sugar is sweet, and that's why I like it

Laura Moser bravely swore off refined sugar. The results were mixed:

I liked saving money, and once past the initial withdrawal period, I started to feel pretty good about my random self-betterment scheme. In no time at all, my skin was unmottled and my stomach improbably flat. Why had I ever touched refined sugar?...

Over the course of that month, a pattern emerged. After about six days on the wagon, I would leap out of bed gripped by a raging obsession with some very specific proscribed food: pad thai, say, or a plain white bagel or a Mrs. Fields' semisweet chocolate-chip without nuts. I would then hit the streets—often still in my pajamas—in pursuit of that food. Once that food was in my possession, I would consume it on the spot, with or without chewing....

These days, I'm mostly surprised by how well I've kept it up. I'm also surprised by how completely unnecessary so much of the food I used to eat was, and how little I miss those ice-cream benders. But I'd be lying if I claimed that my sugar cravings have vanished altogether. Chai is one thing; chocolate is still chocolate.

In the end, Moser discovered what the Greeks knew all along. No, no geometry. Moderation.

As for me, I'm sticking with sugar. Sugar's been good to me.