Small Things

I was thinking about my taste buds today. Because today was cheat day. I finally had a really great week of sugar-free-ness, and so I gave myself the day to cheat. I had a yummy shake, a burger that was too big, cherry lime-aid and candy. Not all at once, mind you. That would have given me a stomach ache.

But tonight, as I was eating some peanut butter m&ms and watching a movie, I thought about how my stomach was feeling. I mean, it was the end of cheat day, and I was feeling overly sated and a little bit tight in the stomach area...you know, the point just before you start to feel a gut ache because you ate too much? And there I was feeling that, and I was thinking about the side effects of bad eating habits - weight gain, heart disease, diabetes.

All for something so small. Our taste buds. Those tiny things on our tongues that tell us something is good...like a burger and a shake...or bad...like spoiled milk. Something so small has an impact on my brain, on my choices, on my body, on my life style. It's strange to think that my taste buds can overcome my good sense about treating my body well.

In fact, my taste buds can control my mind! I mean, I think about food A LOT because of them. All the time. Especially on cheat day. It's all about what I'm going to eat and when. Which makes me feel like we as humans are not all that evolved. So much of what we do revolves around eating. Around what just a small little sensory perception tells us will make us feel good.