Get Bloody, Fatboy
The Gauntlet of Negative Influence
I could smell it before I even opened the door to my truck. From the left, a mixture of pizza and baking bread. From the right, Mexican food and burgers. I opened the door and could hear people ordering at the drive-thru's: chicken strips, fries, tacos, sugary drinks the size of beer kegs...
My location?
Gym parking lot.
When I first joined this gym five years ago, there was one fast-food restaurant nearby. Now there are four within a stone's throw, and at least a half-dozen more within sight.
I'm not tempted by fast food or the reheated residue they serve at places like Chili's or The Olive Garden. Transfat-soaked flour just isn't appetizing anymore, thanks in part to the taste and craving changes the V-Diet gave me.
But I bet for a lot of people who go to my gym, those smells are overpowering. They have to practically run a gauntlet of negative influence in order to get into the gym.
People who struggle with body fat often suffer from physical and psychological addictions to unhealthy, body-wrecking foods. The book, The End of Overeating, digs deeply into this topic. It's really shocking. Food manufacturers make no secret of how they combine certain ingredients and chemicals to illicit the maximal addictive response from customers.
Think of it this way: Real food is like a coca plant. Fairly benign. Fast food and most boxed foods you get at the grocery store are like crack cocaine: a gross bastardization and weaponization of the original material, a crime against nature.
That's why I often refer to the V-Diet and the Pulse Fast protocol as "food rehab." People go into drug rehab to remove themselves from a toxic environment, to mentally and physically kick an addiction to a harmful substance that's hijacked their brain chemistry and their daily behaviors.
Junk food can be placed into that same category: It's bad for you, you know it's bad for you, but you can't seem to stay away from it. Sound familiar?
The drug addict or alcoholic can't just "cut back" on his substance of choice. He can't use drugs in moderation. And neither can the junk food addict. He or she needs rehab dietary rehab.
Time to Get Bloody
It's not easy, and you don't get to live in a swank resort/treatment center like a Hollywood starlet or an aging rock star. You still have to go through your daily routine, your usual gauntlet of negative influences -- home, work, social life... family, friends, peers, coworkers. That's going to take a strict plan like the V-Diet or Pulse Fast, but it's also going to require that you make a firm decision to change.
There no namby-pamby in the rehab game, no half-assed efforts or reluctant promises. This is a back alley brawl and you don't enter into that kind of fight unless you're ready to get bloody.
Hyperbole? Not really. I've been there, and many successful V-Life readers have been there. They'll tell you: if you don't enter into this with the right attitude, then you're going to get your ass kicked.
If you're not ready to run the gauntlet, stay home. -- Chris
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