My Dietary Rules (yeah, right!)

Here are a few notes on dietary rules I SHOULD keep, but truthfully do not. If I could commit myself to keeping these rules, I'm certain to drop some pounds, live healthier, look better, and perhaps even live longer.
The first rule is commitment, commit oneself to good, positive, healthy diet habits. Commitment, REAL commitment is paramount to almost all endeavors in our lives.
The second rule is to not be so hard on oneself and to set realistic, short term goals. In my case, that means staying away from the scale on a daily basis and to "forgive" myself in a dietary way of speaking. The short term goals are easier to keep and pay off in spades later.
The third rule is to eat that first meal of ones day, breakfast, like a king. In other words, this should be my main meal of the day. My mid day meal should not be quite so large. My final end of my day meal should be small, perhaps half of the breakfast sized meal. All meals in my day should, with healthy snacks equal out to 5-6 small meals a day or this 3 meal with perhaps 1-2 healthy snacks in between meals. I'm still working on this rule. I work nights, so my sleep cycles flip flop. Some days I will sleep almost all the day away and my breakfast will be at 4pm, lunch at 1 am, and dinner at 5 or 6 am. Some days I'll actually stay up to get things done and actually be awake for almost 24 hours straight through.
The fourth rule is portion size. This means fist sized portions and no going back for seconds. An addendum to this rule is to load up a plate with only half of what one would normally load on ones plate. Am still working on this rule also.
The fifth rule is nothing in excess, this is clear and across the board. Moderation in everything.
The sixth rule is 2-3liters of water a day, everyday. No more than 4 cups of coffee and/or tea in a 24 hour period. No carbonated drinks, Juices in small amounts, still working on that amount part. Limited alcohol intake to an absolute minimum.
The seventh rule my "white rule" no or almost no "white" in my diet. This means salt, sugar, flour, bread, etc. I have not added salt to my food for many years now, I opt for herbs, spices, garlic powder and such. Should I use salt, it is coarse sea salt in a grinder, the same goes for my pepper. Brown rice instead of white rice if possible. wheat or whole grain bread instead of white bread.
The eighth rule is the "keep it fresh rule", this means little if any refined, processed, canned foods. Difficult to keep this rule but substitute frozen or fresh vegetables and fruits for the canned processed stuff. You will notice a significant improvement in the flavor of your food.
The ninth rule is stay away from salad dressings, mayo, yellow mustard, and such. Try to keep it to vinagaretes, olive oil with herbs, honey, dijoun mustard. Easy once you start, once again, the flavor of your foods will improve dramatically.
The tenth rule is balance, low amounts of fatty foods, more fruits and vegetables and grains, moderate protein and dairy intake, common sense stuff.
Apply these rule to anything that goes near your mouth and see what happens. I'm still a work in progress regarding these rules. One of these days I'll get my shit together.