“…by never relaxing our attention, we shall escape at least a few faults.” — Epictetus, Discourses, 4.12.19
The yawning vacuum ripped open when we avoid overeating and heavily processed tasty food can be filled by virtue, but only if we’re paying attention.
Previously, we’ve:
* Determined that most of the things talking heads claim drive our obesity epidemic miss the mark.
* Identified a group of Christians who place moral aspersions on food choice and end up dramatically thinner, and discussed a non-religious approach to making every decision (including food decisions) freighted with similar but nondogmatic meaning and morality — virtue.
* Begun diving into ways virtue can be used to replace lost pleasure via anti-slavery and justice.
But as long as our virtuous standards are theoretical and not lived, they won’t work. They won’t produce satisfaction that can offset the temptation of unhealthy food choices and overeating.
Across east and west, great thinkers note how easy it is to go through life in a daze, barely paying attention to what we’re doing. We deviate from virtue and our own standards almost without noticing. Virtue can’t hold a candle to a fast food meal when we live these distracted lives.
“Don’t let the force of the impression when first it hits you knock you off your feet…just say to it ‘hold on a moment; let me see who you are and what you represent. Let me put you to the test.”— Epictetus, Discourses, 2.17
When we’re contemplating that 2nd helping, or adding a big dessert to a good meal, pause and ask — does this align with my conception of wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation? Consider what you’re giving up if you choose otherwise.
Think about how great it feels to live up to your values, that feeling of inner satisfaction. Do you want to give that up for some pleasure in your mouth?
If you’re like me, you might find yourself making food choices in a checked-out state unless you’re actively bringing attention to bear. I’ve spoken about one trick I use to refocus if I’m getting into a rut.
Not overeating is an accomplishment that never loses its luster for me. It’s what I want, far more than I want a 2nd helping. And if you’re making smart food choices, you’ll feel better physically too. The satisfaction suffuses the rest of your life. How can you have self-respect and confidence when you continuously fail to live up to your values?
Rewiring the Desire:
For much of my life I had a default response to even the mildest form of hunger — classify it as a bad thing that should be buried by a snack. And when eating meals, I thought I should eat enough to make sure hunger didn’t reappear between meals.
But this unselected belief was foolish — experiencing mild hunger between meals is victory! I’m moving closer to my goals, so why would I want to squash that?
Part of attention is watching phenomena arise and noting our unreasonable reactions to them. When we do that, we can rechristen these phenomena to something else. I’ve largely succeeded in rewiring mild hunger to be something I’m pleased to see pop up. If it doesn’t appear before meals, it probably means I overate at the former meal.
And this habit has led to positive downstream consequences. It forced me to see how higher glycemic index foods lead to energy crashes that are a chore to push through, but low glycemic index carbs don’t. My physical and mental energy is pretty constant when I choose wisely, which gives me even more reason to do it. Eating every few hours papers over this fact at the cost of health.
In other words, attention allows the abstract virtuous principle of sōphrosynē — translated into English as temperance/discipline/moderation — to concretize in ourselves and our actions and bring pleasure in its wake.
Drain Food’s Luster With Attention:
Stoic decomposition techniques, which I’ve written about here, have us stare down temptations and see the ugliness lurking below the surface. Food is a great target for these exercises.
We might look at foods and see the ugly way we get them (factory farms, for instance), the ugly consequences of eating them (feeling poorly, obesity, ill health), or that they enslave us through pleasure and subvert our ideals.
Variations on this technique have been studied under the banner of “cognitive reappraisal.”
* Imagining the long-term negative consequences of junk food and the upsides of healthy foods led to 5.4–11.2% increase in healthy food choices and reduced calorie intake.
* Reappraisal of craved foods in the light of their negative consequences reduced cravings for them.
* Participants who reappraised food images showed increased craving for low-calorie foods and decreased consumption of high‑calorie ones over the following week.
All of these amount to paying attention and interrogating what a food really is.
There are a million downsides to unhealthy food, and the best angle for “calling them out,” depends on what’s salient for you.
But you can’t do any of this if you’re not willing to take a hard look at what you’re eating.
Inattention Kills
As a formerly obese person, I know ill health and loss of good looks are not the most salient downsides of poor eating decisions.
The moral, spiritual sickness and deviation from our values hurts us the most. Healthy eating will make a healthy body and mind more likely, but the elevation of the spirit that follows virtue is the greatest benefit, and lets us persevere through the hardest times.
Thanks for reading Socratic State of Mind.
If you liked this article, please like and share it, which helps more readers find my work.
