The writer's life, often perceived as sedentary, can present unique challenges to maintaining both physical and mental well-being. A balanced approach to diet and lifestyle is crucial for writers seeking to optimize their creative output and overall health. This article explores strategies for writers to stay fit, both in their prose and their personal lives, drawing on insights from food writers, dietitians, and tools like the Writer's Diet.
The Writer's Diet: A Tool for Sculpting Sentences
Helen Sword developed the Writer's Diet, a tool designed to help writers identify and eliminate grammatical features that can weigh down their prose. Based on a simple algorithm, The Writer’s Diet analyzes your text sample or document and displays a tongue-in-cheek diagnosis based on the percentage of highlighted words in each of five grammatical categories associated with ponderous prose:
- Be-verbs: Forms of the infinitive "to be" (is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been).
- Zombie nouns: Nominalizations, or abstract nouns created from other parts of speech.
- Prepositions: Including the word "to" when used as part of an infinitive verb construction.
- Ad-words: Selected "academic adjectives" and adverbs.
- It, this, that, there: These words, when overused, can lead to vague and indirect writing.
The Writer’s Diet prompts you to think about how, why, and how often you use the highlighted words, but you are not expected to delete them all or to banish them from your writing. The Writer’s Diet highlights patterns in your prose that you might not otherwise have noticed, such as an over-abundance of multisyllabic adjectives or a predilection for prepositions. For best results, download the free Writer’s Diet add-in for MS Word and use the diagnostic tool together with the book (which discusses stylistic subtleties and exceptions that the tool does not measure) and this User Guide (which provides detailed guidance on understanding and refining your diagnosis).
The Writer’s Diet is based on 15 key principles organized according to the 5 word categories described above, each of which is represented by a different color. You are encouraged to follow these principles thoughtfully and consistently rather than rigidly and without exception.
The tool provides a diagnosis based on the percentage of these highlighted words, ranging from "Lean" to "Heart Attack!" This diagnosis encourages writers to be mindful of their word choices and sentence structure, promoting clarity and conciseness.
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Originally developed mainly with academic writers in mind, the Writer’s Diet has also proven popular with business writers, novelists, journalists, memoirists, bloggers, authors of dog training manuals (really!), and more. The online Writer’s Diet test (“the test”) allows you to diagnose plain text samples between 100-1000 words, filter your results by word category, and adjust some default settings. The premium version of the online test (available only to WriteSPACE members) generates a custom Action Plan based on your results. The Writer’s Diet add-in for MS Word (“the app”) can analyze Word documents of any length and allows you to adjust a larger range of default settings. You can filter by word category and/or region, edit directly in your document, and save your results to your desktop.
The Writer’s Diet is a blunt instrument, not a magic bullet; it is up to you to make intelligent use of the targeted feedback that the tool provides. A stylish text may score badly on the test, and a dull text may score well, for reasons that make sense if you think of the Writer’s Diet as a roadmap rather than a rulebook, a heuristic (a flexible set of guiding principles) rather than an algorithm (an inflexible sequence of procedures). Other automated feedback tools promise you a quick fix for your writing.
In MS Word add-in (“the app”), you will see your Word document displayed on the left-hand side of your screen (the text pane) and your diagnosis on the right (the analysis pane). When you make editorial changes in the text pane, the analysis pane is dynamically updated. If you are using the Writer’s Diet app in a desktop version of Word, you can resize the analysis pane and move it around; if you are using of Word Online (the free version of Word in Office 365), the width and placement of the analysis pane remain fixed.
Key Principles of the Writer's Diet
The Writer's Diet is based on 15 key principles organized according to the 5 word categories described above, each of which is represented by a different color. You are encouraged to follow these principles thoughtfully and consistently rather than rigidly and without exception.
Verbs
- Favor strong, specific, robust action verbs (scrutinize, dissect, recount, capture) over weak, vague, predictable ones (have, do, show).
- Limit your use of be-verbs (is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been) to no more than a few per paragraph.
- Avoid passive verb constructions (the research was performed; mistakes were made) unless you have a specific reason for using them.
Nouns
- Anchor abstract ideas in concrete language and images. Illustrate abstract concepts using real-life examples. (“Show, don’t tell.”)
- Limit your use of abstract nouns, especially zombie nounsnominalizations (a.k.a. zombie nouns) that have been formed from verbs or adjectives, such as conceptuality or intellectualization.
