> I know many ultra endurance runners and they are all in very good - healthy - shape. The only thing they all have in common is that they are very, very disciplined people.

Right, but are you not seeing that this is orthogonal?

Meaning, is it that running MAKES YOU disciplined, or rather that people who are already predisposed to being disciplined are more likely to be runners? This says nothing about the genetic component of it.

And you would have to be born yesterday to truly think there is no genetic component. Even with alcoholism, we know it's hereditary. We know when it comes to compulsions there is a genetic component. This is not opinion, this is fact. We know this.

But specifically with food habits, you truly believe this is not the case? Do you not see how incredibly bold of a claim that is? How atypical, how surprising, that would be?

I'm not saying that some people are blessed and some are not. Everyone has the power to change their lives. But I AM saying that it's not the same for everyone. From the beginning, I have known some things come easier to some people. I thought this was common knowledge, a part of the human condition we were all aware of.

Ultimately the decision to put food or alcohol in your mouth is yours. I am tired of hearing of external factors, let's bring it back to the individual.

This view is held by many because it's incredibly simplistic and naive, while simultaneously allowing people to gain moral leverage. Meaning, if everything is in our control, then if we do good, we must be very good.

But it's just obviously not true. From the beginning, it is clear life is unfair. Children die from cancer. Are they losers? Should they have ate more veggies?

When everything happens for a reason, that has some unsavory side effects. This is all philosophical, but also real.

We are an amalgamation of what is in our control, and what is not. I could sit here and pat myself on the back for being skinny and attractive. Really, I could. But does that not seem, maybe, a bit pathetic?

I did have something to do with it, but it was not all me. I shouldn't take all the credit, and frankly I don't need it. Maybe some people do need it, in which case they should do other things to be proud of. There's no pride in being proud of something you did not achieve.

I think, for both you and me and for most things in life, the reality is that most things were given to us. Yes, we have achieved - off the shoulders of giants. Whether that be genetics, time, place, family.

From there, we have a few options on how to view the world:

- conclude that, since we've achieved nothing on our own, we must be losers, and kill ourselves.

- denounce the notion, and live in the delusion that we did do it all on our own. Essentially, lie at a fundamental level to boost our ego. Is there a lower low a person can sink to?

- embrace humility, and acknowledge that we are blessed and favored. Acknowledge that we do not know it all, and that our success is based off of practically infinite random things going right in our favor.