I think like you say its very individual. I started out avoiding trigger foods like high sugar items or high fat processed food totally. This seemed to give me a sense of self control. and of course these foods aren't healthy. As time passed I decided to have some things in my life occasionally. I have found that for me, pasta is a waste of time because I can never eat as much of it as I want (truly large quantities). I have portion sized sweets these days and this works for me. I might have some potato chips but tend to eat portion controlled healthy alternatives which satisfy me. I ate a large quantity of cheesecake last christmas which seemed to disagree with me, I felt out of control for several weeks after (mentally rather than literally) and decided that the after effects far outweighed the momentary satisfaction. I am very disciplined now (22 months of entering everything I eat into the diary) and really feel that just for today I have turned a corner in establishing good habits.

If you are a binger, then i think its easier to avoid trigger foods than to go for moderation. I quit sugar, its a big problem for me. Quitting sugar has been the best thing but don't get me wrong. Its not that i never eat it. Its that i don't eat it at home, i don't buy it and its not a regular part of my life. I eat it when someone else offers it to me (without any prompting from me). This way i get it to eat it sometimes but not often. And it has enambled me to sotp thinking about it and letting it rule my life. You lose the taste for things when they are not a part of your life.

That said, when you have an emotional crisis, you will go looking for something. And if you haven't established your commitment to being trigger food freee, then you will probably succumb. I have not succumbed in over a year because I understood the power of sugar over me.

It is the third time i've quit sugar and each time, i refined my process. I have created rules that work for me. I have tested my rules in many situations over the period. The most recent test was with travel. My rule around travel was that i could eat sweets when i travel but only one serve a day. I can't do moderation and I couldn't do it when travelling either so i ate quite a lot of sweets on my trip. But when i came home, having established my rule firmly over a long period, i went straight back to my no sweets life again. Now i have learnt that eating sweets when i travel might require stricter rules or just accepting that when i'm travelling the rule is in off mode. So long as i can come home and get back into on mode again.

I think people who can do moderation are people who are emotional/mentally stable and who have not got a habit of binging. You can only try it out for yourself but if you go for moderation and find you can't keep it up long term, then accept it and go with avoidance. But as i've done, if you leave the first move up to others, then you can have it both ways.

Note iwth my quit sweets practice, i think its important to eat plenty of fruit. I find i need sweetness in my life but i don't need the sweetness of sugar. And i don't think artificial sweeteners or any sort of cheating treats are the way to go becuase it keeps my sweet tooth active.

So try things and if they don't work, change it. Experiement. Find ways that work for you.

note that mood and overeating are link. Fix your mood as a priority to help with better eating habits.

Yeah. I am kinda all or nothing.. so I avoid those foods as much as I can. I eat them now and then, but mostly not.

good in theory new futures. In practice many of us who already have a deeply ingrained habit of binging on these things find it pretty well can't be done. I say avoid but in fact, i do eat sweets sometimes. I like to call it avoid and quitting because it is this is the way i practice self control. And i would argue also that avoidance also includes self control.

I also do not feel deprived because the food i'm eating now is so delicious and yummy and I am don't miss the sweets. You only feel deprived you are are missing them and i think you only miss them if you don't really want ot give them up and your food you are eating is not satisfying.

A lot of different opinions here, you will have to figure out what works for you. Come up with your own plan and rules based on your life experiences. And allow yourself to adjust your rules as life dictates. I think "patttience" really nailed it. BTW- I am an advoidence person right now. It is too hard for me to flip flop back and forth. Cutting out refined sugar and flour has really helped control my binges.

I don't think total avoidance works at all. I notice for myself that the things I binge on are the same things I restrict the most. Like when I buy ice cream in a tub and avoid it for weeks then when I do eat it, I eat the entire tub. I now don't buy ice cream in tub form to store at home. I will however give myself leeway to enjoy a scoop at a store once in a while. The truth is that if I am craving for ice cream but unable to get ice cream, I eat other things in even bigger quantities with more calories and still don't feel satisfied.