> "I haven't had a frankfurter in, I would say, forty-five years. I don't eat enjoyable foods. I eat for my health."
I admire woody allen, but reading this comment makes me a little sad.
So, not sure about Woody Allen's diet preferences but it seems to me that just taking out the option of eating unhealthy dramatically cuts down on decisions making and mental energy. A single Frankfurter will not alter your health, but if you open up the possibility of eating them you need to wonder - Is one per day OK? what about one per week? If you eat a hamburger does that mean you can't eat a Frankfurter for two days etc. etc.. If Allen is half as neurotic as he seems you can imagine him spending a lot of time deciding what to eat and what not. Just nukeing the option -- will not eat frankfurters, period. -- seems to be a good mental hack.
Yes. I've mentioned this book on HN before, but Mason Currey's Daily Rituals: How Artists Create discusses this point. I wrote more about the book here: http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/daily-rituals-how-a....
I like the food I'm eating more than I used to. Berries now taste as good as ice cream used to. Cranberries taste sweet instead of sour.
Good quality black coffee is better than a latte.
I don't know what woody Allen eats. I expect he enjoys some of it, and is writing for effect.
If he actually doesn't enjoy eating, then that is indeed sad.
But having gone from 'not health' to 'health', at a young age, I'm very, very willing to give up a few modest pleasures to preserve health.
I gag when I think of what I used to eat. I went back to the U.S. last year and found restaurant fare almost universally gross. Within two nights, I decided to move from a hotel room to a family suite just because it had a kitchenette. When I wasn't cooking in my room, I was eating $40+ meals at "decent" places (compare to Australia where food is a lot less pre-processed.)
Anything less than that and I feel bad later that day or the next. Usually bad cooking oils I think.
Many of which are unhealthy or dangerous. Also, I can assure you that after not eating something enjoyable for a long time, the experience is incredible. I was a strict vegetarian for 7 years. When I decided to change that, I walked into a McDonald's (of all places) and ate 10 cheeseburgers. Biting into the first one caused a sensation much like when you realize you're shortly going to sleep with that hot new girl you've been seeing for a while.
IOW, I feel sorry for Woody Allen - he must really miss Frankfurters. Unless he's winding us up and doesn't really think they're enjoyable (it's normally pork too, not kosher, I don't know if he cares). Perhaps he's neurotic enough to fear unhealthy food.
> make me wonder why they don't take better care of themselves (now that they've "made it")
"Taking care" could mean living a bland, boring, ascetic life or exercising, investing time and energy in extending one's life. Either seems unfitting for the lifestyle of people who worked hard to live their dreams and know they will die anyway. They can afford the best medical treatment anyway.
(And now I'm going to get depressed wondering how many on the website don't know what I am talking about because it happened before they were born.)