LIFESTYLE CHANGE # 1 UPDATE ... LIFESTYLE CHANGE # 2

As you are aware I've decided to make some changes to my eating and training habits but am introducing them gradually so as not to overwhelm myself with a massive change on many fronts thats guaranteed to have me going into meltdown and having a mother of a binge in rebellion.

I have gone a week without sugar free lollies. It wasnt a typical week (as evidenced by my huge rant earlier on) but I stuck with this decision and didnt rush out to buy a packet to stuff down out of boredom, habit or whatever.

This week may challenge me more though as I'm back to the normal me and resisting that afternoon urge will take some strength. But I'm determined to stick it out and kick them out of my life once and for all.

So what is the second lifestyle change I want to make? Well it actually logically follows on from the first and that is to eliminate all artificial sweeteners from my diet (bar the odd sugar free gum if a fresh breath emergency arises).

What does this mean for me?

Firstly I'm not going cold turkey and throwing out everything with AS but as those things get used up I wont be replacing them with like. For instance:

Forme yogurt is artificially sweetened. I had the last one last week and have bought no more. My afternoon snack will now be 4-5 brasil nuts and some fruit (figs from the tree in my backyard for today). Or maybe some natural low fat greek yogurt with fruit. Whichever takes my fancy. I dont want a yogurt thats full of sugar as I think thats almost as bad as the AS one.

The real challenge for me will be giving up the SF maple syrup that I have on my oat / egg white / ricotta / apple pancakes on most mornings. Those pancakes are undoubtedly my favourite breakfast and I just cant bring msyelf to have them with full sugar maple syrup as often as I do. I've looked into alternatives to have on my pancakes but not sure that apple sauce will cut it and as for making my own berry sauce ... it just aint gonna happen both from the time and expense perspective. So my plan is to have the pancakes once or twice a week with normal maple syrup and have a different breakfast on the other days. Will experiment and see what works and keeps me happy.

Other than that there are various other products that I'll be ditching but I think they'll be comparitively easy. Mind you I will miss having the occassional Diet Coke which is a sin that I love to indulge in LOL.

So its all about replacing things that arent so good for me with things that are better. We only get one body to live in so where would we live if we didnt look after it? I hope to be living in mine for a long time and I dont want it to get too run down and in need of a major overhaul.

Cheers all

Magda