For years, I’ve been reading and listening to people like Joe Rogan and Tim Ferriss who talk about what you put into your body. Ferriss has an outstanding book called the Four Hour Body.

I enjoy consuming these guys’ content but didn’t do much about it until last June (2019) when I started to get uncomfortably close to 200 pounds. That’s not a horrible weight for me but definitely higher than I would like.

I had been using the MyFitnessPal app off and on for years but now I got serious. Tracking what goes into your body is step one on the way to changing it. And for me, that’s all it took!

Not much happened for the first few months but in mid-September, my weight started to drop and, in three months, I lost almost 20 pounds and kept it off.

Obviously, there’s more to it than that if you really want to be serious, including proper exercise, but just being aware of what I was eating had a huge impact.

But do we put the same effort into controlling what goes into our minds?

I’ve quoted Epictetus in a previous post so I won’t include the whole quote, but basically he says, “you wouldn’t willingly give someone control of your body and yet, every day, you give all sorts of people control of your mind.”

Whether it’s the friends you keep who are negative or shallow, whether it’s the news you read and watch, whether it’s social media and the endless stream of pointless and sometimes negative posts, or whether it’s reality TV shows, everything you consume has an impact on your brain.

Paying a little more attention to what you are consuming mentally as well as physically is the first step.

At least give it some thought the next time you’re about to turn on your TV, your computer, or your phone.