Processed Foods, Enough Good and Brené Brown
March 3, 2024
8 min read
•
Newsletter
{Body}
Binge eating processed foods.
Unfortunately, you are being hit from all sides:
For one, profiteers hire food engineers to make processed food as addictive as possible. No joke, their job is to find the perfect combination of sugar, salts and fats so that you never stop eating their product.
For another, you are repeatedly told to avoid carbohydrates, when — in reality — you die without them. This means our biological vessels are constantly crying out for clean carbohydrates (fruits, veggies, herbs and wild foods), but we reject them in favor of pigging out on pasta and corn chips when our “will-power” gets low.
As someone who has (mostly) avoided processed foods for over two years now, I have only this to tell you: you cannot beat this game. Processed food is engineered to trigger just-about every dopamine center in your brain, and your body literally dies without carbohydrates — check mate.
{Mind}
Feeling guilty for not doing enough good in the world
The world is sick and you can help. This is undeniably true.
Therefore, I’m not going to advise that you “ignore” or “transcend” your guilt. If you’re feeling guilty, it means that — deep down — you know are not living up to your highest potential.
That said, it isn’t productive to get caught in the endless thoughts that reinforce the guilt, because, ironically, this paralyzes you from taking the action that would free you from it.
Don’t ignore guilt, but also don’t think about it? Seems impossible.
The solution to this puzzle is found in how you are defining “enough” and “good”.
If “enough” means solving a problem like poverty or cancer or political discord, then you’ll be endlessly dissatisfied — almost every societal problem is bigger than you and I can tackle in a single lifetime.
And if “good” means that your idea of justice sweeps over the land, righting all wrongs, then you’re in for a sore disappointment — justice is not a concept your and my limited minds can perfectly assess or administer.
Luckily, a genuine, compassionate smile aimed at a stranger is far more powerful than you donating a billion dollars to a hospital under the name of greed and power.
So long as your intentions are pure — i.e. you are giving just to give, and not expecting anything in return — any action you take really can be good enough 😌
{Soul}
I suspect that Brené isn’t just referring to the trust between two parties. I bet she is also speaking to the trust we feel (or don’t feel) towards ourselves.
You say that you’ll go to bed after this video; you say that you’ll quit nicotine; you say that you’ll change.
But do you?
Every time you don’t follow through on your word — even in small situations — you lose trust in yourself. And over time you’ll start suspecting yourself to be a liar, which immediately dilutes your power to manifest the change you were seeking in the first place.
Fortunately or unfortunately, it takes numerous tiny moments to build your self-trust back up. And that’s because of how the mind perceives patterns: it isn’t satisfied with just one instance — it wants undeniable proof that you have changed.
Practically speaking, it isn’t necessary for you to set and meet huge goals to prove your own trustworthiness to yourself. Instead, you can start with something really small to build your confidence:
Say you’ll go for a walk today, and actually do it.
Decide to eat more greens this week, and then make a salad for lunch today.
Resolve to be self-reflective, and listen to a free 10-minute meditation on YouTube as soon as you get a break from work.
February 25, 2024
Previous
March 10, 2024
Next
