Mind Over Food
The Subconscious Fat of the Mental Food Game
Mr. Skeptical begins, “I hope you aren’t going to talk about how we all need to eat more meat. How we always historically ate animals and caused them to go extinct.”
I stand up, “Take a chill pill, already. This isn’t going to be about going carnivore.”
Mr. Skeptical goes silent and tilts his head like he doesn’t believe me.
Subconscious Fat at 30,000 feet
This is about the thinking one has over food. The mental game we each play in our heads as we choose the foods we eat. The mental game you play makes all the difference. And this game is the same whether one is a carnivore or a vegan.
“How is the game the same when eating differently?”
“The thinking process has similarities. A justification for eating a certain way still requires discipline, and this is what I’m talking about. One might be vegan because they see it as healthy or want to decrease animal suffering.”
Mr. Skeptical loudly interrupts, “Or both.”
“Yes, probably both. The point is that discipline is required. So, we want to think of a way to make the discipline easier.”
Mr. Skeptical smirks, “Well, that sounds like a tall order.”
To start, one can keep in mind a famous quote by Robin S. Sharma:
“The price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret.”
Subconscious Fat at 10,000 feet
Mr. Skeptical folds his arms. “Yeah, well, that just makes me think talk is cheap.”
Irritated, I add, “Well, let me finish. I said that was a quote to start thinking about controlling one’s eating.”
Mr. Skeptical doesn’t respond but waves his hand, indicating to go on.
“The main principle I live by when eating is that food must first be healthy, and secondarily, it must taste good. Occasionally, I’ll do one without the other, but not often.”
“The caveat here is that what one thinks is healthy varies.”
“True. A vegan will think that eating vegetables is healthy because they’ve been brainwashed and marketed into thinking so. Not realizing that vegetables have oxalates and antinutrients to defend themselves from getting eat-.”
Mr. Skeptical interrupts me, putting up a hand, “Stop it. You’re being biased again; you said this was not about going carnivore.”
“Okay. We can use mental images and phrases to encourage us to eat what we want.”
Mr. Skeptical smiles. “Give me an example of how a vegetarian would do this?”
“A vegetarian might think of cows and how they can be cute and seek affection. And then have a mental image of one of them being slaughtered. This would encourage one not to eat meat. Images like these create emotional responses that change behavior.”
“I often think of how pigs can be in a super small cage for their whole life until they are killed.”
“Those images are real, so I always encourage humane treatment and free-ranging animals to eat. I envision the meat I eat sourced from an animal that lived a good life until one day, it doesn’t. One can repeat and imagine either image to help one eat more or less of anything.”
Subconscious Fat at Eye-Level
The above image shows oxalate crystals. Dark chocolate contains a high amount of oxalates. I love dark chocolate, but I have noticed that I sometimes get stomach irritation after eating it. I usually attribute this to something else. I unknowingly created a bias in my critical thinking because I enjoyed the taste of dark chocolate.
Nevertheless, due to constantly researching and reading new books on health and nutrition, I realized that dark chocolate is less healthy than it is promoted to be. Now, I picture the image above inside dark chocolate, which diminishes the flavorful taste. I find I don’t crave dark chocolate like I used to.
Pain is a bigger motivator than taste.
Practical Suggestions and Conclusions
Mr. Skeptical sighs and folds his arms. “So what we are talkin’ about here is brainwashing our minds.”
“In a sense, yes.”
“It feels manipulative.”
“You can use that ugly word to describe it, but I prefer a word like influence or encourage. I easily avoid sugar and sweets because every time someone offers me some, I think of an older man who is in poor health, flabby, and has diabetes. I avoid beer and wine because I think of a decrepit older man or woman with a big pot belly yet very skinny.
We must also be aware of what we say to others and ourselves. For that, see the post "Obesity Spells.”
You can use images and self-talk to change behavior; over time, even your taste buds will follow.
Be aware.
PS Links on Facebook and Instagram. Chat GPT was used to research and enhance this post.
PSS Online event: Carnivore Q & A next Wednesday, Nov 13, at 8 PM
I've noticed very beautiful women loving men with big pot bellies. Why is that?