COULD YOU GO A WEEK WITHOUT SUGAR?

Monica Cafferky, 54, tried a daring challenge

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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.