On the topic of parents, I’m second generation immigrant. All of my family grew up in other countries, in poverty. None of them have ever developed cavities and such. I’ve never seen my parents ever express any craving for sweets.

I once quit sugar for 6 months. It was harder than quitting alcohol, nicotine or caffeine. My first super-sweet treat after those 6 months was a donut and it almost made me vomit on the first bite. The dopamine rush quickly overwhelmed my physical aversion.

I remember going through that after basic training and AIT(Ft Sill, Oklahoma- absolute Hell). As a kid/teenager/young adult I was very active in gymnastics, Tae Kwon Do, Tang Soo Do, skateboarding, rollerblading, and I watched what I ate. While in basic I was losing a lot of weight(super fast metabolism) so they shoved sugar/carbs down my throat in basic- made me drink soda, eat burgers, donuts and pizza in the mess hall (also my platoon hated me over it because they weren't allowed to touch any of it, and here I was so full I'm gonna puke and here comes a Drill Sergeant who slides me another donut which I now have to eat). It sucked because I had to run 2x per day as opposed to once a day/every other day, so it felt like I had a lump of cement in my stomach. The side stitches give me chills to this day. Puking while running is not fun, and then what was the point of filling me to bust if I don't get to digest a quarter of it?

Anyway, by the time I got to AIT I was so happy to not have to touch any of it, I didn't. So while my classmates went off-post on weekends and got fat on garbage I went out and had fun, but at well at the mess hall.

By the time I was out of the service (2yrs) I hadn't touched sweets/caffeine/crap in almost that whole time. I remember being able to taste the caffeine in sodas(if you've ever drunk ginseng you probably know what it tastes like), and they felt like straight syrup.

Somewhere along the way I had a girlfriend who got me back into them, and they just became a part of my life again.

Now, here I am, 40, getting rid of them again. But now it's worse because I really enjoy my morning coffee and knowing I will be replacing it with running (which I used to love until the US Army), doesn't help my motivation much.

But yea, quitting sugar and caffeine. Smoking cigarettes wasn't this hard to quit :(

Just out of curiosity, whey are you quitting caffeine?

Just for the record, I wasn't saying we can't have nice things and everyone should start to live this way. Not at all. It was just an interesting data point. You do make it sound, though, like sugar is required to have a nice childhood. I don't think you're right and the conclusion that you're happy you got to do all these drugs, I mean, yeah of course you'd not want to live without if you had it. I wouldn't either because I also had it. But might an alternative history not also have been able to be nice? That's what I'm wondering about.

But you could still do all of that with carrots. … /s ;)