Actually, you shouldn't even have to explain, unless it's someone who knows you well and normally sees you eating sugar. I tell people no thanks, and if they question me, I say sugar gives me a bad headache. (Really, the major reason is that it makes me depressed and crazy, but it would give me a headache so it isn't even a lie). People generally don't take it any further than that.

I think part of the problem is that the less sure you are in your resolve, the more people press you. When I first started declining sugar, I was uncomfortable with it, and felt like I had to go into lengthy explanations, but over time, as I became totally sure that there was no way I was going to eat it, I was totally comfortable declining sugar, and people stopped challenging me.

Also, it's usually other sugar addicts who will challenge you at first - it makes addicts uncomfortable to see other people escape addiction, I think, because it makes them face their own addiction.
Allison

: I have trouble explaining sugar
: addiction to some people. This is
: a thing of mine that I do not
: quite understand, but I shut down
: in discussions because I will all
: too soon hit a wall anyway and
: will not know how to argue on. So
: whilst KNOWING that I have a good
: point, I will feel like I am
: "losing" the argument as
: the other person just has the
: better arguments. Very
: frustrating. Can anybody help me?
: This is how a recent discussion
: went:

: He: Here, have some cake.
: I: Nah, thanks, I ´ll pass.
: He: Why is that? This is good stuff.
: I: I don ´t eat sugar.
: (exclamations of surprise on is side,
: then my explaining that this is
: not a diet)
: He: I think it´s all in your head.
: I: That´s the point. And also it´s
: biochemical.
: He: What happens when you eat sugar?
: I: It re-enforces my anxiety. And
: also, I can ´t stop.
: He: Is there science to back this up?
: I: Experimental science, yes. It´s
: like with alcoholism.
: He: So there ´s no science to back it
: up?
: I: It´s experience values. (I know, I
: need to get the BE and serotonin
: stuff right and learn how to
: represent it.)
: He (huffs): It´s a question of
: willpower.
: I: No, it´s not. It´s like with
: alcoholism.
: He: But that´s just it, it´s a
: question of willpower. I know many
: friends who just quit drinking
: from one day to the next.
: Willpower. They had a drinking
: problem in college, and then they
: just quit.
: I: Well....
: He: So is this like a diet, then?

: And so on. At some point the eating
: disorder question will pop up. But
: more often than not, I will have
: just aborted discussion before it
: gets to this, confining myself to
: being perceived as weird,
: neurotical, or both.
: Any ideas?