Why I Chose Whole Foods and GAVE UP Sugar
My Journey
From yo-yo dieting and sugar addiction to freedom through whole foods.
The Battle with Yo-Yo Dieting
For most of my life, I battled with yo-yo dieting. Growing up with very poor self-esteem, food often became both a comfort and a punishment. I remember feeling so lost in those times.
When we’re in pain, sometimes we sabotage ourselves with the very things that hurt us, simply because we want to feel in control. For me, food became part of that struggle. It was a battle that, at times, felt tormenting.
Looking back now, I realise I had a serious sugar addiction, although at the time I didn’t want to admit it. The truth is, I knew what to do. I had studied nutrition, read countless articles, and tried nearly every diet imaginable. I had read every magazine and joined Weight Watchers at least fifteen times. I was what you might call a serial dieter.
I had a pocket full of answers, but somehow, I couldn’t apply them.
No More Broken Promises
For years, I had made promises to myself that I simply could not keep.
“When I lose weight…”
“When I get healthy…”
“When I get fit…”
The words had become painfully familiar.
One day, I heard myself say them again, and something inside me broke.
I turned to Mark and said, “Do you realise how many promises I’ve made to myself and broken?”
And then I began to weep uncontrollably.
In that moment, I realised something had to change.
Not just physically… emotionally.
I had spent so much of my life caring for everyone else while neglecting myself, and there was also an awakening around my own self-worth.
That moment became a turning point.
I looked at Mark and said, “Alright. I’ll let you train me. I’ll teach you how to cook, and you can train me.”
From there, something beautiful began to unfold. As I taught Mark to cook, a new sense of fun entered our relationship, and we found ourselves laughing together in the kitchen more than ever before.
For the first time in a long time, I began learning how to care for myself, too. Mark’s training set me on a path of strength and resilience, and helped me discover that I was capable of far more than I had believed.
Over time, my relationship with food and with myself slowly began to change.
What I thought was a dieting problem was actually something much deeper.
It was about freedom.
And one of the very first practical steps taken was quitting sugar.
My journey toward health and well-being began to gain momentum.
We started juicing, and at the same time, I began reading labels more carefully. Preservatives, emulsifiers, seed oils, and additives gradually began disappearing from our food. Most packaged foods were removed from our shelves.
A Deeper Shift
What unfolded during that season was about far more than food.
I allowed Mark into a part of my life I had long guarded, giving him permission to train and guide me in an area where I had always struggled.
He had a gift for encouragement and was constantly sharing motivating anecdotes, insights, and one-liners that challenged me to keep going. Many of them impacted me so deeply that I would record them and later transcribe them, simply so I could revisit them whenever I needed strength and perspective.
His encouragement continually came back to two things:
Discipline and humility.
Those two words so aptly describe the calibre of his life. It was a precious season, and through it, I learned so much more about him, his mindset, and his sporting journey.
Freedom Through Whole Foods
Over time, I began to realise that what I thought was a dieting problem was really a freedom problem. Once sugar was removed and whole foods became the focus, my relationship with food began to change.
Instead of living in cycles of restriction and guilt, I started learning how to nourish my body properly.
Freedom has become a thread woven through many areas of my life, from the way I eat, to the way I dress, to the way I sing and even dance. Sometimes I simply put on music and dance around the room by myself. It’s simple, but it feels wonderfully liberating.
That journey continues today, and it’s the reason I’m so passionate about helping other women discover that freedom is possible, too.
Sometimes it begins with something as simple as reading a label, choosing a whole food, or deciding that the cycle ends today.
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