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I went out for dinner with my mom and sisters to celebrate my sister's birthday. We went to an "all you can eat" Japanese Restaurant. We over-ate. And I wonder...
Why do we feel the need to "get our money's worth" when it is actually really unhealthy and we feel unwell at the end of it all. C'mon, you've seen it, very overweight people taking too many trips to the buffet.
I can guess that it might be the visual stimulation. I think there is something other than gluttony to blame here. It is our biology. We humans are designed to survive famine. We are built to be stimulated by the smells and sights of food and seek it out often. If we didn't have this make up the species would die off. That is why our blood sugar level drops when we are hungry and drives us toward the forest for berries, leaves and seeds or the occasional kill. (the secret is really to control that blood sugar level in advance but that's another blog)
The problem is that, in our modern world, we are driven to the bright orange sign leading us toward a forest that has a menu or a buffet and not toward the bright red berries on the bush. Our forest is a place where we sit, not walk, hunt and pick. A place where the work is done and we have to do is consume as much and as often as possible. So what's a girl to do? How to navigate this? I can't say no to my sister's birthday!
But, I can influence where we go. I can ask if we can split or share dishes. If that doesn't work, I can do as i did...take a deep breathe and realize, conciously acknowledge that this isn't the last meal i will ever see. Drink two or three large glasses of water (even though one sister cautioned me that it would fill me up and I shouldn't do that) put my fork down in between and notice when I am full. I mean, I still ate more than I should have but did so consciously. And, I will avoid doing that for the rest of the week to compensate. But I can't figure out how to save the others with the lurking murderer of the buffet at every turn.
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