Sugar-free February
By Scarlett Sheriff, Fourth year French and Spanish student
Put simply, when it comes to chocolate I have a problem. The sugary reliable goodness of milk chocolate, the glorious, rich caffeine hit of dark chocolate, and the sweet childhood memories in white chocolate all fill me with a short-lived happiness.
It’s an addiction- the way it melts in my mouth, the sugar, the creamy feeling is something that I crave on a daily basis.
This February I’m going ‘sugar free’ for Cancer Research.
I put this in inverted commas , because my aim is to reduce the amount of sugar I consume to under 5g per meal or snack. So, in preparation, I have been slowly but surely weaning myself off my Dairy Milk habit - a single bar of Dairy Milk has 25g of sugar! Five teaspoons full!
Concerningly, chocolate is the least of my worries. Baked beans, a staple for a terrible cook like me, are full of sugar. I am having to cut back to half a portion rather than a portion. White wine: another vice, again full of sugar. Instead I will be on the vodka and tonics - my bank balance will appreciate that, I’m sure.
People always say it is the hidden sugars we need to be wary of - and they are absolutely right. Heinz tomato ketchup, which I’ve always claimed ‘I need’ with my chips, contains 4g of sugar in one tiny spoon, and heck do I use a lot more than that!
It is not like I’m going to preach about health. Absolutely not: I am uncommonly disorganised in every area of life, so eating some vegetables, and just generally something other than salted peanuts and chocolate is more my priority than a perfect diet of careful proportions and home-cooked food.
Also there is no way I actually LIKE the idea of not having chocolate and wine: things that, I repeat, I really do enjoy. I chose to do this because I recently lost my Baba (grandma in Serbo-Croat) to cancer and seeing her suffer has made me understand the importance of research into cures, early diagnosis, and palliative care.
Other than that - I do want to start actually being an adult and cooking properly for myself; it’s really shameful that I am a massive fan of good food but just cannot pull it off in my own kitchen! I highly doubt I am going to be completely successful in this sugar-free endeavour because it involves attention to detail, and that is not exactly my forte, but I am giving it a go.
I am told it is important to be aware of what you put into your body. As I am twenty-two, and after this year will no longer have the excuse of being a student, I should probably think about making sure mine is still in good form in five years time, when I probably will not feel quite so invincible. So cutting out a bit of sugar, is, at the very least, a good idea.
It may or may not work out, but I’ll say this: if I finish this thing, you should definitely give it a shot, because I am actually being 100% serious when I say if I can do it you can too.
Honestly, I am not like the protein-shake fuelled, packed lunch in tow, organised people.
I’m literally the opposite: I have not been to the gym, my hair need a wash, and I just spilt coffee down myself. So there.
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Featured Image: Epigram Food/Nicole Abou-abdallah