#justathought

Wednesday’s Word

carbohydrate:

            a substance rich in energy

            a substance made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen

First known use : 1853

Fascinating, isn’t it that the human population went so many years without being able to define that which gives us energy and fuel to keep on truckin’? 1853 isn’t even that long ago. Okay, I mean, it’s long ago compared to when I was born but it wasn’t that long ago in the big scope of things. On a macro level, it’s really just a stone throw away from 2015, but ages from the dawn of civilization.

Why is it that it took us so long to even want to define the organic compound that allows us to function as humans? Maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal back in the day when serfs were fighting off feudalism, or when warriors were waging battles against their neighbors. Maybe back then folks just ate what they ate what was on the table and didn’t consider it further.

Neither of those are likely scenarios, I know. The real reason that we didn’t define this compound for so long is because we didn’t NEED to … the idea of microscopically (pun intended) picking apart the macronurtrients that make our bodies work is a luxury, one that’s become more pressing as humans have been afforded the opportunity to spend more time thinking and less time doing.

On top of that, maybe no one really wanted to know why food worked. Maybe it was just easier for everyone to believe that it just did and they left it at that … And maybe this is one of the downfalls of our modern world. We always have to know why. Why this. Why that. Root causes. Intent. Possible outcomes. Progression. We spend so much time thinking about the intricate nature of every little thing that it’s so easy to miss the beauty of something simple like a carb. Maybe if we spend less time dissecting the individual and more time embracing the whole, we might find more joy, less stress, more presence and fewer reasons to bitch.