I’m not an expert on people, but I do believe in two fundamental truths:
The prospect of wealth motivates deceit.
and
The natural state of a human is expansion.
Now, the first truth we’ll save for another blog post, as it is the second truth that I think relates best to what I want to talk about today.
We expand. It’s what we like to do. We like to take up more space. From our natural instinct to spread out and to colonize, to our desire for bigger houses, more space, more money, more learning, more health. We even like to spread our ideas and beliefs. No matter which way you look at it, an argument could be made that our natural state is one of expansion. Just as the entire universe is constantly expanding, each of us in our mini universes of our lives are expanding. (You could say this is the natural state of EVERYTHING, but again, that’s a different conversation)
To diminish, shrink or contract just isn’t something we do naturally. At least not until we are effectively being ‘taken over’ by the harsh reality of the decay of aging, but with the exception of aging, we will expand in every way possible when given the opportunity.
That’s why I don’t think banning fast food will work as a way to solve obesity – we’ll just find something else to abuse.
Ban grains? fine. I’ll find something else to fill the space. Ditto with sugar, or fat… In fact, I’d like to think our experience in the 80’s with ‘low fat’ has proven my point. You take something away, we’ll find something else – because our natural state is one of expansion.
If we have the resources available to us, we’ll find a way to expand if left unchecked. And we are incredibly well suited to seek out and find those necessary resources.
It is because we are in a constant state of expansion that an occasional ‘break’ feels so good. After years of collecting ‘stuff’ in your house, it’s a pretty good feeling to do a big spring clean and just get rid of all of that excess junk.
Anyone who has downsized their house knows the feeling, same with anyone who’s removed all the icons and junk off their computer desktop. It feels good.
Have a messy car? then you know the awesome feeling of finally cleaning it out, getting rid of all that stuff.
Our bodies are no different. Because our natural state of eating is to support expansion, it feels good to take an occasional break.
You may be thinking – ‘isn’t expansion a harsh term to use?’ and it is, but I also think it’s true. Sure, we all have different starting points, and different rates of expansion. Some of us expand quickly, others slowly, but in the end, with the right resources – we all expand.
To be even more blunt – Left unchecked we expand until the decay of age begins to outpace our expansion. But that’s a little grim, so let’s get back to talking about how this relates to weight loss…
The truth of expansion helps explain obesity. If you accept that left unchecked with the right resources we will expand, then there is no longer any reason reason to argue over the why’s and how’s, of obesity. the minute we accept expansion as a natural state, then preventing expansion seems simple – If you don’t WANT to expand, then you need to actively, consciously, or mindfully take steps to stop and reverse some of this expansion.
I think we are starting to learn that attempting to completely remove the resources (food) rarely works on its own to protect against the human push to expand, as we eventually just find some other type of food to eat, or we reduce our activity level, or some other way to compensate to allow for expansion.
This is where fasting works so well. It’s an active, conscious and mindful step to protect against expansion.
At the surface fasting seems to work simply because it is a period of non-accumulation, but it’s much, much more than this.
In Eat Stop Eat I explain the role of fasting and autophagy in human health. Autophagy is basically the housecleaning of your body. A time when you are able to identify and remove the unneeded junk in you body. It’s your body taking out the proverbial trash!
The bottom line is that left unchecked, you will expand. It’s what we do. It’s your choice whether or not you want to counteract this expansion with mindful, purposeful steps like diet, fasting and exercise.
BP
