‘Maybe this […] could help Someone.‘ - Improving My Diet - Part 1.
I recently said I wanted to improve my diet. I said it on this blog. I’ve made references to lots of lifestyle changes to which I wish to commit.
I tried. Multiple times.
I keep a little journal, privately. The diary format I enjoy is week-to-view, meaning that a double page spread provides the space for little box entries; Monday through to Sunday. I thought about getting a day-to-view journal, but I enjoy the challenge of being consise in my writing, and fitting the day into a paragraph. I like to divide the entry into three segments: A daily log, my musings about the day, and bullet-point notes concerning the dates and deadlines I need to remember.
As part of my musings, I will say things in my journal, such as ‘I will be quitting bad food…tomorrow!’
I shouldn’t do that. I shouldn’t pencil in proclamations about what I will do. I should focus on what has occured. Otherwise, I end up promising a bunch of lifestyle changes, which I then fail to meet, and never again acknowledge. My journal is like an epistolary novel- an epistolary novel which makes false claims, and then ignores them.
I like my journal, and I'‘m learning to write it better. However, my bad habits are more urgent. I’m blowing all my money on food I don’t need and I seem intent on letting it happen. I need to improve my habits NOW, so I’m taking it online.
Hello, blog. Allow my to reintroduce myself.
I’m Jed Denny. I’m 13 stone, and 22 years of age.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a terrible relationship with food.
I also have some mental barriers, which render difficult the process of changing habits. Not that that’s anyone’s problem but my own.
The time now is 2 a.m. (GMT) on the 30th of June 2025.
This blog post is to symbolise my own process of improving my dietary habits, and other aspects of my life, to be productive and useful to myself and others. Much like Alan Carr’s Easyway, I’m allowing myself to persue my harmful habits while I write this. My idea is, that when this entry is complete, my dietary rules will come into force for myself. Therefore, the publication of this entry will signify the start of me trying to embrace better habits.
Perhaps that is a strange ‘exacting’ behaviour, but it’s alright, because- unlike before- I will be placing more realistic expectations for myself, and allowing myself to have grace as regards to slipping up.
Through updating this blog, I will feel an impetus to keep myself on the right tracks. There’s a few things I want to address in this precursory post, let’s get to it.
Last week was the latest attempt at ‘self improvement’.
I told myself I would organise my room (yes, I’m 22) between monday and thursday, and then organise my laptop/online accounts between fri-sun. Those days shifted around, and I concurrently made a decision to quit ‘diet coke’ and ‘junk food’ by the end of the week. My room is spotless, but I haven’t put a dent in the other goals… and it’s now monday.
02/07/2025
Now, it’s wednesday. Evidently, seeing as it’s 2am, I haven’t sorted out my sleep schedule. So maybe that’s the first thing. Sleep seems to undergird everything else. Allow me to explain exactly what my goals are, so we know what we’re working on here.
GOALS
Eat 2 healthy meals a day, avoid purchasing & snacking on unhealthy food (and cola drinks).
Wake up between 6-7am and be in bed, asleep, by 10pm. (Unless you have a particularly good reason, like a party). It will be hard at first, but stick-to-it-iveness is key.
Stick to the daily routine I’ve developed for myself. (This is stuck to the front of my journal, and informs me when to write, when to work out, etcetera). I also have weekly and yearly routines, which was inspired by a blog post similar to this.
My reasons for doing so are as follows:
1. I seem to be pseudo-addicted to junk food and caffienated soft drinks, to the point that I’ve nearly destroyed my savings thanks to them. So I need to axe this habit effective immediately.
2. Lack of sleep is the precurser to every bad decision. It logically follows that it should therefore be prioritised.
3. A daily routine helps you to be optimally productive and useful.
4. I could do with being healthier which co-occurs with making better food choices.
5. Similarly, I’m not that concerned about the fat I’m carrying, but being swole would be cool. I’m a fan of many sports and I work out, but I could do more.
I think that’s a good enough explanation of my reasons.
There are two issues that are most pressing.
I need to stop blowing money on junk food.
I have identified this as pressing because it involves money.
I need to fix my sleep.
I have identified this as pressing because good sleep is the bedrock of growth.
So what am I doing in practical terms?
Well, the only way I know how to function is to dive in at the deep end. I am declaring this stuff, so I need to follow through.
Today, I was discussing things of this nature with my family. My father said that the best time to change a habit like this is the present - right now. I think I resisted his view, as I like to feel I am doing things on my own time. As it happens, I have chosen right now as the time to act. So thanks dad, I guess? My mother took a different view in this discussion, and said ‘Jed has to do it in his own time’ (words to that effect). It turns out she’s right too. The act of me doing this means that I am doing it in my own time.
I believe in God, so I need not overanalyse my motivations and desires. God gives us rules, and he has plans. I appreciate my parents for their wisdom and support, and I know that being healthy should be my prerogative. In that case, I just need to do it. I like this quotation from George Sweeting, that ‘If you take the first step in faith, the others come easier. We walk by faith and not by sight’ (1972, in quoteresearch, 2019).
I initially struggled with this extract. To walk ‘not by sight’ sounds like a form of blind faith. On reflection, I think there’s a better way to look at this. We must wrestle with God, and think for ourselves. However, one cannot know the path ahead. Similarly, one cannot know/control everything. God knows what’s ahead, but humans do not. Therefore, doing anything in life is an act of faith. This is because you don’t know the consequence. Yet, somehow, you are not catatonic. Somehow you manage to act. Once I saw things in those terms, my religion started to become more and more important to me.
Maybe this perspective could help someone.
So lets just lay this out again:
Diet: No more diet coke. No more snacking sprees. Healthy, protein-heavy foods are to follow, at a twice-daily incidence. Drink plenty of water, etcetera.
And what of sleep? I think I can give myself a lie-in today, seeing as it’s nearly 4am, but I will begin implementing my sleep schedule tonight- going to bed at 10pm, waking up at 6am the day after.
I cannae be bothered to type out the daily routine I’ve written for myself, but trust that I will end up writing about my daily activites as we go.
I will fall short on occasion, but I need to knuckle down and implement the changes I keep promising to myself and others.
I suppose I’m past the point of words, I’ve uttered so many empty ones. That’s a tolerable position, as ‘a man […] is judged not by what he says, but by what he does‘ (Raisini, 2025).
I’ll just have to prove it to the people around me.
I’ll try to update this blog at least twice a week.
God Bless.
Sincerely,
Jed.
