The Culture of Excess: Why 'more' will never feel like enough

We live in a world of excess. There’s too much of everything. Too much food, too much fashion, too much doing. And it all costs.

Everywhere we turn, we’re told to want more: to buy more, to achieve more, to become more. Even simplicity itself has become a brand. Simplicity has been packaged and sold back to us. We’re urged to slow down, but only if we buy the right products to help us do it!

Our diets mirror this culture. We eat far more than we need, more food, more often and more of the kind that does us no good. The signs of overconsumption are everywhere: on our plates, in our wardrobes and in our homes. We see it overflowing from our bins, filling landfill sites and scattered across our streets. Excess has become normal.

But excess comes at a cost. Not just to the planet and our purses, but to our wellbeing, our time and our peace of mind.

This endless appetite for 'more' is what capitalism thrives on. The system depends on us staying dissatisfied, chasing the next upgrade, the next trend, the next fix. If we stop buying, the system slows, and that’s something big business just can’t afford to let happen.

But what if we did stop? What if we chose to step off the merry-go-round, even just for a while?

Food: Just another product to be sold

Walk into any supermarket and you’re hit by a wall of choice. Bright colours, loud promises and endless brands. But, if you look closely, most of it is the same. Ultra-processed foods are a result of capitalism. They’re cheap to make, easy to market and engineered for overconsumption. Created for profit, not nourishment. These products are designed to last longer, taste stronger and make us eat more than we need.

Big business doesn’t care that our health pays the price as long as the money keeps flowing. The system thrives when we stay dependent on convenience, distracted by choice and driven by habit.

Learning about UPFs opened my eyes. I realised that what’s true of food is true of everything: the same machinery of manipulation, addiction and profit drives almost every industry. Every which way we turn, it feels as though someone is trying to sell us more.

Food, something so fundamental to our survival, has been turned into a multi-billion pound business. Real nourishment has been replaced by edible products. But we can take a step back. Cooking from scratch using real ingredients helps break the cycle. Supporting local producers, choosing purposefully and buying less can all make a difference.

Change doesn’t have to cost much. It just needs awareness, intention and purpose.

Stepping off the merry-go-round

At some point, I realised I didn’t want to live that way anymore. I began reusing what I already had and stopped buying what I didn’t need. I recently upgraded my phone for a dumb phone (much cheaper) which I am using when I'm not working. So in my own time there is no internet, no endless scrolling, no constant marketing feeding me the next trend or fad. I think it might well turn out to be one of the best decisions I make.

I’m not a hippy (yet!). I still drive. I still use technology. But I’m choosing to live differently, more naturally, less artificially. With purpose.

I cook my own food, make simple cleaning products and choose natural alternatives wherever I can. I still shop in supermarkets, but I also buy from local butchers, grocers and small independents. I purchase purposefully. I try to support people, not corporations. Because where and how we spend really does matter.

On my Instagram account and website you do not need to sign up to access my free downloads, there is no pressure to like or share. I post only when I have something worth saying. Because, for me, it isn’t about chasing excess. It’s about finding enough.

I can feel Removing UPF becoming about more than food. In time I hope that it’s going to include removing excess in all its forms: physical, digital and emotional. I might need a name change!

I am not rejecting modern life. I am trying to engage with it more consciously and find a pace that feels much more human again. I was born in the seventies and I remember that the pace of life was very different back then, I think that I am much more suited to that pace!

A shift in priorities

Maybe it’s a life stage. Two of my three children have grown up and moved out; only one still lives at home. Life feels quieter now. As things slow down, I guess our priorities shift.

I notice the moments I used to rush past. I stop to smell the roses, literally. I cook from scratch and enjoy the process. I’ve learned that when I stop filling every gap with 'more', life actually feels fuller.

Living with less but getting more

The less I buy, the more I value what I already have. When we eat real food, we feel satisfied. When we stop performing life online, we actually live it. Living with less isn’t about deprivation. It’s about freedom.

When we stop chasing 'more', we can make space for what truly matters and that is enough.