My sugar purge fail has me split on two approaches

I decided to cut out all added sugar last month, thinking it would fix my energy slumps. By day three, I was snapping at my cat for meowing too loudly. It felt like I was white-knuckling through every craving. Now I see two schools of thought: some folks say you have to go all in to break the habit, while others argue that moderation prevents the binge cycle I fell into. I caved hard on day seven with a pint of ice cream. Part of me thinks if I'd allowed a little dark chocolate, I might have stuck with it. But then, does that just keep the addiction alive? Curious how others have navigated this.

3 comments

3 Comments

brian8541mo ago

Tbh, I'm stuck on you snapping at your cat over meowing. That's wild. @milas72 has a point about moderation maybe helping with that.

milas721mo ago

Heard a nutritionist on a podcast talk about this exact thing. She said cold turkey sets you up for failure a lot of the time. Your ice cream binge sounds familiar. Moderation teaches your brain it's not a forbidden fruit. Totally get the fear of keeping the addiction alive, though. But starving yourself of joy just makes you crave it more.

parkerthompson1mo ago

Actually, @milas72, I caught a segment on a radio show about food psychology. The host was saying that labeling foods as 'bad' just makes you want them more. It's like when you tell yourself you can't have ice cream, your brain fixates on it. Moderation helps break that cycle because it removes the guilt. I've tried both ways, and cutting out stuff completely always backfires for me. Keeping a little joy in your diet stops those crazy binge moments.