In this chaotic world, one has to live by a few rules. I have set some for myself.
No Sugar
This has been one of the best things I have done in my life. I got to know about this very late but I’m glad I discovered it.
My parents are diabetic and I thought sugar was the reason. even though it wasn’t, I developed a sense of enmity towards sugar from the beginning.
Since I got to know what sugar does to our body, i have left it completely. Here are a few sugary things I avoid.
- Soda (sweetened ones like Coke, Sprite, etc.)
- Sweetened coffee
- Sweets
- Cakes
- Fruit juice
To be honest, I do not see any progress whatsoever after leaving sugar. But when combined with Intermittent Fasting, the results show up right away.
I had dark circles under eyes right when I started college till last year. After starting this diet, I can clearly see it going away.
I also see a lot of improvement in underarm dark patches. I thought that would never go.
I recommend Pure, White, & Deadly by Jphn Yudkin, for anyone who would like to know how Sugar affects our body and why we shouls avoid it.
A good talk I can recommend is by Robert Lustic is - Sugar, metabolic syndrome, and cancer.
No alcohol
This one was difficult but somehow I pulled it off. I started doing this from college. I drank too many beers in a month.
After traveling to a serine location, I felt like there is more to life than alcohol.
It has been 7months I’m dry. Initially, I got tempted just by looking at other people chugging down beer after beer but now it doesn’t affect me at all.
No Processed Food
I found this suggestion on a podcast called “The minimalists”. They say that if something is in a package and has a label on it, then it may not be good for you.
Since then I avoid things that are overly processed. Especially, the quick noodles I used to eat. That thing is slow poison I tell you.
Nowadays, I prefer eating vegetables of many kinds. Sometimes I will not even know their name.
I cook it using Coconut oil or Ghee. I have stopped using refined oils.
No Grains
I think this one is very hard to do away with. As a vegetarian by birth, grains have been our staple food. I cannot completely leave it right away but I’m on it.
It will be hard for anyone to completely abandon grains. Right now, I’m using a few high-fiber grains. I will continue to use those since fiber is needed for the body biome(healthy bacteria). Fiber is their food. If they do not get fiber, they start eating us from inside.
No Eating Outside Food
The biggest advantage of living in a metro city is that you can get anything in time.
Time is probably the most valued commodity in my city. People are always in a hurry.
Eating out was common those days but now we have food delivery apps. It used to be only Pizzas that get delivered home but now even a breadstick can be ordered for home delivery.
It is fun and saves a lot of time cooking, doing the dishes, etc. But you cannot be sure of the contents of your food.
Since I stopped(mostly) eating grains, there is barely any item that I can order online. I have uninstalled all the food delivery apps! I either cook or sleep hungry.
Food usually costs double when you order it through these apps but it is still worth it as it saves your time. I recommend avoiding anything that is processed or made from all-purpose flour.
Unfollow Everyone
I have been in fights with friends over political issues or commentary posted by them or me online.
I hope this happens with you as well. The way I see it, you cannot change the opinions of people.
No one gives a shit if you are factually correct. They believe what they want to believe.
So I have stopped indulging with these keyboard warriors. The best way I found to do this was to unfollow everyone on social media platforms.
This way I’m not giving attention to what my friends are doing. Let’s say you see a post your “friend” posted where he is standing next to his new Audi, you will feel the pressure of not doing the right things in your life.
It feels as if your “friend’s” life is jovial than yours even though you are contented with yours.
Unfollow everyone. You truely have less than 10 friends that matter.
No Distractions
I work religiously if I’m solving something important. I do not care of someone is shouting across the hall, dogs howling in the street, or neighbors drilling a hole into my wall.
I’m focussed. I barely notice if I have eaten on time. And I used to like it.
Eventually, I lost those days of ultimate focus. Getting work done became hard.
I have found that my phone is the major distractor for any useful work. You pick it up once and you find yourself opening up 100 other random apps wasting a chunk of productive hours.
Since then, I have kept my phone minimal. I have fewer apps and fewer distractions. Here is how I did it.
Use Lunar Launcher
If you are using an Android phone, then consider this launcher which can make a lot of difference for you.
I have set no wallpaper. You see everything you need on this screen.
If you want to access other apps, you can slide to the left and you will see other apps.
This one trick of not having any icons and changing the background to pure black has avoided a lot of distractions.
When you look at it, you do not feel anything. No emotions involved. It wasn’t the case before. I had a fancy background, icons, widgets, and whatnot. They did serve some purposes but not the important ones.
Buy things only if needed
We need things in our lives. Some things are a must-have and some are not. For someone that is health conscious, cooking utensils are essential. But for someone that eats outside all the time, cooking utensils may not be that crucial.
You have to decide what you need to run this life smoothly. A simple iron press is important if I’m going to meet a client wearing formals.
If you go to an office every day, you have to groom yourself to look good.