EXCESS

[Stanley]

EXCESS

23 January 2005

I did a bit of experimenting this week to see whether instead of throwing excess fat away I could use it for baking bread and pastries thus saving on my butter consumption. It was a complete success and I made some of the best pastry ever. This experiment was partially driven by the fact that my one concession to Christmas Shopping was to buy a large jar of mincemeat and then never use it. It seemed a good idea at the time to make two nine inch pies and a sad cake to use up this festive mistake.
My problem is that I have no resistance at all to pies and so overdosed two nights on the trot. I was guilty of excess in the form of binge mince pie eating. This is not a mortal sin but if you are a person who has to watch your weight it induces feelings of guilt. I got to thinking about this sin of excess and came up with some conclusions.
The first pre-requisite for a binge or episode of excess is that it must be possible. In the case of the mince pies, they were there, it was an act of household economy to make them as the fat cost nothing and if not used the mincemeat would go to waste. There was nobody present to restrain or restrict me, no bar to indulgence. So, this episode was eminently possible and took place.
It seems to me that this was a perfect example of being in a situation where I had complete control, I could make my decision and nobody was going to stop me. If you think about it, this is a very rare occurrence, how often do we have complete control? This hypothesis satisfies me, I think I might have identified the reason why the compulsion to eat the mince pies, even though I knew it was bad for me, was so irresistible.
The trouble with such a neat fit of hypothesis to real life is that it is seductive. I immediately started to look for other cases where it would fit. Perhaps this explains why I persist in smoking my pipe even though the whole world is shouting at me and telling me that it will impair my breathing and heart function, spoil my appetite, ruin my sense of taste and eventually kill me. Perhaps I do it because I can, because it is my decision and I am in control.
My mind drifted then to considering the opposite case. If excess or bingeing is truly an exercise of control could it be that excessive control and regulation encourages excess as a means of self-expression? Perhaps this explains why the UK has such a bad reputation for excesses such as binge-drinking amongst the young and the closely allied phenomenon of hooliganism. Is this why there is a difference compared to the prevalence of bingeing in other cultures? Is it perhaps because they do not feel as repressed as our youngsters and therefore do not need to binge as a means of asserting control over their lives? Just as a slimmer will binge as a reaction against the oppression of the diet they are following, a person will deliberately drink to excess so that they can exercise a choice and at the same time demonstrate to the world that in this one case at least, they have freedom. I’m warming to this one but will leave it there. Another stone thrown into your pond. Perhaps the pattern of your ripples is different than mine.

23 January 2005