Diet

I've been trying to lose some weight this year. I am having some success, but it's slow going. Something I've noticed is that if I restrict my diet enough to lose weight, I am always right on the verge of being hungry. What is supposed to be a full meal is not really satisfying. Being a little hungry is not bad, but combine that with being tired, I am liable to become apparently angry. Internally, some little thing will irritate me and I will start making rude remarks, remarks that people around me interpret as anger.

So now I'm wondering, if this is a common phenomena, and I think it is, how is this different than for us that it was 50 or 100 years ago? Was life not so irritating back then that we were able to absorb a little irritation without lashing out? Or were we all not such pansies back then, and a little rude behavior was not something that bothered us? Or is it that modern life has become so much more irritating?

Teacher don't you fill me up with your rules, don't you know that smokin' ain't allowed in school.

BROWNSVILLE STATION SMOKIN' IN THE BOYS ROOM
Keith McDonald

Now that I think about, smoking was ubiquitous 50 and 100 years ago, and one of the common complaints we hear from people who quit smoking is that they gain a bunch of weight. Could it be that nicotine is an appetite suppressant? I hear kids these days are wearing nicotine patches, not because they are trying to quit smoking - they never started, but because they appreciate the calming effect of the drug. (Seems to be a real thing.) The few times I tried smoking, I never noticed any such effect, but that might just be me. Or maybe I enjoyed being cranked up all the time and wasn't interested in any calming effect.

Smokin' in the Boy's Room is like a high school anthem. Turns out there are at least three versions of this tune. 

There's this one by Brownsville Station from 1973 (don't remember them, though I should), 

the one by Mötley Crüe from 1985 and 

a recent one from LeAnn Rimes from 2014.