My wife is one of life's fortunates who eats what she likes and remains, at 5'4" tall, a size 12 (UK). When her weight does increase (say by 7 lbs) she tweaks her diet just a little and the extra weight disappears fairly quickly.

In order to control my weight I purchased a BS meter to discover that my BS readings were mostly in the diabetic or prediabetic regions while my wife's BS level seemed to remain fairly static and within the normal range. From this I would presume that there are those, who like my wife, only needs to think 'slim' to get slim!

My wife's mother is 91 and she is fit and cares for herself and her house and enjoys the odd tipple, the occasional dance, trips to Canada yearly, and maintains a busy social life so, the question that arises is; is it our sugar balance that's the problem? Are we, who too readily gain weight, probably prediabetic?

Whenever I exclude sugar from my diet my body seems to become acidic (slightly different to ketosis) when I can be a tad tetchy. The awful taste in my mouth forces me to seek anything that will remove what is like a strong distracting coppery-taste. Carbohydrates do not solve this problem but a little sugar, such as in fruit, does, then I feel rather good. The discipline seems to be in controlling the sugar in-take. I have been experimenting for 14 months and, indeed, have reduced my weight, but, finding the right balance of sugar, protein, and carbs, has so far eluded me.

Mentioning sugar here is deliberated as I am beginning to notice that a little but only a little seems to produce benefit whereas carbohydrates from grains appear to be detrimental, but, having said this, I continue to be in the throes of experimenting, searching for that panacea to life's ailments.