[throwawaycities]

What if it wasn’t actually pleasurable, but what you are doing is feeding certain species in your microbiome that control you by telling you it is pleasurable so you continue to feed them at the expense of your own health.

[xboxnolifes]

What if you don't actually want to be alive, but your bio-chemistry has been evolved over millennia to make chemical reactions that cause you to fear death, crave reproducing, and strive for a culture of preventing death of your species?

[throwawaycities]

if you don’t want to be alive drinking cokes is pretty inefficient, but it’s a good way to get all kinds of chronic health conditions

[spacemanmatt]

What's wrong with a little obesity, tooth decay, acid reflux, or insulin tolerance? The only people who complained to me about those symptoms were quitters. So maybe quitting soda is the REAL culprit, huh.

[edanm]

That's a conclusion that's pretty much contrary to the best available science.

[spacemanmatt]

Color me curious. Can you furnish any links to some health research that vindicates sugary sodas?

[edanm]

Oh sorry, I misunderstood you and thought you were talking about the diet sodas.

Of course sugary sodas are a "bad idea".

[connor4312]

Is your microbiome not "you"? It's as active a participant in your hormone balance as any other organ in your body.

You might say "I'm hungry", but it's not your rational brain deducing it's time to be hungry. Is an "I'm happy" triggered from the gut any less valid?

[hypertele-Xii]

> Is your microbiome not "you"? It's as active a participant in your hormone balance as any other organ in your body.

Your microbiome is definitely not "you". You can take antibiotics and nuke your entire microbiome, and you'll be mostly fine. Nuke "any other organ in your body" and you're gonna have much bigger problems.

The tenants in an apartment are not the apartment. You're the apartment, you're letting the microbiome stay as tenants as long as they pay their rent (break difficult foods to your advantage). Unruly tenants get thrown out. Of course it takes some effort to evict - this is the craving for particular foods that must be overcome to consciously stop eating those foods.

[frumper]

When my wife and kids are happy, I’m happy. When my microbiome is happy, I’m happy. Certainly when my microbiome is unhappy, I’m unhappy.

[hypertele-Xii]

If you endure the unhappiness generated against you by your microbiome, you can change it. Eat what you know is good regardless of microbiome happiness, and you'll cultivate a microbiome that is happy when you eat that.

Your microbiome alters the very taste of foods in your mouth. It was hard for me to stop eating meat and start eating plants because the plants tasted like shit, but after some time sticking with it everything flipped - plants started tasting amazing, meat not so much anymore.

Well, why would you deliberately endure discomfort? That's one of the defining characteristics of our species: Our ability to consciously delay gratification to achieve better long term results.

[throwawaycities]

If you starve your microbiome of sugar, then certain bacteria will die or go dormant.

Notwithstanding how you, or I, define “you”, once that change is made to your microbiome, you won’t find that coke to be very pleasurable.

I don’t think it’s about being less valid, but if you were to find out you were not making decisions for yourself rather someone or something else was controlling your decision making processes, would you make simple changes to take back control?

[lostmsu]

Would need a proof of that.