The Low Information Diet: It'll change your life
The Low Information Diet is going to be the best god damn diet you’ve ever been on. They key difference? You won’t be restricting calories – just unnecessary information.
You can still be a fat porker on this diet – if you wish.
What I’m about to say may be a bit controversial: I couldn’t give a rat’s arse about what goes on in the world.
I really tried, I read and read about all the atrocities going on around the world, but then I sat there after reading all this negative stuff and thought to myself, “does any of this affect me? And can I actually do anything about it?”. The answer to both was obviously no.
I can’t stop wars in foreign countries, I can’t stop celebrities overdosing on drugs and I certainly can’t stop tax dodging corporations from swindling billions from the countries they reside in.
So why concern myself with any of this? And why should you? There is literally no reason.
If something is really important, you will hear about it. You don’t have to concern yourself with worrying about stuff that is so far out of your control it’s almost laughable.
WHAT IS THE LOW INFORMATION DIET?
Listen, a low information diet doesn’t mean you need to stop reading and stop improving yourself with new techniques, viewpoints, etc – that would completely fly in the face of everything this site stands for.
What it does mean is that you need to be selective about what you take in. Never give up your #thirst for knowledge – it’s what keeps our minds young and healthy, just consume better info. Don’t let yourself get carried away with negative or downright wrong information.
Let’s use fitness as an example. If you learn a new workout technique or are on a new program, don’t continue to research other programs.
Stay with this one for 12 weeks and give it a chance. Don’t overload your brain with more useless fluff that makes you second guess everything you do. If you do this you’ll get nowhere.
Give information you learn a chance, observe it and learn from it. Don’t just cram more and more into your cranium until you forget all the gems and retain all the BS.
Basically, once you know what works, stick with it. If it ever stops working, do a bit of research and fix the situation.
WHERE YOU CAN IMPLEMENT A LOW INFORMATION DIET
There are so many aspects of your life where you can implement a low information diet. Here are a few to get you started, young warrior. If you can’t bear to streamline all of these areas at once then just try one out. I found tuning out the news was easiest first…
YOUR HEALTH
One key area where I have neglected the low information diet in the past is with regards to my health. Once I learn one new diet or workout program, I continue to research until I find the new one and I skip over to that after a few weeks without really giving the previous one a full test.
This creates yo-yo diet and exercise habits and isn’t particularly beneficial for getting together any sort of routine in your life.
Research deeply into a topic, find what you think you will be able to stick to and what has proven results and just stick with it for 3 months. Then you can consume some more information if needed. If not, why waste valuable space in that brain of yours by cramming useless fluff in there?
The 3 resources I recommend if you want to get a balanced view of both diet and exercise are:
The Bulking Blueprint by Sam Crawford (aka ya boi)
The 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferriss
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe
YOUR JOB
Have you ever noticed in the working world how there are meetings for just about every conceivable thing? Why? Because people like to feel busy, even if they aren’t.
Feeling busy and productive appeals to people’s superiority complex and makes them feel like they’re smashing their goals when in actual fact, they’re just talking about meaningless garbage that could have been summarised in a 60 second email.
Start declining meetings and start requesting the post-meeting notes instead. Use that lovely phrase; “I’m too busy” as your get out of jail free card and instead, work on actually getting your work done.
If you hate your job, this becomes even easier. Save up enough money (usually 6-12 months wages) so that you could quit at any time. This gives you the inner confidence to be yourself and stop pandering to snobs and control freaks and take back control of your time and agenda.
This is exactly what I did in my last job. I had a bad few weeks and handed in my notice. Sometimes it is these mini-breaking points that force us to take action and guide us to our vocations.
THE NEWS
This seems to be the one that proponents of the low information diet recommended above all else and I have to agree. Positive news simply doesn’t sell as well as negative news – that’s a fact.
This means whatever you watch on the news is going to be some form of terrible event and lots of what you see on social media (Twitter, mostly) will be people complaining about their lives or attempting to drag others down by calling them one of the following buzzwords: Toxic, problematic or cancelled. Maybe even all three at once.
Anyway, you get the idea, limit your consumption of these and you’ll lead a much happier existence.
Here’s a few examples of how I implemented a low information diet. I asked myself a simple question, got the answer and moved on:
Question: Is eating animal products bad for health and the planet?
Answer: Yes – to some degree.
Solution: Lowered my animal product intake.
Q: What social media platforms do I enjoy?
A: Instagram.
S: Get rid of all other platforms and focus on Instagram.
Q: Do I enjoy my job?
A: Absolutely not.
S: Save up enough money (over the period of 3 years) to quit and work on what I actually enjoy.
These are just a few examples but you get the gist. Ask yourself a question, find your answer and implement a solution. Easy.
Why would you need to know more about the subject? Why watch hours of people debating on Youtube and TV and make yourself angry and frustrated? Why learn more things that confuse your process and hinder your growth. There are no good reasons.
It is not your duty to stay informed. As I’ve said before, if something is so important and life altering, someone will tell you. If not, then it clearly doesn’t concern you and you shouldn’t waste your life worrying about it.
HOW TO CREATE A LOW INFORMATION LIFESTYLE
Let’s explore how you can best implement the low information diet into your life with just a few simple steps.
SAY NO
You should guard your time with brutal efficiency. If someone wants to meet to talk about something with zero substance or that doesn’t interest you, just tell them no.
If they ask why, just say ‘I don’t want to’. People will learn to respect your time and value your yeses much more.
The quicker you stop trying to please everyone, the quicker they will start trying to please you.
BLOCK NEWS SITES
Just bloody block news sites already. Stop reading horror stories about babies falling down lift shafts in Primark. Who wants to read about morbid tragedies like that anyway?
The news is 9/10 always negative because people love to waste time reading negative articles. Eliminate this and stop getting your kicks from other people’s misfortune. You may not even realise you are guilty of this but the chances are – you are.
Just block them and watch your baseline wellbeing shoot up.
BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF
Ask yourself, do you really care about what you’re reading about or are you just wasting time? If the answer is no, then stop reading, take a few deep breaths to get back in the zone and do something that makes you happy instead. Easier said than done but with practice, this becomes habit.
ATTACK IS THE BEST FORM OF DEFENCE
Go on the attack!
Don’t leave yourself at the mercy of circumstance.
Get rid of your TV from your room, stop buying gossip mags, stop buying the paper.
None of this stuff really affects you. At the end of the day, we’re all just specks of dust floating on a rock in an infinite void. Don’t make this miniscule amount of time you have such a negative experience. Take matters into your own hands and go on the attack.
A low information diet is going to revolutionise your life – if you let it. Try it out for 2 weeks and see how much better you feel.
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