Willpower and Diet

Willpower can't be the basis for controlling how you eat.  Don't belive me?  Try this simple experiment:

Hold your breath until you pass out.  Don't worry, once you do you will start breathing again and wake up in a bit.  Go ahead, try it for yourself right now.  I'll wait.

I bet most of you didn't bother with the experiment.  And I also bet most of you doubt that you would be capable of doing it.

It's hard to imagine overriding a fundamental biological need.  Why is the need for nutrients any different from the need for air?  It's not.  Which is why it's critical to follow a diet that doesn't require you to force yourself to eat a certain way.

I said in my post on describing my diet that I ate real food that satisfies my hunger.  Because my hunger is satisfied, I don't need to employ willpower to deal with it.

Do I have occasional cravings?  Sure.  Are those more often triggered by emotional as opposed to physical factores?  Yes, in my experience.

So I will employ willpower occasionally to keep myself from giving in to the random impulse.  I might be driving down the street and see a frozen yogurt store and have an impulse to stop and indulge, and willpower is required to handle that random impulse.

Where willpower is not required (and thus not being exhausted since willpower is limited in supply) is in a constant driving desire for more or different food.  I've followed vegetarian and vegan diets briefly and the one thing I noticed was having to force myself to stick to the diet.  I truly was wearing out my willpower in sticking to the diet.  It was exhausting. 

Which tells me that they can't be that good for me.  Likewise the standard American diet.  Try eating like most Americans do, drinking soft drinks, eating burgers and fries, etc.  Then try to just cut back on the calories and you'll find your willpower being exhausted as well.

Now try a sensible "paleo-realistic" approach.  I don't like the term "paleolithic diet" so much any more, so I target what I call paleo-realistic.  The difference being that the "paleo" part is a guideline, and the "realistic" part is how that ends up being expressed in today's world.

So the guideline part means avoiding neolithic foods that cause disease.  Hydrogenated oils, seed oils, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, grains, legumes.  That about covers what to avoid.  You might add dairy to that list but you'll need to experiment.

So avoid that.  Eat this:  Quality meats, fish, eggs, vegetables, roots, tubers, some fruit, few seeds and nuts.  Focus on getting your fats from animal sources, preferably fish and grass fed beef. 

Unless you do something really strange you'll find your hunger satisfied.  Try eating that way for 30 days and you'll probably find it very easy to stay on the diet.  And knowing how good you feel when on the diet makes it easy to get right back on if you have a few meals that are in the "avoid" category.

You can use the willpower to do something else, which is one more reason to follow a good diet.  That willpower can now be applied to push you through intense workouts, learn something new, pursue a new hobby, whatever else it is you value. 

When your diet is more or less on auto-pilot you have more energy, both physical and mental, to devote to living a life you love.  What more can you ask of a diet?