Chapter 12: Beware of Cutting Down

Many people resort to cutting down as a stepping-stone towards stopping their poor eating habits, or as an attempt to control their cravings. Many recommend cutting down or going on a "diet" as a pick-me-up. Using cutting down as a stepping stone to stopping is fatal. It's these attempts to cut down that keep us trapped in poor nutrition for the remainder of our lives. Generally, cutting down follows failed attempts to stop. After a few hours or days of eating well, the person says something like:

"I can't face the thought of going to sleep without my comfort foods, so from now on I'll just have junk food once every four days or purge my pantry of 'bad foods'. If I can follow this diet, I can either hold it there or cut down even further."

Certain terrible things now happen:

1. They're stuck with the worst of all worlds, still addicted to processed foods and keeping the cravings alive not only in their body, but in their mind.

2. Wishing their life away waiting for the next "cheat meal".

3. Prior to cutting down, whenever they wanted comfort food they'd grab something and at least partially relieve their cravings. Now in addition to the normal stresses of life, they're causing themselves to suffer the cravings for most of their lives, which makes them even more miserable and bad-tempered.

4. While indulging, they neither enjoyed most of the meals nor realized they were consuming hyperpalatable foods. It was automatic, the only indulgence that was enjoyed was one after a period of "being good". Now that they wait an extra day for each treat, they 'enjoy' each one. The longer waited, the more 'enjoyable' each indulgence appears to become, because the 'enjoyment' isn't the food itself — it's the ending of the agitation caused by the craving — whether slight physical craving or mental moping. The longer the suffering, the more 'enjoyable' each treat becomes.

The primary difficulty in stopping isn't the physical addiction to sugar and processed foods, which is easy. People will stop without difficulty on various occasions — the death of a loved one, family or work affairs, etc. They'll go, say, ten days eating healthy and it doesn't bother them. But if they went the same ten days when they could've had access to junk food, they'd be tearing their hair out.

Many people will get through their work day without snacking, or they'll pass by bakeries or fast food restaurants without undue inconvenience. Many will eat healthy if they're staying with health-conscious friends, or are on a structured retreat. Even at parties or celebrations there have been no riots. People are almost pleased for someone or something to say they cannot eat junk food. In fact, those who want to quit get a secret pleasure out of going for long periods eating well, giving them hope that perhaps one day they'll never want processed foods.

The real problem when stopping is brainwashing, an illusion of entitlement that junk food is some sort of prop or reward and life will never be the same without it. Far from turning you off processed foods, all that cutting down accomplishes is leaving you feeling insecure and miserable, convincing you that the most precious thing on earth is the treat you missed, that there's no way you'll be happy again without tasting it.

There is nothing more pathetic than the person who's been trying to cut down, suffering from the delusion that the less junk food they eat, the less they'll want it. The reverse is true — the less they eat poorly, the longer they suffer cravings and the more they 'enjoy' the relief of satisfying them. However, they'll notice their favorite comfort foods aren't as satisfying. But that won't stop them: if fast food restaurants only served one item, no one would ever go more than once.

Difficult to believe? What's the worst moment of self-control one feels? Waiting for four days and then binge eating. Then, what's the most precious moment for most people on a restricted diet? That's right, the same binge after waiting for four days! Do you really believe that you're eating for enjoyment, or the more rational explanation that you need to relieve cravings under the illusion that you're entitled to?

Removal of the brainwashing is essential to remove illusions about processed foods before you make your final change. Unless you've removed the illusion that you enjoy it before you clear out your pantry, there's no way you can prove it afterwards without getting hooked again. When looking at the snack aisle or drive-thru menu, ask yourself where the glory in this action is. Perhaps you believe that only certain treats are acceptable, like "organic" junk food or "healthy" versions. If so, why bother with other processed foods? Because you got into the habit? Why would anyone habitually damage their health and waste their money? Nothing is different after a month, so why should a treat be any different?

You can test this yourself. Get that favorite snack from last month to prove it's different. Then, wait and have the same snack after a month of clean eating. It will taste (almost) the same as it did last month. The same food will be different after a stressful day or emotional event. The reason being that the addict can never be fully satisfied if the craving remains unfulfilled.

Where does satisfaction come into it? It's just that they're miserable if they can't relieve their cravings. The difference between eating processed foods and not is the difference between being happy and miserable. That's why junk food appears to be better. People who start their day with sugary breakfast foods are miserable whether eating them or not.

Cutting down not only doesn't work, but is the worst form of torture. It doesn't work because initially the person hopes that by eating less and less junk food, they'll reduce their desire for it. It's not a habit, it's addiction. The nature of any addiction is wanting more and more, not less and less. Therefore in order to cut down, the person has to exercise willpower and discipline for the rest of their lives. So, cutting down means willpower and discipline forever. Stopping is far easier and less painful; there are literally tens of thousands of cases in which cutting down has failed.

The problem of stopping isn't the sugar addiction, which is easy to cope with. It's the mistaken belief that processed food gives you pleasure, brought about initially by brainwashing received before we started eating poorly, further reinforced by the actual addiction. All cutting down does is reinforce the fallacy further, to the extent that food dominates their lives completely and convinces them that the most precious thing on earth is their addiction.

The handful of cases that do succeed have been achieved by a relatively short period of cutting down, followed by going 'cold turkey'. These people stopped in spite of cutting down, not because of it. All it did was prolong the agony, failed attempts leaving them nervous wrecks and even more convinced they're hooked for life. This is usually enough to keep them reverting back to their comfort foods for pleasure and crutch, or at least for another stretch before the next attempt.

However, cutting down does help to illustrate the futility of processed foods, clearly demonstrating that indulgences are not enjoyable after periods of healthy eating. You have to bang your head against a brick wall (suffer cravings) in order to make it nice upon stopping. Therefore, the choices are:

1. Cutting down for life and suffering self-imposed torture, which you'll be unable to do anyway.

2. Increasingly torturing yourself for life, which is pointless.

3. Being nice to yourself, and cutting processed foods out altogether.

The other aspect that cutting down demonstrates is that there's no such thing as the occasional treat. Poor nutrition is a chain reaction that will last the rest of your life unless you make a positive effort to break it.

Remember: Cutting down will drag you down.