off bits of sugarpaste, but I resisted and popped it straight in the bin instead! The plan isn’t a diet aimed at weight loss, but obviously if you ditch the rubbish in your diet, the weight should drop off.

The plan can be found in a recently aquired book “Get the Glow” written by nutritionist Madeleine Shaw  It’s full of great advice and yummy recipes, and yes there are recipes for cakes and other bakes that use alternatives to sugar to sweeten them. So, as a treat now and again I can still eat the odd cake or two. I often take a peek at her website where you can find more recipes, advice and videos too.

Day one is almost over. For breakfast I had full fat yogurt and berries. Lunch was a quinoa salad with smoked mackerel, A small handful of nuts kept me going this afternoon, and for supper I’m having chickpeas and lentil curry with cauliflower coconut rice. I have a bit of a headache, which could be caused by sugar withdrawal or it could be because I am suffering with a cold. It’s hard to tell.

I’ll let you know in a week’s time how my first week went. I am going to go off plan on Saturday as I have a very important wedding to go to, and there’s absolutely no way that I’m not going to eat cake and the rest at my son’s wedding. I might give the sugar roses a miss though. Putting weddings aside, I have every intention to follow the rules and enjoy the delicious meals I have planned. I’m hoping that this time next week I will be ever so faintly glowing!