‘Bread, bread will have you dead.’- Sarah Helm, Teddington.

With the beginning of a fresh, new year, and the turn of a new leaf, the latest infatuation of the locals has been how to improve their health, or more specifically: how to eradicate sugar completely from their diets. With the transformation of the eat well plate, to encourage people to eliminate sugar once and for all, the public have been going out of their way to expel sweet treats from their households.

It has been found that on average that the average Briton will consume over 160 teaspoons of sugar a week with many experts saying that the stuff is more addictive than heroin. With this in mind, the local community of Twickenham has tried their hand at abolishing the substance for the New Year with the struggle to cut it out of their lives. Some of these struggles have been consuming replacements such as almond milk and brown bread which have little to no sugar in them with more nutrients. Health-conscious families are finding that some supposedly healthy cereals have 6.8g of sugar per 30g serving (which is more than the McVities chocolate cake with 5.8g per slice) - not a good option for the morning and families have the accompanying struggle of finding time to make alternatives for breakfast. Scrambled and boiled eggs being a good option with the protein and low-fat aspects for a healthy morning.

I, a Twickenham resident, explain my thoughts on the new sugar-free diet with a blog I wrote over the days of exposing myself to the experiment for a week.  

‘I have been at this torture for about two days now and I’m starting to see why most people would call it an addiction. Members of my family have been trying to force me to drink almond milk in my tea, and even in my cereal, but in all honesty, I would rather not drink at all. You might as well put water in my cornflakes in the morning because it would have the same appeal.’

The growing trend for sugar-free diets amongst families in the southwest of London has not only proved to be expensive but time-consuming. With the rise in health food shops like ‘Holland and Barrett’ in local areas, recently coming to Teddington, have been promoting sugar-free foods with alternatives to regular snacks, however, are obviously more expensive and families face the struggle to afford such organic foods.

‘It’s now been three days and just this week my family have spent an extra thirty pounds than normal on our weekly food shop. Needless to say, I do not think it’s worth it because there has been little to no pleasure in the experience. Also, I have had to change so much of what I buy usually and sometimes it takes me more than one round of food shopping just to find it. I thought giving up sugar in my tea was the hard part.’

‘A week of eating healthily and yet the biggest problem is that January is so dull it is practically the worst time to give up something that doesn’t drain the life out of you. I don’t even think it is healthy to be starving myself of all this energy anymore. I may just start again next year, or maybe the year after that.’

With sugar being the drug and arch nemesis of the nation the fight for that New Year’s resolution within the Richmond borough is on; searching for that not so sweet revolution no matter how much almond milk we have to drink.

Harriet Scott, Waldegrave School