I have been a sugar addict for as long as I can remember.
All of my treats as kids were based around chocolate.
It is no surprise then that I have had so many problems over the years giving up anything with sugar in it.
My school days were bad because of my size but not it seems that the rest of the world has caught me up.
Well that was until I started a new eating program that is based around cutting out all processed foods and sugar products.
At the age of 34 it is not easy to train yourself with some new habits but it was most definitely needed.
I have over the years picked up a number of tips but my problem has always been working out how to fit them all together not to mention which ones were actually going to work and which ones were rubbish.
Due to the fact I ate for fun I found the only way to keep any level of control over my weight was to work out as hard as I could.
When you are obese this leads to all sorts of injuries which only end up in dressing you which sends you back to junk food.
Talk about a vicious circle.
Finally I found a plan that was not a diet as such.
It didn't tell me what to eat and what to avoid one food at a time.
It simply explained what sugar does to the body and why I should avoid it.
It then went on to explain the positive effects of fruit and vegetables allowing me to work out what I can have and what I cannot.
This allowed me to start making changed to my diet.
The first things I changed were to remove white refined sugar from my diet.
I no longer had sugar in my cup of tea.
I removed white bread and white pasta and began to replace them with wholegrain alternatives.
This helped to bring my blood sugar levels under control.
The final and probably the hardest step was to remove all the junk I was eating.
While my meals were not to bad as they were mainly fresh I did snack a lot on fizzy drinks and chocolate.
To remove them I simply increased the amount of food I ate.
I made sure that the food was healthy such as fruit or even a chicken roll.
Anything to keep me away from food that was high in sugar.
I then added nuts to ensure I was getting all the nutrients I needed.
This made sure that my body was fully fed on the right stuff.
The idea being that this would stop any cravings.
Amazingly a diet without sugar can have amazing effects on your body.
Within a couple of days I felt far calmer.
It was like someone had lowered my anxiety levels.
I wasn't on edge all the time.
At the end of the week I weighted in and suddenly my joy went through the roof.
The weight continued to drop until I reached my goal weight 6 months later.