Chapter 7: What Am I Giving Up?
Absolutely nothing! Unhealthy eating habits are difficult to give up because of the fear that we’re being deprived of our comfort or our coping mechanism. There’s a fear that certain enjoyable situations, like social events or relaxing at home, will never be quite the same without junk food. There’s also a fear that we won’t be able to handle stressful situations without it. In other words, the brainwashing convinces us that unhealthy eating is a necessity, that it fills a void, and that stopping will create one.
Make this clear in your mind: Unhealthy food doesn’t fill a void, it creates one!
Our bodies are some of the most sophisticated systems on the planet. Whether you believe in intelligent design, evolution, or a mix of both, our bodies are designed to thrive on whole, natural foods. If we were meant to handle the excesses of ultra-processed food, our systems would have evolved to cope with it. Instead, these foods exploit our natural reward systems and override our biological balance.
7.1 There’s Nothing to Give Up
Once you break free from the addictive cycle of unhealthy eating and remove the brainwashing around it, you’ll find you no longer crave junk food or sugary treats. Many don’t realize how much of their energy, focus, and happiness is drained by poor eating habits. Instead of blaming food, people often blame themselves for lacking willpower or discipline.
Think about it: people who eat junk food regularly don’t sneak snacks for enjoyment. They do it because they’re miserable without it. The quick sugar rush, salty crunch, or fatty comfort might feel like relief in the moment, but it’s followed by guilt, lethargy, and dissatisfaction.
When users of junk food contemplate quitting, they often focus on the obvious physical benefits, like weight loss or better digestion. These are important, but the greatest gains are psychological:
- The return of your confidence and energy.
- Freedom from feeling controlled by cravings.
- No longer feeling guilt, shame, or self-loathing about your eating habits.
Not only is there nothing to give up, but there are massive positive gains to be had.
7.2 Void, the Void, the Beautiful Void
Imagine you have a rash on your skin. You go to a pharmacy, and they give you a free cream to try. The cream clears the rash temporarily, but after a few days, it returns — worse than before. You go back for more cream, and the pharmacist happily supplies it. Over time, the rash spreads and the intervals between flare-ups shorten. The cream isn’t curing the problem; it’s feeding it.
This is what junk food does to you. It promises temporary relief, but it’s actually creating the very discomfort you’re trying to alleviate. The sugar highs and lows, the bloated feeling after a heavy meal, and the guilt afterward — these are all symptoms of the cycle.
If you learned that stopping the cream would let the rash heal naturally, would it take willpower to quit? Maybe for a few days, but as soon as you saw the rash improving, you’d feel liberated. The same applies to unhealthy eating: once you stop, the cravings and discomfort begin to fade, and you gain clarity and control.
The "rash" caused by junk food isn’t just physical. It includes:
- Low energy levels.
- Poor focus and productivity.
- Guilt and self-doubt.
- The time and money wasted on foods that harm your health.
The greatest gain from quitting isn’t just better health or more energy; it’s the freedom from the constant fear of cravings. It’s the knowledge that you’re no longer at the mercy of food designed to control you.
You’ll no longer feel deprived without junk food. Instead, you’ll wonder why you ever thought you needed it in the first place.
It’s so nice to be free!