Oh that’s not necessarily all sunshine and roses either. I know very well that I can go a bit wild and I will still feel fine enough that it is worth it as long as I enjoy the food (or suffer if I don’t eat it, sometimes my rebellious inner self has its needs). If I go very wild, I inevitably come back right away, my body craves that, it can’t stay horribly unbalanced. And I don’t gain any fat even if I go off for longer and inevitably overeat. BUT it means I have less motivation to stay on track…! It was worst on keto where I felt about no motivation as keto made nothing better after I unlocked fat-adaptation. Carnivore or anything close to it is a totally different world. I feel the difference when I go off and it’s a good motivation. I still stray for some reasons, it’s a bit unclear to me but it becomes less frequent as I rarely enjoy those times anymore. I loved my off-keto (low-carb) times and now I am broken
But I am more free now. My end goal is being totally free. I want to eat whatever I fancy and eat almost no carbs that way almost all the time. My body made its points clear, it prefers extreme low carbs. Its displease is usually subtle but still, there must be a reason it is happiest when I just stick to my normal, carnivore(-ish) food. It’s not like anything else tastes better… Just different. And health is my top priority. I am a hedonist, I want to feel the best.
I feel my ability to go off and come back more or less quickly and easily slows down my progress.
When something triggers longer, wilder off times I hate (it hurts my pride and not only that), I easily avoid them in the future (if I really hate the effect, it turns off my desire). The mostly harmless but still not ideal items are worse as I don’t resist and under certain circumstances (December isn’t as easy as January, for example) I can’t find my way back easily… I am fine (carbs can hurt me in big amounts but I learned that ages ago and I don’t go there, it’s easy as my motivation to avoid pain is huge) but I know it’s not ideal.
I still would’nt swap with people who MUST avoid straying away even if that is simpler and more effective. I would feel too restricted. And I would feel I am not healthy enough, phyisically (if I felt pain when eating a bit more carbs) or mentally (losing even more control than what I do… I still have my moments but they are short-lived and not that serious. I must lose all trigger items, their mere existence bother me).
I think most of us need to put serious efforts into this. We just have different hardships and different difficulty level… But it must be rare that it’s all smooth sailing for someone. The food may be great, we may be amazing at saying no to others… There are still dangers and difficulties on the road, I experience that often.
By the way, we can change and evolve… Maybe not everyone regarding their trigger items but I experienced it is possible in many cases. I can eat a tiny amount of some of my old trigger food… But abstaining is usually better and seriously, I don’t need those at all. (But I love to know I CAN use moderation even with them, without really trying.)