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Resisting Modern American Misery
We have all been there: sleeping well, exercising daily, getting your steps in, eating the cleanest possible foods, and then…vacation, a holiday, or a work party happens, and you’re slamming partially hydrogenated sunflower oil foods left and right. The temptation to decide, “I’ve already slid so far down the mountain, why bother climbing back up?” is unbelievable. If I had not gone through this cycle myself so many times, I would be unable to understand someone explaining it to me. What do you mean you purposely choose to feel worse?
Not only is that what I’ve done so many times in my life, but it is also what most people in the United States are doing. Over 50% of American adults are diabetic or prediabetic, obese/overweight, and beginning to suffer from full-blown metabolic syndrome symptoms. Again, you would think that knowing that information would cause us to do something about it, and you would be wrong. We know humans have never before had these issues with obesity and that wild animals do not suffer from type-2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome. Yet, I still want to hammer a package of Star Wars-themed Oreos.
Over the recent long weekend, I was slightly “off-program,” meaning that I was not diligently tracking calories and indulging in roughly 4000x more refined sugars and carbohydrates than is advisable. The result? My sleep suffered, I felt way more cranky and anxious than my baseline, and I immediately went into dopamine-seeking mode. A little bit of this is a self-fulfilling prophecy because I know eating canola-oil-filled foods is not good for me. There is a shame spiral that comes (for me, personally, at least) when making non-optimal decisions, but it was actually startling to realize just how quickly the Standard American Diet can make you feel like shit.
I knew that I wanted to write about what happens when you take a detour from the program after Memorial Day Weekend, and I happen to be reading Casey Means’ new book, “Good Energy,” right now. The tl;dr of Means’ book is that our bodies are far more sensitive to the type of fuel (food) we put in them than we act like in our day-to-day lives. Admittedly, this is much easier to intellectually realize than it is to physically change. Cooking clean, single-ingredient food is more time-intensive than ready-made options or ordering takeout. The Standard American Diet is also made to be hyper-palatable. Food with loads of sugar and salt just flat tastes good and raises our blood sugar to a degree that makes us want more while we are actually eating, even if our stomachs might be full. Again, none of this new information.
I’m writing this on a Friday morning after getting back onto the track outlined in my prior post, and can feel the pretty stark difference between the consequences of eating 80% of meals from restaurants and what it is like when you can control what is going into your food. Ultimately, I don’t think it is realistic to min/max your diet like a bodybuilder if you want to approximate anything like a normal life for a normal American person. You’re (read: me) going to want pizza, to drink beers, stay out late occasionally and eat dessert. That really is just the tradeoff we are making in modernity. It isn’t like you can un-taste sugar.
It is also one of those uniquely weird things about 21st-century people that actively not participating in eating the communal food is weird. Everyone looks askance at the guy who orders a salad when a group of people are out to dinner. There are probably many reasons why that is, none of which I am qualified to diagnose, but it is certainly true. So we’ve got the peer pressure angle, the addiction angle, and the fact that junk food really tastes awesome and blows up our dopamine receptors, combined with the fact that it takes more physical effort to round up food that is good for us. All of that is to say there is a reason that I’m 20+ pounds overweight despite being well aware of what non-metabolically sound food does to the body.
Mostly, I would like to ask myself if it is worth it? Largely, the answer is no. One of my favorite things on this planet is an iced latte with whole milk and caramel syrup. On average, that is going to vacillate between 250-300 calories. I think a well-meaning person could argue, “Hey, if that is really your temptation, why not live a little.” 300 extra calories isn’t that much to overcome, and at the end of the day, is it worth living if we are robbed of little joys? I think I’ve realized that is the wrong way to frame our choices, or at least it is for me. I am the sum of my choices, and when I personally make allowances, I am more likely to make allowances in the future. Those said allowances are, for sure, absolutely guaranteed to make me feel worse in the not-distant future.
Living a truly monastic lifestyle is beyond me, but the fewer allowances I give myself, the less miserable I will be in the future. It really is that simple.