Why Don’t You Do It?
This is something I’ve been wondering about recently, and I’m very interested in people’s (in depth?) responses.
I have a billion things to work on, and a billion things that other people do better than me, so this isn’t meant to be a “look how great I am” post (like every other post on this site…).
One thing that I’m particularly good at, though, is figuring out the best action to take and just doing it and sticking with it. Not always, but close. I figured out the best exercise program and still do it. Two years ago I decided that being vegan was the most healthy thing to do and have stuck with it since. I wanted to travel more so I left and am traveling the best way I can figure out. Blah, blah, blah.
Let’s take cutting out sugar, for example. Sugar is never good for you. Period. I’ve heard weird justifications like “everything is good in moderation”, but that’s just not true. Eating sugar is always bad for you. White flour is the exact same as sugar - your body can’t really tell the difference.
This isn’t a matter of opinion, it is a proven scientific fact. Sugar is bad for you - it will increase your body fat percentage, it will increase your chances of getting cancer, and it will decrease your lifespan. Full stop.
Yes, we all know some dude who ate fudgesicles every day and lived to be 105. There are always outliers who are exceptions, but all scientific studies say that eating sugar is the root cause of a lot of bad things.
Yet I know a lot of very smart people who know these facts but still eat sugar.
WHY?
Another example is smoking.
Here’s something that EVERYONE knows is terrible for you. There is no debate. Yet millions of people smoke. It is so stupid. If you are a smoker, how is your #1 priority not to quit RIGHT NOW?
How as that possible? Is there anything you could possibly do in your life that would bring you as much enjoyment as living way longer and not getting lung cancer or some other nasty ailment? No, there isn’t.
I can’t fathom how this happens. How do people, when confronted with these facts, keep eating sugar or smoking? It makes no sense to me. Is it going to get easier tomorrow? Nope. Today is the easiest day to change. Every day you allow a suboptimal habit is another day it gets entrenched in your mind and your identity.
Maybe it’s peer pressure. A lot of people look to the general consensus or government to make decisions for them.
“Everyone I know does it. It can’t be that bad.”
“If it was really that bad, the government would ban it.”
Or maybe it’s fear of change.
“I don’t like eating things like spinach. I’ve always eaten corn dogs.”
WHAT? You’re not willing to eat something moderately unpalatable (which you will certainly love within a month or two) in order to greatly improve your life?
I wonder if the real reason is that we’re too used to everything being easy now. People are unwilling to take on any challenge other than constantly dealing with a life they’re not thrilled with.
If we want to feel achievement we play a video game. If we want to feel happy we do drugs. If we want to experience excitement we watch a movie.
Anyway… if you eat sugar or smoke or do something else like that, I’d really be interested in hearing why in the comments.
(12 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)
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May 9th, 2008 at 8:03 am
People smoke and eat sugar because it feels good dummy.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:15 am
I don’t know. I’ve been trying to get my dad to stop smoking for all of my 19 years of existence, and he still hasn’t quit.
Now it seems pointless, since the damage is probably already done and he’s not dead yet after smoking for 38 years. The general attitude my family takes now is we’d rather he died a bit early than deal with him being miserable as he goes through withdrawals and such trying to quit. Plus, he has absolutely no desire to quit at all…
You can lead a horse to water.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:30 am
I think it’s just an example of choosing a short-term desire over the long-term desire
It’s the same reason you sometimes have a crazy sleep schedule.
It’s the same reason you might take time to watch a movie.
Sometimes satisfying a short term craving (like eating ice cream for example) is emotionally beneficial in the long run. Although I agree…smoking is disgusting.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Sugar makes things taste good. Yea, I know, if you don’t eat sugar and all the chemicals for two months, everything else tastes fine too. But if you even touch a piece of chocolate or something, you explode from goody tasteness!
May 9th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Wow, one of the best straight-talk rants I’ve heard in a long time. Simple and to the point. A+
May 9th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
The more I read about how bad sugar really is for you, the more convinced I become that I should quit eating it. The problem lies in the fact that throughout my entire life, I have been fed sugar and white bread. Growing up, no one ever told me it was bad, therefore it became a habit. Now, I’m stuck with the task of changing that deeply ingrained habit.
Basically, what I’m trying to say is habits are hard to break and people don’t like to change. Maybe if you keep ranting about it, I’ll be more inclined to do so.
Do you have any links to specific research that has led you to stop eating sugar?
May 9th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
This reasoning can be taken to the extreme (e.g. avoiding all activity that is potentially dangerous).
People aren’t 100% rational. Emotion and other psychological factors have a lot of influence. When you eat sugar your body produces a physiological reaction. Same thing with drugs. People do it because it feels good, because of conditioning (operant, social, etc), and probably many other reasons.
You appear to have more discipline than most people. This is usually the biggest hurdle. You have to overcome all these forces pulling you in different directions and make the best choice.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Amazing Tynan, great rant feel exactly the same way myself.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I don’t really eat processed sugar when I can avoid it, although I do eat white rice, and when I can’t get an alternative, white bread (although not that often).
