"Control yourself, take only what you need from it"

MGMT - Kids 2008

Where across the course of your day today, could you consider where it might be that you practice Hara hachi bu (腹八分)?

The Japanese phrase Hara hachi bu (腹八分) literally means:
Hara (腹) = stomach / Hachi (八) = eight / Bu (分) = parts

It translates to “eight parts out of ten”; or more naturally:
Eat until you are 80 percent full.

It’s a Confucian teaching that became deeply rooted in Japanese culture, especially in Okinawa, known for its longevity.

In Okinawa, it’s more than advice. It’s a habit. Before eating, some people literally say “hara hachi bu” as a reminder to stop before satiety becomes excess.

In the song MGMT; by the band Kids, the lyrics “Control Yourself, Take Only What You Need from It” sit right at the hinge between childhood freedom and adult responsibility.

As children, impulse runs the show; curiosity is unchecked, and emotion is immediate.

“Control yourself” signals the shift into adulthood and is the moment you realise you can’t react to every feeling, you can’t consume everything you want, and you can’t live entirely on impulse.

It’s the beginning of self-regulation, which requires restraint, moderation and boundaries.

The song is nostalgic, but it isn’t naïve. It recognises that childhood innocence can’t last.

The lyric feels like an internal voice saying:
You can still engage with the world and feel wonder, but do it with discipline.

When you grow up, you learn that not every feeling deserves expression.

You don’t say every thought, act on every desire and chase every thrill

When that discipline disappears at the plate, the consequences don’t stay philosophical; they become physiological.

Metabolic disease.

Metabolic syndrome, at its core, is not mysterious; it’s not one dramatic event. It is a pattern.

It is not primarily genetic.
It is not fate.
It is not bad luck.

It is, more often than not, taking in more than you need, for longer than your system can tolerate.

More calories than you burn.
More glucose than your cells can process.
More insulin than your body was designed to secrete daily.
More stress than your nervous system can discharge.
More stimulation than your sleep can repair.

The body is remarkably patient, but when you consistently take in more than you need, it doesn’t immediately rebel; it adapts.

Blood sugar rises.
Insulin rises to manage it.
Fat storage increases to buffer it.
Inflammation ticks upward.
Blood pressure edges higher.
Waist circumference expands.

Nothing dramatic happens on any single day.

Which is exactly why nothing changes.

It is the slow mismatch between intake and output.
Between fuel and demand.
Between stress and recovery.

In a healthy system, intake is followed by expenditure.
Effort is followed by release.
Fuel is matched to movement.

But when intake exceeds need repeatedly, the body has only two options:

Store it or strain under it.

Insulin resistance develops because the cells are already full.
They don’t refuse glucose out of defiance.
They refuse it out of overload.

Metabolic syndrome is not about weakness.

It is about chronic excess without a corresponding rhythm.

Excess calories.
Excess stress.
Excess sitting.
Excess alcohol.
Excess screen time.
Excess stimulation.

And insufficient:

Movement.
Sleep.
Stillness.
Recovery.
Contrast.

The solution is not punishment; it is recalibration.

Eat until nourished, not numbed.
Train to demand fuel.
Sleep to restore insulin sensitivity.
Regulate stress so cortisol does not compound the load.

The body was designed for oscillation, not constant abundance.

Metabolic syndrome occurs when abundance goes unchecked, and output goes unstimulated.

The honest question you can ask yourself is: Am I consuming more than my life requires?

Here’s the thing: Physiology will always answer that question, whether we do or not.

We eradicated smallpox; we nearly eliminated polio, and we got rid of adult-onset diabetes (we changed its name to Type 2 diabetes, because children started getting it)

That isn’t progress, that’s a signal.

Eat, then stop eating.
Stress, then recover.
Train, then rest.
Heat, then cool.
Light, then dark.

Physiology heals through contrast.

Hara Hachi Bu. Stop at satisfied; leave room, not for more, but for you.

Discipline is not deprivation; it’s longevity in action.

While you’re thinking about that, think about this and have a Gr8 day!

Be well,
DL

“What do you really need?”
Dalai Lama (1935– )