Taking the plunge

Right. Every so often I get the urge to set myself a personal challenge. It can be health related, money related, anything really! Last week it was purging the wardrobes and utility room shelves in a massive spring clean, Lord knows how many times I've tried the whole 'take your vitamins with breakfast' malarkey (I am shit at this one), one month I tried to read more books (was better at this), another I went without shopping for 30 days (nailed it, then went berserk...!) and I was contemplating giving up caffeine.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha excuse me while I die laughing.

Basically, I see new months as perfect opportunities to 'better' myself in some way...and the beauty is that if it doesn't work I can jack it in in 30 short days ;-)

So I got to thinking about what I could tackle for the month of May. For the last few weeks I have had the biggest of mood slumps. Not only have I been tired and irritable during the day but some nights I have been crawling into bed at 8pm and sleeping straight through...and still waking up feeling like I have flu. Posh Mama thinks I need some blood tests doing (I'm inclined to agree with her so am putting them on the list...) but for now I have decided to cut out sugar.

I'm not entirely convinced my 'funk' is purely diet related as I've been suffering from an increase in anxiety as well but since it's something I'm conscious of I figured it's worth a punt. I am a bugger for reaching for something sweet whenever I have a spare 5 minutes at home...it's the quick energy fix or the comfort boost I need on a busy day and the slump I feel after the sugar wears off is so draining it's untrue. So yes, bye bye sugar!

I won't be giving up sugar entirely, mainly because once I started reading into it I realised that a) sugar is in everything and b) I'd soon starve. I also need to balance this challenge with the energy levels I need to run a house and raise two small children (no mean feat!) So basically, the rule of thumb is...no sweets, no chocolate, no cake, no biscuits...nothing that sugar is the MAIN ingredient of, I guess. I'm still eating bread and fruit and cereal etc... just cutting out blatantly obvious sugar. 

I must admit, this idea didn't spring into my mind totally of its own accord. I was reading 'Not Another Mummy Blog' this week and Alison's post just made me sit up and pay attention. I suppose I'd been putting it off under the guise of 'it's all too tricky and I'll have to spend a fortune on new foods and new equipment and ho hum, everything in moderation' but actually, the basic move of cutting out sugary treats made it seem all the more possible.

Today has been tricky and it's only day 1. The boys chose some rocky road treats to take to BFF's house (nom) and then Husband cracked open a packet of fruit pastilles once they were in bed. I physically had to leave the room!!

We shall how I get on for the rest of the week. Wish me luck!!