In this edition, Joe shares:
Why we still overeat in a world of plenty
How some food companies hack your biology for profit
Why systemic change, not just willpower, is the real Hard Way
Hi, Joe here in West Virginia for the massive 2025 Spartan Trifecta World Championship weekend, first time in the US. Would love to see you there, come over and say hello.
I had an evolutionary thought this week: people aren’t inherently weak.
For most of human history, food was scarce, and so evolution shaped our brains to cope with long stretches of hunger. We learned to crave sugar, salt, and fat because they were rare and lifesaving. That “wiring” kept us alive for thousands of years, but in today’s world of endless abundance it works against us.
Everywhere you look, shelves are filled with food engineered to override those ancient systems. Sugary drinks, processed shit, and snacks that dissolve in your mouth before your stomach even has time to register them… none of this is an accident. Ninety percent of our decisions happen below the surface, and the industry has perfected the art of pushing our subconscious buttons. Packaging, pricing, advertising, even the colors used on labels are designed to drive massive consumption. In this context, telling people to simply “have willpower” and not succumb to eating and drinking this crap is like telling them to breathe underwater.
Germany is a clear example of what happens when biology collides with a modern food system. Today, half the population is overweight, and obesity-related illness costs the country tens of billions of euros every year. An overweight young man named Lucas Pohl described how his breaking point came on an airplane when he couldn’t fasten his seatbelt. He wasn’t weak-willed; he was trapped in an environment where cheap junk food was the easiest option. His story ended with surgery covered by public insurance, which is a sign not of personal failure but of a society paying the bill for an unhealthy environment.
The political debate is familiar: some argue the market should fix itself, while others push for reforms like sugar taxes, warning labels, and tax changes to make healthy food affordable. Meanwhile, many food companies promise healthier options while still relying on products that drive obesity for the bulk of their profits. History shows what happens when you wait for industries to police themselves: progress crawls, while costs and suffering climb.
Here’s the Hard Way truth: the environment always wins. If soda is cheaper than water, people will drink soda. If fast food is at school, kids will crave it. If cities are built for sitting still instead of moving, people will sit on their asses. Discipline can only carry you so far when every signal around you pushes the other way.
That’s why systemic change matters. In places where governments have stepped in (Chile with warning labels, the UK with a sugar tax) consumption of unhealthy products has dropped. Those aren’t theoretical debates, they’re measurable results. At the same time, individuals can take control of their own environments. Don’t wait for politicians to fix the grocery store aisle. Start by fixing your kitchen. If you stock your shelves with garbage, you’ll eat garbage. If you surround yourself with better options, the right choice becomes automatic.
“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” - John Dryden
You Ask, Joe Answers
Q: “Do you ever eat junk food?" — Sunny W. A: "Not for many years. I don’t buy junk, and most people know not to bring it over, or it goes in the trash. My sons are wrestlers and absolutely jacked, so they wouldn’t eat it either. We just take care of what we put in front of us." — Joe
Our Spartan Hard Way is not about pretending to be superhuman. It’s about accepting that we are human - shaped by evolution, influenced by our environment - and then building systems that tilt the odds in our favor. That might mean changing laws and incentives at the national level, or it might mean simply refusing to keep soda in your fridge. Either way, the goal is the same: to make discipline easier than weakness.
Hurry up, Joe
