Lucy's blog: 'What I’ve noticed that’s different about myself now I'm Sugar-Free'

I have to confess this hasn’t been an easy week for me and I have had a few wobbles and fallen off the wagon slightly. Nothing major, but I did treat myself to a few wee whiskeys as my Nan’s funeral was looming.

Anyone that knows me knows that as soon as I make a decision to do something – “WHOOSH”, I’m like a heat seeking missile! Well, the idea I had this week was to move both of the children’s bedrooms in order to give them more space. After all, it seemed pointless that one of the biggest rooms in the house was left unoccupied 95% of the time. As usual, as my husband tried to explain to me, I had totally underestimated the length of time it would take to redecorate, move and reinvent two rooms. So, I confess, my original target of completing the entire job in an afternoon became a mini-marathon of three days - with what felt like an assault course of self-assembly furniture, Polyfiller-ing, painting and trips to the tip or DIY centre for yet more paint! BUT… where I would have normally been good for nothing after day one, in our sugar-free state, we pushed through and like a manic two man DIY SOS team, ‘revealed’ two brand new rooms to our excited little ones!

I’m convinced that taking part in this challenge has given me both more energy and the mental willpower to keep strong. The days of me not being able to get up if I had not gone to bed before midnight has begun to disappear and I am no longer a night owl who needs a lay-in!

I’ve almost finished a month of being totally sugar free. The positives for me are:

1. I now feel I understand about the good, the bad and the ugly sugars. I check the sugar content on my shopping before it hits the basket (but there are some things that I am not sure I can ever give up post-challenge…we’ll see)

2. Unlike our son, our daughter has always been up for trying out new or adventurous foods. However, the variety of interesting foods within Davina’s book has even become intriguing to our son, who is normally reluctant to try anything more exotic than plain sausages or baby bell cheeses!

3. Simon and I both feel more energized throughout the day, we’re no longer on that blood sugar high-low rollercoaster.

4. It’s easier to implement structure into our food planning without it being onerous. To be honest, neither of us has ever really planned shopping around a week of recipes. Although this may sound like a simple thing, putting some structure to our grocery shopping and meal planning really is a huge benefit in terms of time saving and reducing waste.

5. I really enjoy Davina’s recipes, cooking in one pot is right up my street. I am no longer the chef virgin in our house, I love to tweak and recreate recipes for different occasions.

So perhaps it’s not been such a bad week after all - when I look at all my positives above. Davina’s team rocks!