Welcome to my new series on trying to live a healthier, happier life. Especially as an irresponsible, poor, and busy college student. This week I'm focused on food, and I might continue on about new recipes and ways that I'm keeping my food balanced but I might also start blog posts about the new ways I'm trying to keep myself happy and in shape. So stay tuned for those.

So, I've sort of lived my life constantly around people and pressures focused around losing weight and being skinny as a girl. And somehow, consequently, I've developed a sort of intense distaste for "dieting", counting calories, and restricting food intake. I made sure to make myself the kind of girl that "wouldn't care" about what I ate or how much I weighed. I wanted to be "healthy" even when I worked out I wanted to make sure I was working out for the right reasons. (Not for my appearance but for health or personal gratification.) But gradually, I became focused solely on "not being like other girls" saying yes to all foods, regardless of whether I really wanted them or how unhealthy they were. So, even though I might not have let myself give into the social pressures, I still wasn't healthy.

Even though, I'm lucky enough to have a higher metabolism for a girl, and I was never overweight (a few people even classified me as skinny). I still wasn't happy with my body, and I was still eating unhealthily. Instead of starving it, I've just been trashing it.

You might not be impressed, but this is probably me at my happiest and healthiest I'd ever been. And it still wasn't super awesome but I was in a phase of learning about myself after realising I was in a rut, and I was happy and ambitious enough to be consistently writing on this blog! It was also 6 months after I first started weight training and working out consistently as personal gratification. ... I'm hoping this time it'll be even better.

So, I've decided that things are going to change. I'm going to make it better. I'm going to try to focus solely on being healthier mind, body, and soul. And the first and easiest thing to start with is FOOD.

IF YOU DONT WANT TO READ, ALL BASIC RULES WILL BE in bold and/or marked with an *ASTERISK*

Currently my diet usually consists of :
Ramen
Fruit every so often
Chips and salsa
Candy
Cereal
Random foods while eating out

Not awesome. Completely unbalanced and decidedly not nutritious. I also don't drink nearly enough water as I should.

So, I am neither a dietician nore a nutritionist, I'm just a poor college student.
And here's my plan for a healthier food life.

WATER
Water, the source of life. If we can't get this right, we might as well just give up. On everything else because this, at least, is essential.

The rule of thumb is: (Your Weight in LBS)/2 = Ideal Water Consumption in Ounces
So..... since this is my personal log I guess I'll just put it out there.

*143/2=71.5 oz of water

71.5/16 =4.5 bottles of water per day

That's actually not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. But I definitely don't drink that now.  I know for a fact that I can only comfortably drink about 4 oz in one go, but increasing that to 8 oz will probably make all the difference.

*DRINK
8 oz first thing when I wake up in the morning
8 oz before lunch 
8 oz before dinner
8 oz before bed

Make it a goal to finish off 8 oz in every class I take.

*No more sugary drinks
I've been drinking sodas and gatorades a lot recently instead of water, and I can tell that my body knows it isn't the same. Also as someone who is at risk of diabetes.... yeah.

*Only one coffee serving per day, tea is okay
Limit caffeine just because I feel like it sort of messes with my system's normal functions

*LIMIT ALCOHOL
Do I really need to say anything?

FOOD

First things first. I'm going to say that *I'm going to eat whenever I want*. Yes, even late at night. Because otherwise, you're going to crave food even more, and it might lead to negative thoughts or overcompensation later.

Another thing that tends to happen when people try to eat healthier, is just reverting to eating salad all the time. Which gets old and isn't even all that healthy sometimes.
For me, focusing on the basic outline of the servings you should eat per day is hopefully going to help me not do that
*
Grains- 4-6 servings (1/2 cup)
Veggies- 3-4 servings (1/2 cup, 1 cup for leafies)
Fruits- 4 servings (1/2 cup)
Meats- less than 6 oz 
Fats and Oils- 2 servings (Tbsp)

I'm completely eliminating dairy because I'm intolerant and I think it's my weakness.
Like for others, carbs are the devil, for me, it's dairy.
I'll use soymilk and almond milk as milk substitutes but I don't think it's super necessary to do guidelines for it because I don't drink it super often.

I think trying to define a serving for the day is sort of improbable unless I end up packing my lunch everyday, which could happen. But I'm going to say that just thinking about balance should be good enough. Especially when it comes to times where buying food is the most convenient option and you get a soup. I mean.... how do you even classify that?
Honestly,  I think what might end up happening is that I'm going to end up cooking and meal prepping a lot more. DEFINING WHAT IS HEALTHY AND WHAT IS NOT IS UP TO THE INDIVIDUAL.
If I had to predict what my meals are going to look like in the future i'll say:

Breakfast: Oatmeal or cheerios  w/serving of fruit, protein smoothie, or just a banana with almond butter

Lunch: quinoa/other grain
Leafy greens and/or frozen broccoli
Protein (chickpeas, lunch meat, grilled chicken -from commons)
Fruit
Baby carrots or celery

Dinner:
Potatoes
(Optional grain)
Frozen veggies
Protein
Tomatoes

Interspersed with snacking of course.

*Snacking is allowed!
But only if you've already taken into account the daily meals. The snack is to hold you off until the next meal, not replace it.
UNLESS 
*Split meals so you eat about 5-6 times a day (option)
I'm one of the kinds of people who is always hungry but also can't eat too much in one sitting. So for me this might be an awesome option. It's also supposed to be better for your metabolism so...

*I might try finding a nice app that I can snap pictures of my meals on.
TwoGrand used to be my app of choice but I hate apps that make you and others rate food on their healthiness, because I think you know and can judge that yourself already.

Limit Sodium Intake
Best way to do it is make your own food but it can be hard so this is one of the areas where trying is enough

*CHEAT DAYS
Honestly, I think cheat days are one if the healthiest things to do. So long as you make it a point not to abuse them. A cheat day once a week does not mean that I HAVE to eat/drink unhealthy things, it just means that i'm not going to say no to a bowl of pho or a beer.

I realise that was pretty long winded but I wanted to get it all down at once so I can look back on it later. If you want to join me in trying to start making conscious decisions to be happy and healthy just comment below and ask any questions if you like!
I'll let you know if I do find a good app to download and maybe we could all use it together and encourage each other. :)