Day 14 of 84 – The Depleted will Fill

With something. If you deplete a resource, it will get filled. This is a rather new concept for me and I have been struggling with it. Where it has the greatest relevant impact is with nutrition, although there are other applications as well.

As I have been taxing my physical endurance now for 14 days (2 weeks), I have noticed that my body just simply needs more fuel to burn. A consistent source of macro nutrients are required. If through my hectic life do not find the time to eat the adequate amount of carbohydrates for example, that need will eventually get filled. You are just not strong enough to not yield to this requirement. If the body needs fuel it is going to get it (if it can). I supposed if no food source was available, then the body would begin shutting down and adapting to the starvation state, but that extreme example aside – if you are in deficit mode then eventually your mind and body will figure out a way to get you to give in and replace the depletion. I can choose to go ahead and maintain my nutrition and eat a source of clean burning carbohydrates. Not too much, not too little and without a bunch of extras. If not, then there will come a time when ice cream will fill that need and I will not avoid it. The body will fill the gap, resistance is futile.

I suppose that the most successful people in a nutrition plan are actually fueling frequently and often and fueling from clean and consistent sources. If the body has sufficient stores there is little need to be really tempted by that bowl of chocolate frosted sugar bombs in the morning. Temptation will still occur, that is because sugary treats are quick and easy and you may have an emotional or mental addiction that is hard to break. However, eventually you do break those addictions – the problem is when you starve yourself and then the body goes into panic mode and that sugary treat is going into your mouth whether you like it or not.

Better just stay on top of the fuel intake and keep it at optimum levels. The body should never find itself on short supply of necessary and clean macro nutrients.

This depletion theory applies to a lot of aspects of life. For thousands of years there has been a spiritual need that humans have figured out how to fill with worship, religion, faith in God. If we remove that, deplete that, it will get filled by something. Maybe that something is good, but often times it is not. Consequently, that need for spirituality in humans gets filled by the equivalent of quick and easy sugary treats and people grow restless, anxious and found searching for something they just cannot seem to find. If you find yourself completely ignoring an important aspect of being human, spirituality for example, you will eventually need to fill that gap with something. Left unchecked and that can be very dangerous.

We deplete a lot of areas. The need to have relationships, the need to engage our minds, the need to be creative, the need to connect with our physical worlds. I can imagine a lot of negative social impacts are due to the filling of these voids with poor substitutes.

I am using this lesson to remind myself to eat well, to eat good and in plenty of quantity. Enough to meet the needs of the strain that I am under. If I ignore this, then the void will get filled and usually it gets filled with something detrimental to my health.

Guy Reams

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