When I stopped partying and started training nine hours a week, my social circle shrank faster than my recovery glycogen stores. Friends disappeared. Invitations dried up. Group chats went silent. At first, I panicked: was I becoming boring? Had I traded nightlife for no-life?

But then I realised: friendships are like food. Some nourish you, some drain you, and some are just sugar highs followed by regret.

For years, I fed on empty friendships. The kind you maintain out of habit, not joy. The 2 am drinking buddies. The friends-of-friends you always “catch up with soon” but never do. The people who only appear when they need a favor, not when you need a hand.

It is the social equivalent of fast food: quick, convenient, but leaves you sluggish, bloated, and strangely unsatisfied. And yet we cling to them because cutting people out feels brutal, like social starvation.

Psychology is clear: quality of relationships matters far more than quantity. Strong, supportive friendships lower stress, boost immunity, even extend lifespan. Weak or toxic ones — the kind that dismiss your goals or make you feel small — do the opposite.

One study from Harvard followed people for decades and found the single best predictor of long-term health wasn’t diet, money, or fame — it was the quality of close relationships. In other words: the people around you literally shape your biology.

So why do we protect toxic friendships like heirlooms, while carefully cutting carbs from our dinner plates?

When I shifted my lifestyle — trading afterparties for early rides, cocktails for electrolytes — many friendships fell away. It hurt. It felt like failure. But slowly, I started to see it differently: this was my friendship diet.

I cut out the ones who rolled their eyes at my routine, who mocked my early nights, who only loved me drunk. I cut out the ones who always took, never gave. And I kept the ones who cheered for my 6 am runs, who understood why I left dinners early, who actually listened when I spoke.

My circle became smaller, but it became lighter. Stronger. Healthier.

Friendship is a diet you are on whether you realise it or not. You can gorge on junk until you are sick, or you can curate what actually feeds you.

So no, I don’t have 50 drinking buddies anymore. I have fewer friends — but they are the kind who will cycle next to me at 6 am, bring me soup when I am sick, and remind me who I am when I forget.

And honestly? That is the best nutrition plan I have ever been on.