On Moderation

I used to be a big believer in moderation. I never felt the urge to experiment with cigarettes, alcohol or other recreational drugs that were so readily available in school and college. I had seen how much havoc these habits had created in the life of an uncle and I wanted to stay as far away from these substances as possible. However, this was the only area of my life where my discipline was extreme. When it came to food, spending, rejecting structure, accepting indolence, moderation was my mantra (If you think of moderation as a moving average of excessive and acceptable behavior). I was a firm believer in the phrase, “moderation is key”.

I found structure and discipline suffocating. I couldn’t wait to be away from the umbrella of my parents’ protection and discipline so that I could live as I chose, according to my rules, experiencing all things. I used to call myself an “approximist” because I was disdainful of perfection. I believed that if something was nearly adequate it was good enough. I remember a Geography assignment in seventh grade where the teacher asked us to trace a map of Africa for homework. I was very proud of my drawing skills and thought tracing was for art wimps. I drew it free hand, colored it in and presented it to the teacher the next morning. She took one look at it and lost her temper. She told me she asked us to trace it for a reason, she wanted us to have something that showed every little bend and curve in the African coastline. My “sketch” didn’t do this. She ripped it up in front of me. I always felt approximation was good enough, that tiny details were unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

At the same time I was also aware of going too far in the wrong direction. This is why moderation was an important term for me. As a result I also realized that re-calibration needed to be an important part of my life. I always required a reset.

This was my pattern until I stumbled upon the stern words of Dr Caldwell Esselstyn, “Moderation Kills”. Dr Esselstyn was talking about cholesterol but I am now convinced that moderation as defined by people who say, “just a tiny little bit”, or “a bit more”, is never in the best interests of anyone. It doesn’t help when you want to control various addictive behaviors and food addiction is as real as an addiction to drugs, alcohol, spending, gambling, or sex.

When it comes to ingesting salt, sugar, or oil if you tell yourself that you are exercising moderation you are probably delusional. The only way out of this delusion is the maintenance of a food journal where you log everything you consume throughout the day; do not rely on your memory. If it seems onerous, remember we live in a world of apps - download Cronometer or Fitness Pal or something similar and log everything if you want to see how moderate you are over time.