Atharv’s Chronicle 31-10-2025 : “The Diets That Truly Matter!”

As soon as we hear the word “diet,” what immediately comes to mind?

For most of us, it’s food restrictions, meal plans, and maybe some supplements. We think about cutting carbs, counting calories, or following the latest fitness trend. And yes, that’s what diet traditionally means – restricting what’s unnecessary for our body and consuming only what’s essential.

But here’s a thought that recently struck me so hard it completely changed my perspective: What if we applied the concept of diet beyond just food?

The Bigger Picture

Think about it. We give so much preference and priority to our physical well-being through food diets. We carefully monitor what we eat and drink because we know it keeps our body clean and helps us perform better.

But our life is so much more than just our physical bodies, right?

What if we expand this concept? What if we apply the same discipline to our mental space, our emotions, our energy, our time, and even to our relationships?

Let me try to explain my thoughts.

Mental Diet: Feeding Your Mind Right

Mental diet means restricting anything that drains your mental energy and consuming only thoughts and content that nourish your mind.

Imagine you wake up and immediately scroll through negative news for 30 minutes. Your day hasn’t even started, and your mind is already filled with anxiety and worry. Now compare this to someone who starts their day with 10 minutes of reading something inspiring or listening to an educational podcast. Same morning, completely different mental fuel.

Your mental diet is about choosing what enters your mind as carefully as you choose what enters your mouth.

Emotional Diet: Cutting the Drama

Emotional diet refers to removing all unnecessary emotions and drama that drain your energy.

Think about that colleague who constantly complains about everything. Every conversation leaves you feeling exhausted. That’s emotional junk food. Now think about a friend who, even when sharing problems, does it constructively and leaves you feeling motivated. That’s emotional nutrition.

It’s about cutting down negative emotions and removing unnecessary drama from your life. Not every argument needs your participation. Not every problem needs your emotional investment.

Energy Diet: Protecting Your Power Source

Energy diet means conserving your energy for things that truly matter by reducing all energy drainers.

You spend two hours arguing with a stranger on social media about something that won’t matter tomorrow. Those two hours and that mental energy could have been spent working on your passion project, learning a new skill, or having a meaningful conversation with someone you love.

Your energy is limited. Treat it like the valuable resource!

Time Diet: Your Most Precious Resource

Time diet refers to the best utilization of your time by identifying and removing time wasters.

Let’s be honest – how many times we have opened Instagram “just for 5 minutes” and suddenly 45 minutes have gone? Or that friend who calls every evening to gossip for an hour but never adds any real value to your life? That’s where your time diet comes in.

It can be an activity, a hobby, or even a person who’s not adding value to your life. And sometimes, you just need to cut it.

People Diet: Curating Your Circle

People diet means limiting your circle to those who add genuine value to your life and removing unnecessary connections.

You have 500 friends on Facebook, but only 5 who genuinely care about you. You attend every social gathering out of obligation, wishing you were home. A people diet means being selective – choosing quality over quantity in your relationships.

Your circle should inspire you, support you, and challenge you to grow. Everyone else? They’re optional.

Social Media Diet: Conscious Consumption

In today’s world, this might be the most crucial diet we need.

Real-life example: Instead of mindlessly scrolling through everyone’s highlight reels for hours, set a 30-minute daily limit. Use that time intentionally – follow accounts that teach you something, inspire you, or genuinely make you laugh. Unfollow the ones that make you feel inferior or waste your time.

Social media should serve you, not control you.

I am currently on a social media diet and I try to consume it very consciously – unfollowing all the unnecessary accounts and watching only the relevant content.

Money Diet: Spending with Intention

Money diet isn’t about being cheap/stingy – it’s about being intentional with your spending.

Buying your third pair of shoes this month because they were on sale versus investing in a course that could upgrade your skills. and using your saved money for experiences that create lasting memories than spending on momentary pleasures.

Every rupee you spend is a vote for the life you want to create.

Question to Ask Yourself This Week:

“If I treated my mental and emotional space with the same care I treat my physical health, what would I stop consuming today?”

Bringing It All Together

The beauty of this expanded diet concept is that it’s all interconnected. When you clean up your mental diet, your emotional diet improves. When you fix your time diet, your energy diet gets better automatically. When you curate your people diet, your social media diet often falls into place naturally.

Just like a food diet, these diets aren’t about perfection – they’re about progress. You don’t have to pressurize everything overnight. Start with one. Maybe this week, focus on your mental diet. Next week, tackle your time diet. Small, consistent changes compound into massive transformations.

The analogy of diet works perfectly here because just like with food, you are what you consume. If you consume negativity, you become negative. If you consume purpose, you become purposeful. If you consume inspiration, you become inspiring.

Our life is the sum of everything we allow into it. Choose wisely. Diet wisely.

See you in the next one!

– Atharv Prasanna