Monica Cafferky, 54, tried a daring challenge
WORDS: MONICA CAFFERKY
I like to think I’m healthy. I don’t drink alcohol or coffee, and I don’t smoke. I also cook my meals from scratch. But I have one vice – sugar, and in particular, chocolate! Every day, I have two KitKats and flavoured yogurts, and at the weekend it’s cake, biscuits and sweets.
I’m not overweight, thanks to exercising, but I know all this white stuff isn’t good for me. So I decide it’s time to kick my sugar habit, which means ditching chocolate too and having a ‘dechox’.
In my sugar-free quest, I’ve bought Unprocess Your Life by nutritionist Rob Hobson, as the book is full of sugar-free recipes. Here’s how I get on...
MONDAY
I go through the cupboards and gather up biscuits and a half-eaten cake and put them outside for the birds, much to my partner John’s amusement. ‘You’ll be craving those in a few hours,’ he says. Determined to prove him wrong, I head out to buy my sugar-free swaps: fruit, nuts, peanut butter, carrots, houmous, frozen mango, rice cakes, blueberries, Greek yogurt and herbal teas.
Sugar triggers a dopamine reaction in your brain, causing feelings of pleasure and happiness. Once the hit wears off you want another hit, which is why sugar is addictive. But on the first day, I ignore the cravings and have Greek yogurt and walnuts after lunch. My 3pm snack is an apple and peanut butter, and after dinner I have frozen mango yogurt. The swaps hit the spot and I go to bed convinced I can complete the week without processed sugar.
TUESDAY
I wake up with a headache and drink two cups of peppermint tea. I was prepared for this withdrawal, thanks to Dr Google, and apparently it can last a few days to a week. Fun. I get on with my day, working from home as a writer, and later snack on fruit, carrot sticks and houmous followed by frozen mango yogurt. I’m still feeling upbeat, though, despite the headache only fading in the afternoon.
WEDNESDAY
No headache this morning, which is good. Reading more of Unprocess Your Life, I learn the risks of eating a diet high in sugar include type 2 diabetes, increased inflammation in the body, cardiovascular disease and weight gain. ‘Studies have also shown that the more ultra-processed food you eat, the less fibre and other vital vitamins, minerals and plant compounds that protect health, and reduce disease, you consume,’ writes Rob.
It’s tough facing the truth that my favour
