If it’s any help, I have a chef son and foodie partner and I find it’s easiest to say “I try not to eat sugar”. We all know it’s not healthy, and not necessary. If I want to be “bad” i’d rather have wine. My chef son totally gets that! My foodie partner chooses fancy desserts when out and has gotten used to me having a coffee or sometimes the cheese plate instead.

You don’t have to “come out” as a dieter, but just a sort of matter-of-fact, lifestyle thing. “Sugar makes me feel a bit crazy, and gives me mood swings, makes my pms worse so I try to avoid it” can be helpful for the guys to grasp. “It’s not about weight, it’s about health and avoiding diabetes and alzhiemer’s (AKA diatebetes type 3)”

I also say: “wheat makes me binge-y and I don’t want to go there.”

“I just feel happier without it.”

I’ve got lots of young girls in my life and I don’t want to talk about dieting, and buy into body-image stuff. I don’t actually believe all “carbs are poison” or lecture ppl on their grain and legume choices. But I do want to just model a healthy life, and being a calm, quiet voice that just chooses not to eat sugar and doesn’t whine about it seems to work with the foodies in my life.

You really are doing well. And part of the journey is the learning as Ms Arielle says. Eventually you’ll figure this out. For me, I found that after 18 months of low carb (20-35g) my body has adjusted and I can more easily eat a higher number of carbs with exercise and IF - Close to 100. Not every day, but a few days a week - last week I averaged 65 g (total, not net) per day.