Manifesto for the Betterment and Reclamation of a Man Gone Astray

You witnessed last week's admission that healthiness has been a thing unheard of in recent months. So what do we do about that?

OK, so first of all stop eating like a Grade A: Glutton. My goodness, man, I've been a walking, talking black hole of empty calories these days. So, yeah, stop that.

The bottom line: My weight is too high, and my activity level is too low. While it's going to take some effort for this immovable object to get his ass in gear, strides can be made on the intake side of things.

Logging my food consumption was the first step in a process of cutting back and realigning my diet, a word that is not meant in today's usual parlance. "Diet" is an oft misused word, erroneously employed as a verb, implying an action that has a start and an end point.

If you want lasting results, then don't enact temporary solutions. A diet isn't something you do, but rather something you follow. And the one I've been following has led me far astray.

I'm addicted to sugar. Sweet, delicious, dopamine-inducing sugar. In addition to those Girl Scout cookies and Malley's marshmallow eggs, there have also been doughnuts, pie, other cookies, ice cream sundaes, corn bread, and oodles and oodles of jelly beans. That's just in the last two weeks.

My willpower is weak. Down the street at Dr. Bob's, they profess the mantra "one day at a time." If it can work for alcoholics, it can work for sweet addicts like me.

But sugar isn't the only problem. There's also the whole issue of eschewing real food in favor of eating what's fast and easy (and more expensive too). Do you know how much sodium is in that stuff?

I've always believed in simplicity. Eat less, move more. What else do you need to know about calories? In the process of limiting sugar and salt, the quality of my diet should also improve by removing empty calories and preservatives.

Tracking my diet is just the first step. Next it's cutting back on calories. Then we start moving more.