I had a comment left on my entry about cheezies yesterday that got me thinking ... I was asked what's moderation ... (Tyra's blog is one of my regular visits - to check it out just click on the title of this entry)
As I reflected on her question, I realized that I can best answer that by sharing some stories from my experience that illustrate what is NOT moderation ...
Story 1: My Friend Ge. Introduced me to sushi, and not long after he and I discovered that in Vancouver there were wonderful all you can eat sushi restaurants. When he came to visit we planned on atleast one dinner per visit to such a place ... At one restaurant, we ate and ate and ate ... at the end of our visit the waitress gave us a bill that listed all that the two of us had consumed. It was a cash register reciept that read "6 pieces salmon roll, 6 pieces california roll" and so on ... The reciept (I'm not really proud of this) was over three feet long !! It was HUGE ... we had pigged back enormous amounts of fish ... I still feel that because of us somewhere a stock of fish got wiped out to fill our plates ... It was an example of what is NOT moderation ...
Story 2: When I headed off to University and was living away from home I can remember my first grocery shop ... I picked up the usual student fair of Kraft Dinner, canned pasta, and so on - then in the cookie aisle I got the biggest bag of Oreos I could find (this was long before we'd heard of things like trans-fats) and I took the stuff home. That night for supper I sat down in front of the tv with some work from class and with a large glass of milk began to eat the ENTIRE bag of oreos ... They were good, I was happy and an hour later I wanted to BARF ... I was sick as a dog ... It was an example of what is NOT moderation ...
Story 3: Again when I was a University student and living in residence where we cooked out own meals ... we discovered a Chinese All U Can Eat place across town that was cheap, good and filling ... We would try to make a weekly trip to it. On a students' budget, we could get enough to eat so that we could cruise a couple of days eating lightly ... There was ALWAYS a gang of us going, and we always ate way, way, way too much ... But one night as we waited to be seated, an enormous man was making his way out of the restaurant. He had to weight in excess of 600 pounds - he was the biggest person I've ever seen - he was HUGE!!!! And he could only walk about three steps, then he would hold his side and moan: "oooooohhhhhh ..." then he would take three more steps and repeat ... The third time he stopped he said, "Oooooooohhhhhhh, I ate way too much ... OOOoooooohhhhhh." We were shocked and horrified ... How much would a man THAT big have to eat to overeat asked Harry our floor mate from Hong Kong?? Clearly this was an example of what is NOT moderation ... I should mention that later Harry cooked himself a 5 lb chicken with a good pound of potatoes, stuffing and all the fixings and ATE the ENTIRE meal in one sitting and spent the next 24 hours moaning and holding HIS tummy complaining he ate too much ... We took great delight in asking him - "How much would YOU have to eat to over eat??" He was NOT amused ... But we were ...
MY point here though - is simply this: We live in a world of abundance, but we have crafted a society of greed. We can not simply have one oreo and enjoy it - we have to grab a handful and suck them back ... We can not simply have a cold beer in the back yard on a summer's day - we have to drain the 12 pack ... we can't take a single chocolate out of the box and tuck it away for later, or share it with a friend - we have to empty the box ...
It's a learned behaviour - and it's a bad behaviour. We need to relearn moderation. It is not a case of "where one is good, six are better" it's a case of "one is good ... two is a treat ..."
I remember getting Christmas fudge at my Grandmother's at the holidays. I could (and sometimes did) eat lots - but as I grew I realized the work that went into it, and the effort she put into having it for Christmas gatherings in our family, so I learned to savour it ... The last of her fudge I ever had came several years ago before she died, when a tiny package arrived one day in our mail - in it were nine pieces of carefully wrapped fudge she had sent form Ontario to BC ... I ate one at a time and truly savoured it ... to me Moderation (one piece at a time - enjoyed and savoured) was key ...
One last story - when I was 16 we had spent all day cross country skiing with our church youth group - we stopped for dinner before heading home ... My friend Darren and I went back to the buffet innumerous times ... finally the owner came out and said - "you two !! No more !! You two!! No more!! You have enough." We said - "But it's all you can eat?" and he replied - "Not for you, you eat enough ... NO MORE !!" After six or seven plates he may have had a point ...
My definition of moderation would be this: If you don't get your money's worth at an All U Can Eat Restaurant - THAT'S MODERATION!!
And that perhaps is the best definition we can find !!!
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