3 Reasons I Disagree with This Popular Belief — Life Is Short, Eat What You Want

People often say, “Life is short, so eat what makes you happy.”

For this guy, it’s a fried baloney sandwich and fries.

What is it for you?

As catchy and widespread as that phrase is, it contains some falsehoods that keep people eating foods that make them sick.

3 Major Issues with This Popular Saying – Life Is Short, Eat What You Want

1. Life Isn’t Short – It’s Long

Humans are incredibly resilient.

I flew to another state last year for the funeral of a family member I loved, who was morbidly obese for 60 of her more than 80 years. Sixty years is a LONG time to have little to no quality of life.

I know more people than I can count who are almost immobilized and have little activity or pleasure left in their lives.

That’s when maybe I could understand the fried-baloney sandwich being “happiness.” When we’re too old and sick to turn it around.

The thing is, 99% of us could turn it around!

The reason to consider giving up the fried baloney “eat what makes you happy” argument is that it robs you of all of life’s OTHER pleasures.

You’re probably aware of the over 8M toxins (approved by Western governments) in our food, air, water, and products.

Many people in the U.S. now live to 80 while eating a diet devoid of fiber and nutrients, which causes their bodies struggle and misery–

–instead of nourishment, fun, and chasing our dreams.

So, because life actually is long.

And because what you eat today (a) affects how you feel all day, (b) how you’ll feel tomorrow, too, and (c) whether you’re accumulating disease diagnoses OR living your best life:

I hope you’ll examine the logic of this social media post.

Too many Americans living to 80 spend decades immobile, unable to travel or enjoy retirement.

Instead, they spend most of the money they spend their whole lives earning and their time on their medical problems.

Our four elderly parents are bored and lonely, and they remind me that:

My choices today will dictate my life in my 60s, 70s, and beyond.

2. People Aren’t Happier Due to Eating Fried Baloney in Bread and French Fries

They have 10 minutes of pleasure, I get it. But then, hours or days of lower mood. Slower and even painful digestion. And less energy, literally for days.

[Related: 14 Ways I Optimize My Health for High Energy Every Day]

The body has to overwork to process food, which bogs down every organ and cell.

Is this “happiness?” If so, I think we’ve lost track of what happiness ever was.

I would even argue our food choices cause years of misery, not hours – if this is a choice representative of the overall diet.

(And sometimes we pay a price, even if it’s just occasional. Have you ever been eating a healthy diet, were feeling great – and made one terrible choice, and been sorry? I have.)

If we think the 10 minutes it takes to eat a baloney sandwich is “happiness,” we have to consider the 2 hours or 10 hours it negatively impacts us.

If we’ve made choices like that countless times, we may no longer accurately track cause and consequence.

We can make choices, but we can’t choose the consequences.

I know the Carnivore and Keto diets are popular, and they’ve been here before by other names and will come again after falling from favor.

Because many of the “experts” endorse focusing on protein and focusing on fat – who doesn’t want to hear that burgers and cheese are a good diet?

The fad dieters validate and endorse eating things like fried baloney, and Americans love them for it.

(Proteins, fats, and carbohydrates are all necessary and valuable in the diet. And virtually all whole foods have all three.

We should focus on the QUALITY of our foods – proteins, fats, and carbs–but people often miss that part.)

What Actually Makes Us Happy?

If it’s a [swap that out with the worst thing making a regular appearance in your diet, assuming it’s not fried baloney] that makes you “happy,” may I ask:

Do you think if you could retroactively replace all the decisions to eat a [insert favorite guilty pleasure] in your past with a quart of green smoothie or a giant salad:

Would you look different? Would you feel different?

And would that make you infinitely happier than fried baloney does?

I argue that what makes us happy is spending quantity and quality time doing fun and memorable things with those we love.

What makes us happy are the pursuits of hobbies, sports, travel, learning, and more.

A diet of fried baloney sandwiches actually prevents all those things. It happens gradually, and we slow down and are unable to participate in life like we could if we were healthier.

When we eat fried meat and white bread and french fries:

We sleep in, are sluggish, don’t feel well, affect our mental health, and snap at those we love.

3. You Can Be Just as Happy Eating Healthy Foods

Like the gentleman who posted this post advocating for eating whatever makes you happy, regardless of consequences:

In my late 20s, I believed that if I gave up my ice cream, hamburgers, fries, and Diet Coke diet, I would be giving up happiness to gain health.

Nothing could be more false. After giving up hamburgers, I forgot about them, and years later, BBQ doesn’t smell good to me.

I became very sick from my poor diet – and some pharmaceutical products made me go from sick to sicker, starting in my late 20s.

It took me years to realize that although I’d given up pretty much all the junk-food staples of my 20s, I was much happier–not less.

But I never could have predicted this: I also enjoyed my food just as much.

Talk to the healthiest eater you know. Ask them: Did you become less happy, or more happy, when you started eating healthy?

You let me know if a single one says they’re less happy. You actually get both.

Life is actually long. We all make a choice now and then for a “guilty pleasure.”

But when these are rare occurrences, and you eat an organic, whole-foods diet 95% - 100% of the time, of course, you’re healthier:

But you’re also much happier.

Sick people aren’t happy people.

I spent much of my earlier life trying to eat healthier, but I used junk food as a “reward” to motivate myself or soothe myself.

I had to challenge myself to be better than a mouse in a cage pushing a pellet for gratification!

To realize that I could reward myself in better, non-destructive ways.

How Do You Need to Uplevel?

I don’t write this to shame anyone about their diet. I’m not perfect, myself.

It’s easy to look at this post and think, “Well, I’m doing fine because a baloney sandwich isn’t something I’d eat.”

Do we need to uplevel, too, though? Even if our vice might be a different one?

I write about this because sometimes a fact I’ve read, or a perspective changes my life for the better. I’d much rather offer inspiration; my goal isn’t to guilt-trip anyone.

In a landscape where few talk about the basics of nutrition that lead to health and happiness anymore.

Our current diet fads ignore tens of thousands of published studies.

And where everyone wants to claim health is found in a package, bag, supplement, or fad diet:

Somebody should be the voice of reason and remind and ground us in the basics:

Greens, vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds.

That’s the crux of the diet that got me well 30 years ago. You can watch my short, free video class about it here.