Hi. I’m Mel.
I used to think I had a willpower problem. Turns out, I had a sugar problem. There’s a difference. One is a character flaw. The other has a solution.
I loved cooking. Loved baking. I was the friend who brought three kinds of brownies to book club “just because.”
I also loved my jeans. Until one day… they didn’t love me back.
I’d stand in my kitchen in Barcelona, surrounded by flour and good intentions, wondering why I felt like I needed a nap after lunch and why the scale was staging a hostile takeover.
Then my doctor said two words: insulin resistance.
Cue me googling at 2am, discovering that sugar wasn’t just in my chocolate cake. It was in my “healthy” pasta sauce. My “clean” salad dressing. Even the granola I made from scratch while feeling very smug about myself.
Basically, sugar was in everything, my insulin was doing the Macarena 24/7, and my body was hoarding fat like it was preparing for the apocalypse.
The options were bleak.
So I became a slightly unhinged recipe tester. Almond flour explosions. Allulose that wouldn’t caramelise. My family becoming unwitting taste-testers. “Does this taste… healthy to you?” I’d ask, nervously.
If they made the face — you know the one — back to the drawing board.
The Sugar Swap is the result of all that chaos. Sugar-free recipes for real food and real treats that don’t spike your blood sugar, don’t taste like regret, and don’t make your jeans file for divorce.
I’m not a doctor. I’m not a nutritionist. I’m a woman with an insulin issue, a sweet tooth, and a stubborn streak — cooking from her kitchen in Barcelona.
Everything here is tested until my family actually asks for seconds. If it’s not delicious enough to fool a book club, it doesn’t make the blog.
If you’ve ever felt personally victimised by your own pantry, welcome. You’re my people.
P.S. Yes, the Dark Chocolate Avocado Mousse is in the recipe index. You’re welcome.
Where to next?
