We Are What We Eat - My Healthy Living Manifesto

robingmurphy

I listened to an interview with Penn Jillette on the Tim Ferris podcast about how Penn achieved his 100 pound weight loss and he said something that really stuck with me. He talked about how when he began to eat a better diet and to lose weight, his mood and experience of life in general improved. He wasn’t particularly sad or depressed before, but when he improved his nutrition and the way he cares for his body, his mood, interaction with the world, and thinking noticeably improved. He uses this as motivation to maintain his better lifestyle.

This reminded me of the fact that our mood, our thinking, and the way we experience the world is mediated through our body. The quality of our thinking, our emotions, and the way we present to the world and engage with it is significantly enabled or limited by how well we’ve maintained the hardware. It reminded me that for me, maintaining that hardware in as good of a condition as I reasonably can has to come first because all the other goals I value in my life relies on it being in good working order. Every time I’ve lost sight of that in my life, I’ve regretted it.

Sometimes I’m going to turn down the food you’re offering me because I don’t think it’s what I need then, and I’m not going to apologize for that. Sometimes I’m going to go to bed in order to get enough sleep even when there is more fun to be had, and I’m not going to feel bad that people think I’m not spending time with them nor am I going to indulge in FOMO. Sometimes I’m going to go walk or run or work out rather than watch Netflix with someone, and I’m not going to let peer pressure make me change my mind about what is right for me.

AnnPT77

I think that's a good insight, especially that "the way we experience the world is mediated through our body."

I found that at a healthy weight, in addition to all of the obvious, expected ways I felt better (less joint pain, etc.), I just had a indefinably better overall sense of well-being.

While obese, I was a pretty happy person, good life, active, not depressed, not down on myself about my weight, etc. Still, at a healthy weight, things were just "better" in some nonspecific way. (I wondered whether it might be partly something like reduced systemic inflammation, or something else along those lines.)

In your last paragraph, I think the "sometimes" is a good thing. IMO, good overall life balance is important, and that involves many things, not just ideal nutrition, exercise and calories every single second.

If my best friend bakes a special treat just for me when I come over for dinner, I'm going to have some of it, and enjoy it (but I'm not going to eat the boring supermarket cookies someone sets out for a routine coffee gathering). If it's my birthday, and someone takes me to a special restaurant, I'm going to set aside my calorie goal (but I'm not going to eat full restaurant meals every day). If an old friend is in from out of town, passing through on a Thursday morning, I'm going to skip my spin class to see her (but I'm not going to sleep in and skip every Tuesday/Thursday).

Nutrition and exercise are very, very important to me; but they don't always overtake other important things every single time.

Good post.