My current eating philosphy can be summed up as “Protein, Carbs, Fat - pick two” each meal. I don’t know if it’ll make a difference in the long run, as it’s an experiment I’ve only recently started. But it’s going OK so far
May 9th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Tynan,
This attitude is why you’re one of the few people that can recognize things that need changing, and change them. Also why you’re a (master?) PUA.
I’m curious: What do you do about it? Will you take time and energy to attempt to persuade your friends to change their life? If so, how?
Another habit I’ve picked up recently: Asking myself “Why?” about almost everything. It’s the counterpoint to your “Why Not?”.
Alex
May 9th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
I forgot. I don’t smoke (ew!) but I do drink. Slightly more than I’d like to, but I’m working on that, and I never plan on giving it up completely, as I don’t believe it hurts your health in moderation (besides the empty calories)…
Not because I think *everything* is OK in moderation though!
May 9th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Being a pickup artist is harmful to one’s health. Contradiction.
Is this whole site a joke? It reads like some Usenet troll post. Bizarre…
May 10th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Ok, smoking is bad for you. No argument there. But is sugar, in moderation, really that bad? Especially if it is part of a healthy diet?
But, even if you’re right about sugar, where do you draw the line? I saw a Nova special that said cutting your caloric intake to one third of the “normal” amount will increase your life expectancy significantly. Of course, if you do this, you’re going to be hungry all the time. On top of that, you may be more tired and in a crummy mood. But you will live longer. Are you willing to compromise your quality of life for quantity?
My point is only that life is all about trade-offs and living longer isn’t everyone’s #1 goal.
May 10th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
May I, Ty?
Anonymous–
It may not be that sugar in small moderations is that bad, but it 100% isn’t good. Like he said, there is absolutely nothing healthfully beneficial about it.
Also, the cutting out of calories is irrelevant, although they’re cutting their caloric intake that doesn’t mean that they’re eating healthy. If they were eating well then they wouldn’t have to cut their calories and their mood would always be optimal.
Just saying…
May 10th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I eat sugar in moderation because of a few factors:
1) I like the taste of sugar.
2) Nostalgia - Something like, I really want some zucchini bread that tastes just the way my grandma makes it. And my grandma uses sugar.
3) Convenience - baking with sugar substitutes seems like a nightmare. But maybe it’s worth looking into.
I guess it’s really just like how I’ve always known sunlight is bad for my skin, but I never really cared about wearing sunscreen until I started seeing minor wrinkles around my eyes (and I’m 22, not 50).
May 11th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Sugar is always bad? Does that make fruits bad?
May 12th, 2008 at 12:40 am
I try to avoid sugar, but since recently joining a gym have discovered i get horrible headaches sometimes. My blood sugar level is low and i need sugar to fix that. bad for me? i think not
May 12th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I think it’s processed sugar that is bad for you. Fruit, honey and molasses and possibly pure cane sugar are perfectly healthy in moderation.
The process in which processed sugar is processed is what makes the sugar bad.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Okay.. First off, I know a bit more about healthy eating than most because I have to.
I’m hypoglycemic, which basically means if I don’t eat every 2 hours, I don’t function. I require a near constant source of food to stay healthy and metabolize correctly.
Coffee, Caffieine, Alcohol, or any sort of medication effects me dramatically. Hell.. one cup of coffee would keep me unproductive for an entire day from the crash I get.
There’s 2 things I can say about sugar:
1. It can be very helpful for an _immediate_ boost to bring me back to “normal”. If I’ve gone more then 2.5 or 3 hours without eating, I’ll start to lose focus, feel tired, and get quite moody (symptoms similar to PMS surprisingly enough). If I start to eat something sweet, I’ll notice an increase in functioning before the food has left my mouth.
It blows my mind every time I have to do it, but testing with gum or “0-carb” sugar substitutes have proven to me that you do indeed notice the effects of sugar the instant it’s in your mouth. It’s really just astonishing.
However, after just a few minutes, the helpful effect sugar has on me is lost. Sugar is great for _starting_ the metabolism processes, but it is not great for maintaining energy, which is what I seek to do the most.
Which brings me to the second point:
2. Sugar, when consumed with the proper types of food can be very good for you. Having something sweet along with a high-protein meal can be a good “fix” for me to stave off any crash of my metabolic system. One of the best examples of this is my “Man Chow” mix of chocolates, mixed nuts and pretzels. This mix has helped me prolong my period between meals countless times, and is almost essential for me when I go out for hikes in the woods, bike rides, or other activity where I’ll burn through my energy quicker than normal.
While I can get similar effects from eating grapes or other fruits, the sugars are essentially the same to my body, and it’s much easier to mix everything together into something with a long shelf life.
Finally, avoid overly sweet foods if you can, and don’t get too sucked into the “organic” craze. Don’t spend a ton of extra money to get trendy food. Stick with more “traditional” meals and focus on your exercise. Diet is not the area where most people would benefit from improvements. It’s far easier to change a diet than it is to start an exercise habit, and that’s where most obesity is caused.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I also hate those disgusting smokers. They have weak wills and will die in a toolshed riddled with cancer.