Thank you for the welcome.
I really am not as anti-sugar as I may sound in my post. Actually, the GI type way of eating has made a lot of sense to me in that blood sugar control is a huge part of why low carb works so well and that appears to be a main focus of GI/GL eating as well. Overall, I like that I rarely feel hungry for sugar or other junk when LC, but when I am able to eat a greater volume and variety of veggies, fruits and even some grain, I do much better in the long run. It seems healthier to me, too to include large amounts of fresh produce no matter what the eating style. I guess, looking back, even as a 'low carb' dieter, I tended to eat way more veggies and fruits than a 'typical' LCer does. At least, that is what I had gathered from reading posts on various other sites. It never had a bad effect on my weight loss/maintenance, which made me happy because I really enjoy all the variety.
It shocked me one day to realize how many extra calories, fat and carb grams I had eaten over what I need when I finally noticed I had mindlessly noshed my way through half a batch of brownies.
For me, sugar isn't so much 'evil' as it is super easy to abuse. And eating very much of it messes with my moods and seems to drain my energy. so I think my real need is not so much that I have to control total carb intake, but rather make sure the foods I eat are mainly nutrient dense and natural--with sugary foods and other empty calorie items being few and far between.