Prepositions
- Avoid using more than around three prepositional phrases in a row (e.g. “in a letter to the author of a book about birds’) unless you do so to achieve a specific rhetorical effect. Vary your prepositions.
- As a general rule, do not allow a noun and its accompanying verb to become separated by more than about twelve intervening words.
Adjectives & Adverbs
- Let concrete nouns and active verbs do most of your descriptive work. Employ adjectives and adverbs only when they contribute new information to a sentence.
- Avoid overuse of “academic ad-words” with suffixes such as able, ac, al, ant, ary, ent, ful, ible, ic, ive, less, ous.
It, This, That, There
- Use it and this only when you can state exactly which noun each of these words refers to.
- Avoid using that more than once in a single sentence or three times in a paragraph, except to achieve a specific stylistic effect.
The Food Writer's Dilemma: Balancing Culinary Indulgence and Physical Health
Food writers often face the challenge of maintaining a healthy lifestyle while constantly surrounded by tempting and indulgent foods. The very nature of their profession requires them to sample a wide array of dishes, often rich and high in calories. However, many food writers have developed strategies to navigate this challenge successfully.
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Strategies for Staying Slim While Eating for a Living
One common approach is to practice mindful eating. This involves savoring each bite, paying attention to flavors and textures, and stopping when satisfied rather than completely full. This allows food writers to enjoy their meals without overindulging.
- Eat What You Like, Don't Eat What You Don't: Focus on consuming foods that you genuinely enjoy and avoiding those that you don't.
- Supplement with Fruits and Vegetables: Add fruits and vegetables to each meal to increase satiety and nutrient intake.
- Portion Control: Be mindful of portion sizes and avoid finishing everything on your plate.
- Never Skip Lunch: Eating regular meals throughout the day can prevent overeating at dinner.
- Order Strategically: Choose appetizers over entrees, split dishes with friends, and order salads or vegetable side dishes.
The Importance of Exercise
Regular physical activity is also crucial for food writers to maintain their weight and overall health. Engaging in activities such as brisk walking, jogging, swimming, or strength training can help burn calories, build muscle mass, and improve cardiovascular health.
Mental Well-being and a Healthy Relationship with Food
Perhaps the most important aspect of maintaining a healthy lifestyle as a food writer is cultivating a positive and balanced relationship with food. This involves avoiding restrictive diets, allowing for occasional indulgences, and focusing on enjoying food without guilt or anxiety. As one food writer noted, "The great thing about being a food writer is that you have a permanent excuse to eat. So you can't get too hung up on it. I've learned that I can eat whatever I want and enjoy it as long as I'm smart about it. I really think the happier and less neurotic you are about what you're eating, the less likely you'll become as big as a house."
Diet Advice for the Work-From-Home Writer
For writers who work from home, the easy access to food can be a significant challenge to maintaining a healthy diet. Here are some tips to stay on track:
- Don't Buy Snack Food: Avoid purchasing trigger foods that lead to overeating.
- Take a Real Lunch Break: Step away from your work to prepare and enjoy a proper lunch.
- Plan Ahead: Have healthy snacks and meal options readily available.
- Don't Buy Elastic Pants: Wear fitted clothing to stay aware of your body and prevent weight gain.
The Writer's Diet: A Holistic Approach
The "writer's diet" is not just about physical health; it's also about mental clarity and focus. A balanced diet, regular exercise, and mindful eating can contribute to improved cognitive function, creativity, and overall well-being.
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Detox Your Mind
Start your diet with a detox. Digital detox is what I‘m talking about here. Lose the phone, ignore the screen. High-quality “brain foods” fuel cognitive functions like memory, focus, and mental clarity.Writers face unpredictable challenges to consistently come up with fresh ideas.Creativity doesn’t operate like a light switch. It requires a well-functioning brain. What you eat impacts how your brain works.
Brain Foods for Writers
The brain thrives on nutrients. “Brain foods” fuel cognitive functions like memory, focus, and mental clarity.Too many sugary processed foods slow you down and make you feel foggy. You can’t write the perfect scene with a pounding headache or fatigue after a sugar crash.The nutrients you get from wholesome foods let your brain produce chemicals like dopamine and serotonin, which influence mood, energy levels, and creative thinking.Protein-rich foods are excellent for writers. Your brain converts protein into amino acids, which create dopamine and norepinephrine. Both play a role in maintaining alertness.Foods like eggs, lean chicken, beans, or Greek yogurt make fantastic choices.