I Never Learn...Or Do I?

When will I ever learn that extremism in any form is just no good? I've mentioned this several times before, most recently when I tried to do a juice cleanse this summer and felt like shit.
Well, this time I got it in my head that I would try to be paleo.

See here. Extremism at it best.

Basically, if you are Paleo you can only eat meat and vegetables. No grains, no alcohol, no sugar, no legumes. Not even rice, you guys.  My plan was to try this way of eating hardcore (i.e.- super strict for real real) for a month, and then return to a more balanced way of approaching food. Well, today is would-be Day 30 and  I can tell you that this whole thing barely lasted a week. I was drinking wine by Day 3, eating rice by Day 10, and I even ate a mini Twix on a particularly stressful day last week circa Day 25.  Normally I am a very healthy eater with the occasional indulgence of a biscuit, a cookie or some mac and cheese, so why would I do this to myself? Maybe it is the thrill of trying to do a new thing. Maybe I like to think I can impose some rigidity in my life. Maybe I like the feeling of breaking the rules, once I stop doing the rigid thing. Or maybe I'm supposed to keep falling off of the metaphorical wagon, so that I eventually learn the lesson that we don't need to be on wagons in the first place.

Like I said, I just never learn. It might even take 2 or 3 more fad "healthy" diet trends for me to remember that I learned this or never learned it. However, I'd like to suppose  that the "not learning" is really a part of the learning process. Trying new things, liking them or not liking them; it's a part of the journey to balance, moderation, and eventually contentment.

We live in a society that promotes extremism in myriad ways: in our jobs, in our play time, in our entertainment, and especially in our consumer habits. We're encouraged to go hard in almost everything that we do. What if instead we were encouraged to cultivate balance?