–Dr. Mann
This short scene from “Interstellar” reminds me of peering into the fridge between meals. There really is a moment as I’m staring into the abyss of unneeded calories that I must choose to step back — or push ahead, with food into my piehole. As Dr. Mann, played by Matt Damon instantaneously learned, pushing ahead can have disastrous consequences, and when at the modern icebox, it usually does.
So how does one push back when at the brink of bulking? Well, I think the first thing, and we have but an instant to do it, is to be mindful that the moment is even occurring. Why am I at this fridge? Again. Sometimes just that split-second to pause and consider the imminent caloric explosion can lead to stepping back. Think about how many times these moments occur and how often we impulsively push ahead and indulge. There is a moment. Be mindful of it and you can save yourself.
I’ll need to do some research on “Why we eat?” but one thing’s for sure, aside from nourishing the body with the nutrients we need to survive, there is a primal and visceral pleasure in the act of gnashing food with our 8 Incisors, 4 Canines, 8 Premolars and 8 Molars that begins the digestive process, all while sensing the textures and extracting the flavors that make eating so enjoyable. Hell, overcoming all that is a genetically physical and mental mountain to climb.
Any addiction is difficult to overcome, but we don’t need to look at our phones or drink that whiskey or smoke that cigarette or chase the dragon to physically survive as a human, but we must eat, and with 40,000 years of an evolving survival instinct in each of us, disciplining oneself to eat less is a bitch. Just take it moment by moment.
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