Feeding is not a pretty sight to see!
When hunger emerges, no potential feed should be overlooked nor shift in dietary requirements be beyond consideration in satisfying the urge.
As a fellow feeder, I have been plagued many a time, even daily, with the perplexing uncertainty of what to eat or feed upon. My first thought is what’s best for my health and the environment, then I look for what is ready, available and accessible, regardless of what my body really needs.
Once the feeding frenzy is over, my mind then has to justify, mostly through denial, the nasty little memos from my body in revolt.
In nature, predators typically seek out the young, the slow or the unaware. I may do the same on more than the physical level with what I regard as a feed opportunity.
I wonder if being an omnivore with so many FEED choices, has led to a twisted moral sense of entitlement to feed on what I will.
I hear ya about the “feeding frenzy” – every time I see a chocolate muffin my salivary glands go into hyperdrive, my brain goes into full blown justification mode and my weight management goals get tossed into the back seat or the trunk (sometimes out the window!).
I recall a day in the early 1970s when I rode a horse for the first time. I went with a few friends who were also first-time horseback riders. We enjoyed much of the day riding – until the last few hundred yards that led back to the barn and their feed. When we turned that last corner, those horses bolted into a full run toward the barn and there was nothing we could do to dissuade them. We suddenly realized that where we thought we were in control, we were absolutely not – the horse was in control and knew it – I was along for the ride ONLY as the horse allowed it.
It SEEMED like I was in control of the horse – “pull the reins this way and the horse goes that way” etc. – but on that last leg of the ride, the horse made it perfectly clear that I WAS ONLY THE RIDER – the horse was in control. When faced with a chocolate muffin, for example, my “horse” bolts for it and I get another taste of the illusion of control I have over it.
But all is not lost. The horse in my story is a prey animal and I am a predator. I DO have control – but I have to EXERCISE that control in a manner understood by the horse (re: the horse whisperer). My body understands the command “no thankyou” and “I can wait a few minutes”, etc.
The concept of entitlement is an interesting one as well. I live in a time and in a place where food is plentiful and I don’t have much to do with its preparation other than maybe frying it up or popping it into the microwave. I don’t have to raise it or butcher it or grow it – a result of trade. I seriously doubt that I would have the nerve to raise a calf up to slaughter it and carve up its carcass for my body’s use. But I have no trouble at all picking out a nice big steak at my local grocery store. Trade has made justification SO much easier to palette (diggin’ the pun).
I loved the analogy of the horse and rider. We are more and less than we think we are for sure. The self control we believe we have is just a tiny percentage of what we actually possess.
Understanding how to use what we actually have is determined by our manmade mind. Like the DNA , we only apply a fraction of that abundance towards being. The rest of the information within this the treasure filled helix is consider “junk” or irrelevant.
What if it isn’t junk – rather mysteries we get to find and solve and benefit from? Tapping into that part is up to each of us individually. Social skills can get you onto the horse but the ride is up to you.
So the next time you want to go riding, call a cab or better yet, learn to ride a hot lookin’ motorcycle and bring an extra helmet just in case that horse wants to hitch a ride.