Be honest with yourself: who wears the pants in your relationship with food? Overly anticipating meals makes us no better than predatory animals by robbing us of the two things that make us uniquely human: our individuality and our minds. Not eating for five days displayed that my dependence on food had led to an involuntary compartmentalization of my time—one that was driving me to act with the crowd while preventing me from reaching my full potential. If you wish to control your own destiny, you can begin by adopting the most important word in the English language—no. If you are content being like everyone else—just continue saying yes.