Eric Martindale

This is it, folks. The be all end all of weight managment, fitness watching, and healthy living solutions. Thanks to Leo at ZenHabits for highlighting this amazing diet. It's simplistic, and it's easy to follow. You can do this on any budget, and you can do this without going out of your way.

Dieting, you say? It's a lifestyle, not a food plan.

What do I mean when I say this? I mean that your diet is what you're eating right now - it's not what you're eating tomorrow, and it isn't what you didn't eat today. It is what waits for you at your lunch break, and it is where you're going for dinner.

Okay, so you're ready? Here it is.

The Zen Diet

1. Eat when you're lightly hungry. Not when you're ravenous. That means eating every 3-4 hours, and paying more attention to your hunger. If you're getting hungry, eat. Action steps: plan meals every 3-4 hours, be more aware of your hunger, pack snacks or meals for on the road.


2. Eat light foods. Nothing too heavy, except cheat meals. Lots of fruits and veggies, whole grains, beans and nuts. Fresh food much better than processed. Action steps: make a list of healthy meals and snacks with real, whole foods. Stuff you like that's healthy. Turn them into meal plans — several days worth of meals and snacks. The quicker it rots, the healthier it is.


3. Eat lightly and slowly. Savor the food. Don't cram it down. Eating slowly will help you not to get overfull, and will help you enjoy your food more.


4. Eat until you're lightly full. Not stuffed. Stop before you're really full, and wait 10 minutes to see if you're really still hungry.

You can change it, you can adapt to it, and you can adjust it to meet your needs - your diet determines what you are - we are living beings, and we consume sustenance and we expel waste. Our bodies require nourishment and replenishment in various forms - fats, carbohydrates, and proteins - and we reconstitute our living flesh with what we consume. This is your diet.

Do it right, and do it well. Build your lifestyle so that it isn't time consuming to manage your diet - plan ahead and be prepared. Being careless isn't the nature of being carefree. Think about what you're eating, and consider what preparations you need to make to establish a healthy, sustainable, and adequate lifestyle.

We are what we eat, after all.

Last week, I got the opportunity to stay in a cabin on a remote island and go surf fishing with my father and uncle. We left at 3AM (the morning after Thanksgiving) to make the 7AM ferry, and were fortunate enough to have only light wind and warm sun for our short visit. I captured this awesome sunset after casting my line at the end of the first day. Even as a boy, this yearly tradition was something I'd look forward to all year. Unfortunately as my schedule became increasingly busy over the past decade, I wasn't able to join in on the often week-long excursion. Now that I'm older and caught up in the startup lifestyle , I have a new appreciation for the rejuvenating nature of this magical place.