– Complaining diet –

For some of you… this one will be rough.

We all have that one friend or co-worker. It could be a sunniest, most beautiful day in the world, and without missing a beat they will find the one cloud in the sky and complain. Their phone sucks, they hate their job, they’re frustrated in their relationship, everything is awful. There’s a saying, “If you see jerks in the morning, jerks at lunch and jerks in the evening, then you’re the jerk.” We don’t want you to be that person, the negative one in the group that no matter what finds issue with everything. But do you even realize you’re doing it?

I get it, life can be tough sometimes. But life can also be amazing. Now, this isn’t going to be an article saying that everything is always going to be perfect, trust me it won’t be. What I can tell you is that the world around you may not be a crummy as it seems.

Why worry about complaining?

Do you yell a lot in traffic? Does that make the traffic move any faster or does it just make you miserable? (I’ll admit I’m guilty of this one from time to time, ask Kara) Without even realizing we will start to complain about even the smallest of things. This can cause us to only view the world in one way.

When we go throughout our day complaining about anything and everything, you are training your brain to notice only the negatives in your surroundings. “Word choice determines thought choice, which determines emotions and actions” – Tim Ferriss Before long, you’re having a hard time seeing the positives in life. Still mad about being stuck in traffic? Could you instead be grateful that you have a car? Or a job you’re driving to? I want you to start looking at the positive side of things.

“Word choice determines thought choice, which determines emotions and actions” – Tim Ferriss

There have been studies showing that when we are constantly in a negative state that we have elevated levels of the hormone cortisol and cause stress. Chronic stress, in my opinion, and I’m not a doctor or psychologist, is a serious health concern that should not be taken lightly. Acute stress and fluctuating levels of cortisol are a crucial part of our daily lives. However, if we are always stressed our bodies stay stuck in a fight-or-flight mode. This can cause a whole host of health issues. According to WebMD – “Stress seems to worsen or increase the risk of conditions like obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, depression, gastrointestinal problems, and asthma.”

Side note: This could just be coincidence, but we have noticed that the people we work with, who are trying to lose weight, that are generally happier in life, are the most successful. This could be due to a number of factors but I have noticed the happier and the more positive their outlook, the easier it is for them to lose weight. I have zero scientific evidence to back this up, just an observation. 

What I would like for people to do is to go on a diet, a complaining diet.

What is a complaining diet?

Throughout your day I want you to be more aware of your thoughts and reactions to life around you. At first, it will be natural to want to snap and complain about certain things. This may be a habit that you have been unknowingly engraving into your day for years.

For the first day, I want you to be aware when you are complaining. Make a little mental note or write it down in the notes section in your phone or on a little notebook.

Then for the rest of the week, I want you to work on complaining less. Until finally I want you to try and go a full day without complaining once. We want you to ease into this since there’s a good chance the little complaints are subconscious. Do you think you can make it a whole day? If you make it a whole day, why not keep it up? How long do you think you can go?