Day One

So I managed to complete my first day sugar free. Good God it was really quite tricky. I knew I had a love for the sweet stuff but it was only yesterday that I appreciated how big a love this was. As  I closed my eyes to go to sleep all I could see was a plethora of chocolate bars whilst craving the sweet taste of a date stuffed with almond butter...

I was quite moody, felt a little weak, had a headache and was hungry all day. I know I hadn't eaten enough which I think could have contributed. I'll be honest though, I don't really know what I should be eating! I'm worried about everything I put into my mouth and I'm finding the whole thing really rather all consuming at the moment. We've not got our own kitchen yet, it's my mum's birthday this weekend and we're eating out tonight. It's not the best week to start doing something like this but I don't believe that's not a reason not to do it. Sarah Wilson says to ease yourself in for the first week so I'm hoping if there is a little slip up, it won't put me on too much of a back foot.

I had always thought I had eaten very healthily; fruit, homemade granola, dates, smoothies...In essence, everything that contained rather large amounts of sugar. It was only yesterday that I really appreciated this and will admit began to doubt whether I would be able to continue this experiment (after just one day!) It's the fact that I genuinely love all of the above as well as the odd cake and biscuit treat and I do believe that life is for enjoying and these little treats along with cocktails and wine are something I thoroughly enjoy with friends and family. Do I really want to give up something I enjoy?

I've come to the conclusion today that yes, yes I do. At least for these next 8 weeks. I think I just need to get my head around it and am going to use this week particularly for doing that, trying to understand what I can and can't eat, how much of things I should be eating (I'm overloading on almonds at the moment which I know cannot be good!) and gradually settling into this new way of thinking and enjoying. If I make a mistake this week I'm not going to worry, by next week I'll have a better understanding and IQS 8 week program book only really hits the hard stuff in week 3 so I've got some time to get used to it.

If there is any advice out there on how to stave off the hunger send it my way!

Lizzie x

Jumping on a bandwagon

Since the 18th of December last year life has been somewhat of a whirlwind. It was on this day we found out the startup my husband co-founded had been accepted onto a program in China for 4 months. At the time I was working for myself (on the cookies) and so it seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to jump on board and for us both to head out on a little adventure to the Far East.

Since then life hasn't slowed down and we've basically been living out of a suitcase. It's been and continues to be an amazing adventure but it is exhausting. We're renting our flat out in Cambridge and have now moved to London. However since returning in mid May we haven't had anywhere to call home. We've stayed at the in-laws, in hotels and now in house share air bnb's. Everyone has been amazing but there's nothing quite like your own space. This continued living out of a suitcase has presented me with a sense of complete and utter loss of control (and mind on more than one occasion!). We've had an offer accepted on a flat down in London now and should hopefully be moving in two weeks...

This loss of control, lack of routine, constantly eating out etc hasn't left me in the best state mentally or physically and I want to fix it. I've been dabbling with the idea of completely overhauling my diet for a while and have decided today that I'm going to jump on the old quitting sugar bandwagon. Or at least experiment with it for the next 8 weeks.

Every single tooth in my mouth is a sweet one and although I don't have a daily chocolate/cake/donut habit, I do enjoy all of the above and I absolutely adore fruit - the sweeter the better as well as dates and all of the other yummy 'healthy' foods I have discovered today contain hideous amounts of fructose which is the bad stuff. It's always been sweet over savoury. Always. Now however I'm going to try and change this.

I won't lie, I'm a little bit scared and keep thinking of reasons not to do it - we don't have a place to cook in yet, I'm meeting up with friends for dinner next week and so on. But not doing it now is only going to prolong the receiving of the hopefully beneficial effects...

I made the first step at lunch time and went out and bought the I Quit Sugar 8 week program book. I'm going to start in earnest tomorrow and see how it goes. I know I'm going to find it hard and I know I will have wobbles but I feel there could be more to gain than not.

I want to make sure I'm doing it right though so if you have any hints and tips on what not to do/eat etc please send them my way! Particularly for when eating out and when the sweet cravings hit!

Day one starts tomorrow!

Lizzie x