Dr. Chung
Moderation Always Errs Towards Excess
Moderation - noun 1. the quality of being moderate ; restraint; avoidance of extremes or excesses; temperance. Sounds pretty good right? People rarely think about themselves in terms of extremes or excesses, and it's generally good policy to live your life outside of the extremes. Here's Dr. Chung's definition of moderation when it comes to most of the things we think should be had in moderation:
Moderation - noun 1. A fundamentally useless term that is impossible to implement because there's no standard for what represents moderate Everyone talks about moderation. Your traditional doctor who tells you that the paleo diet is too extreme because you should have carbs in moderation. Your obese uncle that offers you a 2nd piece of cheesecake because you should have sweets "in moderation." But has anyone ever sat back and asked what does moderation even mean for human beings? Let's use carbohydrates as an example. Lots of people are high on low carb diets, so what does it mean for a human to actually have a moderate amount of carbohydrates?
To the prehistoric caveman, moderate may have meant 40 grams of seeds and roots
To the low-carb weight lifter, a moderate amount of carbohydrates might be at 100 grams of sweet potatoes and protein bars.
To the average Earthling eating a Standard American Diet (SAD) a moderate amount of carbohydrates might be 200-300 grams of breads and cereals.
And to the sedentary 60 year old with obesity, a moderate amount of carbohydrates might be 400 grams from pizza and soda. Moderation is hard because moderation depends on the individual. Moderation is useless as a recommendation because no one really knows what it means. But here's the part that most important:
Moderation is a recipe for failure for people who are looking to create change in their lives.