Day 308: Video Game Food

I wish life was video games for many reasons. Having a reset button would be one of the biggest perks. The world would be filled with odd obstacles that only lead to arbitrary points, but we will still strive for them no matter what. But the best bonus would be food.

In video games, the characters eat food or consume potions that make them feel better or raise their health. The never-ending need for consumptions is broken down into the simplest of factors: eat the good stuff and you will feel good. The items even will list how the potion will help or hurt you. Alcohol, for example, can increase your Stamina and Strength, but it will also hurt your overall Health Regeneration. Or there is a simple potions or food that a character can eat that will increase their overall Health by varying factors depending on the potency of the item.

Knowing exactly what those items will do to the character makes eating and drinking simplistic and uncumbersome to the mind. While in real life the variety and quantity of food and drink are nearly infinite to a human, deciding on what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat is a never-ending guessing game. Part of eating is tasting the foods and delicious foods are simply that and are always a welcome treat. But once the food is past the esophagus, it begins its slow life of digestion.

Not to be harsh, but everything becomes poop. In the end, it’s mostly all the same. The goal, beyond tasting, is to find foods that will also make us feel better. That is why there are so many diets and mixed ideas of what is considered healthy. The standard practice we assume is to eat as many vegetables as we can while including protein, wheat, fruits, and some dairy products. Paired with exercise, a healthy diet is a phenomenal way to feel energized most of the day and most likely increase our lifespan.

But we get tempted by the sweets and the fats and salty snacks. All of which is okay to eat in small doses without serious side effects. Unfortunately, we get caught up in the tastes of food over the health benefits. Now, it would suck if we couldn’t taste our food knowing the pleasure of ice cream and medium-rare steaks. But if life were more like video games and we typically only ate and drank the items that are going to benefit us then people would most likely be healthier, we would have fewer obesity issues, fewer cases of alcohol and drug abuse, and an overall easier life.

Of course, life will not suddenly turn into a video game, but I think that the way we treat our characters in video games are good examples that we are taking for granted. Unfortunately in real life, the consequences of our consumption are rarely immediate and thus hard to observe. It is hard to think about my future self when there’s a giant piece of chocolate cake in front of me. Video games change that dynamic and instantly increase a character’s heath after eating the proper food or drinking the proper potion. When I am making a choice of what to eat, I try to think of myself as a video game character and I ask myself, “Would I allow them to consume that? What are the benefits and drawbacks of this piece of fish or burger or salad?” I cannot know that for sure, but I can make an educated guess in each situation on which item my future self will appreciate more.

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Image by Nerezza from Pixabay