Yesterday I opined on the behavior of bees. Their efficiency as they grazed from flower to flower impressed me. It occurs to me as well that as former hunter gatherers, we also show a strong tendency to remember where our food is.
This was brought home to me in a most powerful way by Steven Pinker in his book, "The Language Instinct". Besides proposing that the acquiring of language is an instinctive feature of infant development, he suggests a list of more than a dozen "families of instincts" on page 437 that are hard-wired in to every human being. Notably missing is "love", though it might be included under his designated instincts of Kinship and Mating.
I've been thinking about the instincts as Pinker describes around Intuitive Biology, Mental Maps of large territories, and Food means that we build habits in our day around what we eat, when we eat, and where we find it.
The bees follow a routine. They come back to the same place around the same time of day and expect to find their reliable source. They prefer reliable sources.
Similarly, we like our routines. Since I am attempting to change my base habits around food, I am acutely aware of the portions I take in. If absently I put down a half-eaten piece of toast or a partially finished can of pop, a niggling reminder remains that it is "not finished yet". If hubby manages to interfere by scooping the half-completed can of pop when I am distracted, I am upset. I have a sense of being deprived.
Over time, I can reset my stomach settings of what "complete" means. Being aware that I am fighting base biology rather than personal weakness provides some comfort.
It also makes me wonder about the ever increasing portion sizes that the food industry has foisted on us here in North America.
I remember as a child that a restaurant cup of orange juice came in a tiny glass (by today's standards). Why? That little glass represented a whole lot of squeezed oranges. Over time, that portion became larger and larger. We lost track of where those oranges came from, and how much work it represented.
The cup sizes and portion sizes we take for granted today are all out of proportion for our needs.
I do see a trend towards "less is more"; the 99 c burgers and the 100 calorie snacks for instance. Perhaps this is a sign that our society now worships conservation rather than excess; not only for our own bodies, but for the world.
