My name is Steph and by nature of my work have been surrounded by sugar for 5 years.

In 2010 I started to become quite interested in sugar and why I wanted to eat so much of it all the time. At my peak, I could quite easily consume a bag of lollies a day (up to 200 grams) - or the equiv amount of other sugary substances - Tim Tams, Oreos, chocolate bars and blocks, Coke and spoonfuls of Milo straight from the tin. Sometimes all of the above at the same time. Surprisingly I'm smack bang in the middle of my healthy weight range ... not quite sure how that works as my Mum is overweight and my Dad was too.

I've been successful in kicking the habit temporarily (6 weeks in 2008 and 4 weeks in 2010) but have always gone back to it afterwards. Having read David's books, I feel a different kind of motivation. I experience a lot of day time sleepiness which my doctor thinks could be narcolepsy. Right now I'm leaning towards it being entirely sugar related.

Which brings me to my detox. Started on Boxing Day and have had some great success so far, including less sleepiness. There have been two occassions where I've fructosed - some Champagne and a caffeine supplement that until yesterday I never realised contains fructose (in fact it lists it as the first ingredient!! Reason for using it is to help combat the sleepiness).

Today was weird though ... for the first time since I started de-fructosing, I really wanted to eat something sweet. It came from nowhere and although it wasn't massively intense, it was there and it was bothersome because it was all I could think about.

So, I'm preparing myself for a belated on set of withdrawal symptoms. Perhaps I had been eating so much sugar that my body is still processing what was in there from last year and only now am I getting into true detox mode???

My survival strategies are most "little birdies" (you know, the ones photographers use to make little kids smile nicely for photos, ie a distraction?!!) - I'm giving my body as much savoury stuff as it wants - saladas, rice crackers, chips, nuts etc. I'm also avoiding fruit as I've found this to be a trigger for me, leading to intense desires to eat more sweet things. (I do eat half to one banana most mornings because I train quite a lot and find it the best quick fuel for me - it seems to be ok in terms of not causing me to crave sugar).

My other strategy has been to talk to EVERYONE about what I'm doing. It's helpful for me because the more I talk about it, the more I'm thinking about it. I think my workmates and friends are getting a little over it though ... and it's only Jan 6! The positive thing is that one workmate is also de-fructosing at the same time so we are able to compare notes.

Anyway, this is me. I'm a bit concerned about the next couple of weeks as this is when I have previously fallen off the bandwagon. But I will keep focussed and see what happens.

Steph.