About three weeks ago, I had a brief epiphany that inspired me to try to eat super healthy. I wanted to revamp my diet, which meant excluding all processed snacks like chips, pretzels, candy, sweets, basically everything that I loved. Instead of trying to eat less snacks or cutting the unhealthy foods out slowly, I decided to cut everything out cold turkey. Here is what happened.

Day One: Monday

I woke up excited to try my new diet and I had a plan. I was going to not skip breakfast (because I usually do), and then after lunch have a few almonds, and then later on, have dinner. Absolutely no dessert allowed. I did well following my plan until 3:30 p.m. when I ate an entire bag of almonds and felt more nauseous than ever. I should have known then that my plan was bound to fail.

Day Two: Tuesday

I did not wake up as excited on the second day because I had dreamt that I was eating a bag of jalapeño kettle cooked chips. I know, that’s pretty pathetic, but I’m only admitting that on the internet, right? Anyway, the entire day I was craving them and I had been given a sign by the unconscious part of my brain that I should have them. However, I couldn’t because I gave them up. Safe to say I remained grumpy for the rest of my day. 

Day Three: Wednesday

Wednesday was a horrible day. I woke up late for my 10:00 a.m., managed to miss handing in an assignment for my 12:00 p.m. class, and then received a C on my history exam. By the way, I answered 2 questions wrong on that exam. Great, right? On top of that, I broke out on my chin, but I had cut out the refined sugar of all the processed stuff I usually eat! I decided to respond in the responsible, adult manner. I killed an entire bag of Cheetos Puffs. Yep. Success.

I could not make it one week without my favorite snacks. My advice to anyone who is looking to eat healthier or cut something out of their diet is to give up whatever it is slowly. Gradually have less and less, or eat that something sparingly as a treat. There is no reason to force yourself to cut anything out of your diet as long as you try to eat the best you can and eat the right portions. Otherwise, you’ll just binge on whatever it is you tried to give up.