Gluttony.
The insatiable desire to eat. How someone disciplined in what he ingests could have strayed so far off the beaten path is what I will endeavor to explain.
I already mentioned that the merriment of the season was upon me. I also elucidated that I was not in control of the victuals prepared or the inordinate portion sizes. What I was in control of and did a poor job of it, my refusal to accept any more food once my appetite had been satiated.
What happened that Christmas was telling . . .
I had been counting macros and diligently maintaining a particular eating regimen. One of the pillars of transforming one’s body is nutritional consumption. My diet had become so restrictive. What I should have done was incorporate a “Cheat Day” or a “Refeed Day.”
What I learned the hard way that Christmas is if I had done so, the events that followed would never have happened.
My daughter had laid an elaborate assortment of food. If I had served myself, the portion sizes would have been my customary intake. Alas, I did not, and the morsels I would have taken, gave way to inordinate amounts of food.
One plate consisted of potato and crab salad. The other contained turkey, stuffing, cornbread casserole, rice, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes etc. The consumption of all that food was nothing short of gluttony.
It was as if I had not eaten for weeks. The overwhelming and unappeasable desire to eat was tantamount to bingeing. The lack of self-control diminished with each bite, much to the pleasure of my wife and daughters.
There would be a price to pay later on as I slowly found out. My stomach became distended, unaccustomed to my eating avarice. I tried to get up and immediately felt the discomfort. I eased back onto the couch. I ended laying on it, rolling from side to side, while my wife chided me, if I was “OK.”
I was the fattened pig, ready to be slaughtered and served. An apple in my mouth would have completed the picture.
How could all of this have been avoided?
A simple “Cheat Day” over the course of the year would have suffice. It would have allowed my mind and body to be prepare for such an onslaught of food. On those days, once a week, I could consume whatever foods I like.
It was an invaluable lesson, which I incorporated last year, after that Christmas debacle. Tasty as the food had been, the deplorable act of rolling on couch, groaning in agony, with a distended stomach was an act I did not care to repeat.
The Aftermath . . .
B.M.Booth (NASM-CPT)
Strength & Vigour 