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> It’s easy to get enough rest if no one else wakes up early and the village goes dead during afternoon naptime. It helps that the cheapest, most accessible foo
by EarthLaunch 12y ago
> It’s easy to get enough rest if no one else wakes up early and the village goes dead during afternoon naptime. It helps that the cheapest, most accessible foods are also the most healthful — and that your ancestors have spent centuries developing ways to make them taste good. It’s hard to get through the day in Ikaria without walking up 20 hills. You’re not likely to ever feel the existential pain of not belonging or even the simple stress of arriving late. Your community makes sure you’ll always have something to eat, but peer pressure will get you to contribute something too. You’re going to grow a garden, because that’s what your parents did, and that’s what your neighbors are doing.
Great article. This importance of pervasive cultural factors was the key insight for me. I follow an unusual diet that happens to consist of 100% unprocessed foods. I allow myself to sleep when I'm tired. I live somewhere I can enjoy long walks and other fun exercise. I'm never late because I don't set schedules.
> In the United States, you can’t go to a movie, walk through the airport or buy cough medicine without being routed through a gantlet of candy bars, salty snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages. The processed-food industry spends more than $4 billion a year tempting us to eat. How do you combat that? Discipline is a good thing, but discipline is a muscle that fatigues. Sooner or later, most people cave in to relentless temptation.
This is the trouble with following a different lifestyle; almost every aspect of it conflicts with modern culture. Buying vegetables at a store, there's tasty frozen pizza across the isle. Going out with friends, for variety and a normal social atmosphere, modern-influenced food is the only option. Walk into a gas station and there's the chips. Look at cat pics on the internet and there's pictures of beer and bacon. Everyone wants to set a schedule, out of habit if not the belief that stress increases productivity. People call to talk late at night.
Even after forming good habits, every instance of conflict with the culture requires some willpower, and socially, each requires an explanation. The only way I've succeeded is when living a more isolated lifestyle, somewhere remote. That leaves out cultural enjoyment and reinforcement.
- rwmj 12y agoNot sure how you can describe frozen pizza as "tasty". I would never want to eat a frozen pizza through choice.
- gambiting 12y ago>>Great article. This importance of pervasive cultural factors was the key insight for me. I follow an unusual diet that happens to consist of 100% unprocessed foods. I allow myself to sleep when I'm tired. I live somewhere I can enjoy long walks and other fun exercise. I'm never late because I don't set schedules. I'd love to do that. But I also love my job so I sit in an air-conditioned office for 8 hours a day. If I am tired I have to drink coffee. I try to eat healthily(only organic food),but it's still not enough. I could abandon all of it and live in a wilderness somewhere,but unfortunately it's not sustainable on a larger scale.
- EarthLaunch 12y agoI've been there. I think it's right to do that for what you love. I'm trying to start a business I love that I can do remotely. The sole reason I can do all of this now is remote work with great low-pressure clients.
- bko 12y agoI think its entirely possible to live in a Western society and live with those principles ascribed above. It just takes will power but it hasn't ever been easier. The overall population has more access to healthful, natural foods than in the past. I'm always amazed that on many street corners in NYC a vendor is willing to sell you produce at incredible prices (4 bananas for $1, $2 for a small cart of blueberries, etc) considering that many of these products come from thousands of miles away and are incredibly perishable. Discovering communities that share your beliefs and lifestyle is also a lot easier today than it has been. I think a lot of people that don't ascribe to this healthful lifestyle just have different values. Some people like cheap processed food. It's a lot more consistent and convenient than many other food products. I don't believe in any kind of global conspiracy that wants to push foods bad for your health or inactive lifestyles. I guess maybe its less depressing to think that societal forces manipulate people rather than the idea that people make conscious health related trade-offs for their own reasons.