Monday Musings: What Pacman Taught Me about Health.
In the Age of Abundance, Pacman finally stops eating …
Pacman was memorable.
He eats non-stop.
He is happy and healthy … right?
Pac-man prevails as long as his enemy doesn’t catch him. Do you remember this game? It’s simple and fun. There were times when I daydreamed moving from donut to donut. All day. I loved that idea! Pac-man was my idol then. Yet, this is not just a game. It’s also reality. For one day in a year, we become Pac-man.
Rings a bell?
That day, is Chinese New Year Eve.
That event, is the Reunion Dinner.
Christmas and Thanks giving dinner works as well and just for this article, let’s stick to Chinese New Year Eve’s Reunion Dinner.
That day, that event, we eat ourselves silly. Just like Pac-man, we consume non-stop. Just for that day, eat-till-you-puke is a badge of honour we sweat to wear.
“It’s all about Prosperity!” as the elders say.
What if we teeter at the edge of ejecting what we consumed?
That is not a good idea.
Many of my friends from the health industry has always espoused that Health is Wealth. Health, IS Wealth. Prosperity is a result of taking care of our health, not food bingeing. Sure, for once a year, we should enjoy our Reunion Dinners. Maybe we should give it a thought before taking that additional bowl of rice? Or that additional plate of meat?
That one evening of crazy eating lays the foundation of regret for the next several weeks.
There will be a moment of reckoning and that will be the post-festive payback. It starts when we pull out that wretched weighing machine … Now, there is no need to go through that vicious cycle. We can eat responsibly even if it is an annual celebration event.
The point is, we try.
Pac-man doesn’t get fat.
We do.
Actually, let me take that back.
Pac-man does get fat.
He is just too rounded for an additional ounce of fat to be visible to our eyes.
I think humans don’t look too visually pleasing when we appear rounded, except for babies and Santa Claus.
We should not just hold ourselves back once a year.
Some of us don’t watch what we eat, what we snack. This is the case for me. And I paid a price for this because I respond to stress through eating. The sweets on the working desk, the additional cup of coffee or having one more serving of meat on my plate during lunch breaks. All these adds up to my weight increase over time. I am unaware internally, because all I hear was a scream from my brain that I needed calories and sugar for thinking.
“You need that sweet and instant coffee. I can’t think anymore. Please consume the calories!”
I don’t think too much about it before reaching my hands out to grab that sweet or cup.
I think that is the danger.
Especially when we are too deep into our work.
One of the ways which I found particularly useful in arresting such thoughts is to slow down that process of throwing the calories into our mouths.
Take our time to un-wrap that sweet.
Take our time to make our trip to the pantry.
Delay kills enthusiasm.
It works for our brains too.
Whenever we feel the urge to consume food and drinks in a discretionary manner — Try this method.
For all we know, it might work for us.
Pac-man is a good game, though he is not exactly a good role model.
At least, not for me.
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About the Author:
As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.
Because simplicity adds value.
Simplicity helps us gain clarity, and clarity helps us to grow.
And if we are not growing, then what’s the point of anything else?
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