A Diet for the Mind
How about following a diet that actually works?
While “Keto,” “Atkins,” and “Paleo” diets come and go, there is one diet that will outlast them all: the diet for the mind.
The weight-loss industry thrives on humans’ contending desires of indulgence and restriction.
Thousands of diets and meal plans tell participants what they can and cannot eat. But for every diet that tells you to eat as many bananas as you want without the fear of gaining weight, there are ten more that tell you bananas will make you put on pounds faster than you can say “potassium.”
Luckily, as long as you cultivate your inborn sense of self-awareness, the diet for the mind is far less contentious.
Instead of focusing on removing carbs and fats from your dinner plate, commit to cutting out unhealthy vocabulary, thought patterns, and beliefs. Replace them with the only ingredient you can truly never have enough of: love.
The mind becomes bloated for many reasons, among them these three:
1) Certain people and media sources tend to distract the errant mind from its values and goals by stocking our mental pantries with junk. Like decadent desserts we cannot resist, we indulge in gossip for instant gratification, only to feel fatigued and queasy an hour later. Like coffees and sodas we desperately drink for caffeine kicks that temporarily counteract our exhausting lifestyles, we grasp for the flattery and approval of others to boost our egos. Like tossing back drink after drink at bars with friends, we seek security in friends who help us justify our imbalanced behaviors and bad decisions. Most weight-loss diets suggest participants avoid tempting environments, and a mental diet is no different.
TV dinners were designed for efficiency. But that doesn’t mean they are good for you. It’s time for us to slow down and be mindful of what we are putting into our bodies and our minds.
2) Further, the mindless nature with which we consume junk food and junk mental patterns alike leaves little room for healthy habits. When we sit down in front of the TV with a bag of nutrition-less chips for the sake of doing something with our hands and mouths, we usually eat past the point of satiety and have no appetite for dinner. Similarly, when we go through life criticizing, worrying, over-analysing, fantasizing, regretting, etc. for the sake of giving our minds something to chew on, we find ourselves with too many distractions and stressors to enjoy what we truly value.
3) Finally, as many of my ice cream-eating, lactose-intolerant friends know, we often succumb to the foods to which we know we are allergic. Sometimes we deny our allergy, and sometimes we simply kid ourselves into thinking that tasting temptation will be worth the pain it causes. But our bodies have allergic reactions for a reason, and we would do well to humbly yield to the knowledge they have accumulated over thousands of years of evolution. Likewise, when we know an environment is not good for us mentally, the healthiest and most self-respecting thing to do is simply not engage.
Pills like Lactaid are only band-aid fixes to deeper issues. No amount of excuses will ever fix an unhealthy environment or justify our engagement with it.
To prevent mental bloat, we must fill our lives with people and media sources that act like fruits of fulfillment and vegetables of vitality.
Only then, when we have met our daily requirements of vitamins and minerals, will we feel satiated. These healthy influences--whether they are sources of intellectual expansion, spiritual exploration, or some other positive source of growth--taste of pure love. And since we are what we eat, we will start to embody this love as well.
Ultimately, when we are on our deathbeds, we will not be congratulating ourselves on completing diets that got us six-pack abs.
Rather, we will be thanking ourselves for committing to the mental diets that chiseled away our imperfections to reveal the perfect core of love within each one of us.