Jahnke’s Thoughts

I read a very interesting post on Get Rich Slowly the other week that I can’t stop thinking about. The author listed 11 bits of wisdom passed down from her father that she tries to live by to be frugal, but this one in particular hit home: eating to stop the feeling of hunger.

I think the reason it has stuck with me is because for as long as I can remember, I have never eaten to stop feeling hungry. Sure, hunger may signal it’s time to eat, but I don’t stop when that hunger feeling goes away. My last year of University, when I started really exercising hard I was eating to gain weight. Consuming 10,000+ calories a day, I would force myself to eat a can of tuna right before bed and make sure I drake two, 3,000 calorie, 120 grams of protein shakes every day. My goal was to cross 200 pounds, but 195 was the closest I ever got, and that took a LOT of effort.

I still feel proud to show off how much a tall, skinny, white boy like me can put down my pie hole, but without the protein shakes and 3 spare hours every day dedicated to lifting weights against the force of gravity, it’s almost impossible to cross 180. I once consumed four pounds of this pig over the course of 12 hours at a pig roast for Jane and Tim’s wedding. Excessive, yes – but man that roast piggy was good.

I think another reason I’ve thought about this phrase so much is because I wonder what the consumption of food and how we expend calories says about modernity and our society? In nature, animals strive to preserve calories and limit physical activity to what is necessary for survival. For me and almost everyone I know, however, the creation and consumption of food is a huge aspect of social life, family bonding and being engaged with the world around us. Stroll through any neighborhood in San Francisco at any given time – going out to restaurants, buying food at farmer’s markets to cook a special meal, and consuming beer, coffee, juice – all are hugely social activities usually not associated with necessity or moderation. In the exercise world, people train for months to run 26 mile marathons, burning calories quickly and squeezing high calorie power gel out of little packets during their journey whist pounding their legs into hard pavement for the camaraderie, exercise and satisfaction of achievement.

After much thought, I concluded that even though it may cost me a lot more money over the course of my lifetime, be bad for the environment, potentially bad for my health later in life, and inconsiderate of those in want of food – I’m going to keep consuming food until I’m stuffed, not just to stop feeling hungry.