49: What's Enough?

How much of anything do you really need? What’s enough to make you happy? In today’s episode The Nutrition Grouch wrestles with the idea of “what’s enough?”. So many of us have so much, and yet, it never seems to be enough. Humans have an insatiable appetite for more. But more isn’t always better and more doesn’t necessarily lead to happiness. In obesity, we clearly have exceeded, “what’s enough?”, in terms of calories. But why do we consume some so many calories in the first place? I think it at least partially has to do with our appetite for more, leading us to overextend, spread ourselves too thin, and stress ourselves out. So, in asking, “what’s enough?”, I’m not only asking you to consider what’s enough in terms of calories and pleasure, but I’m searching much further into everything outside of nutrition in your day-to-day lives, material possessions, needs, wants, and desires. By asking, “what’s enough?”, and scaling back on both our caloric and non-caloric needs, wants, and desires, perhaps we can reset our “what’s enough?” equilibrium and carve out more time for meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking, things that will ultimately lead to increased health and happiness. Some of the topics in today’s episode include: What’s Enough?, is not minimalism, it’s more like essentialism (1:41) The myth of “having it all” and being able to “do it all” (2:10) It sucks getting rid of something you later actually need (6:16) What were some of your greatest Christmas gifts growing up? (9:05) Expectation setting (9:05) The Joneses aren’t that happy (11:32) Can money buy you happiness? Yes and no (13:39) Focusing on what you don’t have rather than what you do have (18:02) “If you’ve got your health, you’ve got the world by the balls” (25:52) How many cups of coffee do you drink? (28:19) Use only what you need (29:29) Flattening your high (31:36) Dopamine fasting misses the point (34:01) The Hungry Brain’s advice: moderate palatability foods (36:06) What’s Enough: Food Frequency, Portion Size, Energy Density (42:27) Mel Robbins: The Let Them Theory (49:26)