Why Do I Want to Break the Cycle?

So I'm what I would class as a pretty normal human being - I like food (a lot) and don't move around as often as I should. Often I eat more than I move and a regular average UK size 14 (I would like this to be a 12 but I guess I need to work on the moving bit). I've done a number of 'diets' and a number of 'lifestyle plans' and to a degree they work but i've come to realise a lot of the 'fat free, low fat' products advocated in those plans all contain A LOT of sugar. I often get that mid-afternoon slump at my desk, feel tired and thinking a chocolate bar would help me out without actually wondering why i'm so lethargic in the first place. I've now come to the realisation that my body is now dependant on two things;

1) Sugar - and I love sweet food (if I turn down chocolate people think i'm seriously ill)
2) Chemicals - it worries me how many chemicals I'm putting into my body. Don't get me wrong i'm not intending to go all 'clean-eating' as I don't think that's practical for me; I just want to at least understand what ingredients are in the food I eat.

There's been a lot in the press of late regarding sugar-free diets, the dangers of sugar etc so I took it upon myself to actually read the Government paper on the increase in sugar in our diets. I then started to look at the nutrition guidance on food labels to understand how many grams of sugar is deemed 'low' - 5g per 100g of food. Then I looked at a couple of food labels on products I had with me - this is where I got shocked;

Fat free diet yoghurt 120g - nearly 12g of sugar!!
Cheese puffs (crisps) 16.5g - 1.1g of sugar - so 7% of a savoury snack is sugar! There's 6.6g of sugar per 100g of crisps - that's now a medium sugar product.
A 40g chocolate bar - 23.5g of sugar

NHS guidance suggests no more than 30g of added sugars per day for the average adult. By eating one low-fat yoghurt and one small bag of crisps and a chocolate bar I was already nearly 25% over my total without even thinking about it. 

I'm very realistic - this will not be an easy journey for me. I do snack, I do have a sweet tooth and I work in an office doing a very sedantry job. 

Step 1) Give the heavily chemicalled stuff a swift kicking. I gave up artifical sweetner in my tea in December - I didn't like the taste of tea for the next 2 months but I've stuck to it. However my intake of diet fizzy pop went up - probably as a substitute. That's the next habit to kick.

Step 2) Then it's understanding the processed foods I'm buying and how much hidden nasties are in them. No more low fat yoghurts etc. I need to make more time to cook properly every day - I have time to do this, I just need to make the effort. So an increase in fresh vegetables, lean protein etc. I need to make sure I have a well balanced breakfast and lunch (I have both at work) to prevent those mid-afternoon slumps. 

Step 3) I need to stop snacking - 3 meals a day are sufficient - previous generations coped on this doing a lot more manual labour than we do. I need to make sure i'm sufficiently hydrated to stop mistaking thirst for hunger.

Step 4) Get a spring in my step by nourishing my body and looking after it.

I want to learn what food actually tastes like again. I won't be giving up milk - I know some sugar-free people choose to due to the lactose however I don't have an intolerence and drink very little. I'd rather have the calcium benefit. I also won't be giving up fruit however I intend to switch to lower sugar fruit. Berries will be my staple because a) I love them and b) they are packed with so much other good stuff it makes sense. I do intend to read food labels when out and about and will opt for products that are classed as low sugar nutritionally. 

This blog will chart my journey. What food choices I make each day and how I feel it's impacting on my overall health. Can I go for a nap now....