How I Decided to Stop Eating Junk Food and Eat More Healthier Meals

I’m one of those writers who likes to explore different websites when I hear other people buzzing about the benefits. For the latter part of my adult life, my curiosity has been right there with me, nudging and encouraging me not to be afraid to check out new things.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t always the case, especially when it came to eating healthy or trying to live a healthy lifestyle.

I was reminded of this recently and I really got to thinking about my former eating habits. I realized I've come a long way from the strictly junk food queen I used to be.

Maybe you can relate. Was there ever a time when you weren’t a healthy eater? You might even be a picky or poor eater now, and perhaps you’d like to try and start doing better.

Whatever the case may be, the following story can help in a small way. So take a moment and consider what motivated such a drastic change in my life.

My Past Experience

Many years ago, when I was a young woman and pregnant with my only child, I was confronted with the dilemma of having to change my eating habits.

Growing up in foster care and being bounced all over the place as a child, I had the worst eating habits you could imagine. I ate mostly junk food all the time, and once in a blue moon, I’d eat a raw carrot or some celery. Vegetables were basically off the table (no pun intended — not really :-)

Well, as you might imagine, I had a slight iron deficiency, but oddly enough, no other real health issues. My metabolism was good and I was active, if not athletic, so the lack of vegetables in my system didn’t become an issue until pregnancy.

But let’s face it, no baby can expect to be healthy if all you feed them for nine months is Cheetoes, Suzy Q’s and bananas (Yeah, at least I do like fruit).

By the fourth month of my pregnancy, it really began to sink into my brain that I was actually walking around with another human being inside me. By then, my body was giving me oh so many reminders to make sure I didn’t forget.

I started reading everything I could get my hands on, so I could prepare for what was to come. And that was when I made up my mind to start forcing myself to eat vegetables.

I had honestly always taken the whole “eating for two” thing for granted. I wasn’t sure about the amount a pregnant woman should be eating for both her and the baby, but I did come to understand the importance of what she eats, and also what she doesn’t eat.

Starting to eat vegetables and other foods and nutrients for the first time at age 25 may sound trivial or like a joke, but trust me, there was nothing fun about it.

Forcing myself to change my eating habits and learning to eat food that was practically alien to me was really difficult. I was already pregnant, so my stomach was sensitive to what I ate or smelled. So suddenly trying to eat foods that I never bother with before, and some that I loathed was a real challenge.

Sometimes, it was also hard keeping the food down, all because my mind had been conditioned to believe “I didn’t like it.”

The only way I was successfully able to recondition myself, was to constantly remind myself that I was feeding my baby. It worked. Not only did I eat better during the rest of the duration of my pregnancy, but even afterwards.

While I originally had no plans to breast feed, I changed my mind when my son was born. I was proud of myself and all I did to provide the proper nutrients while I carried him. I saw no reason not to continue, especially since there’s no better meal a mom could ever give their baby.

Healthy eating habits only last as long as you do.

When I recently recalled how that whole experience had helped me change so many years ago, it made me more than just a little nostalgic.

It made me realize, even though my my eating habits are much better than they were before I was pregnant, nowadays, I could still stand a little improvement. Your healthy eating habits only last as long as you do.

When you start slacking off and slipping back into those same old bad habits, all your hard work goes out the window. That’s what began to happen to me over the years, once my son was older and I could provide him with nourishing meals, while I secretly went back to eating junk.

Now, without even noticing, many of of my good eating habits have started to fall by the wayside. That's why it's time for me to get back on the path to healthier eating.

Final Thoughts

My comments and sharing my experience from years ago has waken up a new desire in me. I plan to start eating healthier and looking back on what I accomplished back then, I know I can do it.

If you feel like you need to make some needed changes to your diet, stop and think about what helped me.

• I gained accurate knowledge to support the decision and the change I knew I needed to make.
• I started right away, making small but definite changes, even though it was uncomfortable and sometimes even difficult to do.
• I had a very specific reason and something that I cared a lot about, that motivated me to not give up on making the necessary changes.

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