Hi @Sunshinegirl11 ! Quit cold turkey, like if you were in an abusive relationship, especially sugar.
Sugar is the most difficult because there is sugar in everything you buy! If you drink coffee, skip the sugar and stick to black coffee. All those coffee concoctions with fancy names are syrups and artificial flavours that do not have any positive impact in your health. Check the labels, remember that a teaspoon of sugar = to roughly 4 grams of sugar and, although it varies depending on height, weight and gender, 20 grams (4 teaspoons) a day is more than enough. For instance, a 12 oz. can of soda, or other sugary drinks contain between 30 and 35 grams of sugar (and not even sugar, hfcs that are cheaper). Cereals, breads, and other sweet treats also contain insane amounts of sugar that are just empty calories. Artificial sweeteners are even worse because they have harmful effects on your pancreas. Best thing to do, eat fruit if you want something sweet. Gala apples do the trick!
Salt is also bad, so, when cooking at home use a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper for every serving. When using prepackaged ingredients, check the sodium content. Become familiar with the size of the portions. Cheese is the more sensitive, it should not be bigger that a domino dice. Milk is though to digest, so 4 ounces a days is more than enough. Whole grains pasta with grated cheese and olives is great, skip the sauces, even organic ones. Try this: Leave some pasta sauce in a plastic container for a couple of days in the fridge, then rinse it. After that, you will not use sauces again. Instead, buy different types of hard cheeses and grate them fresh in you pasta. If you like cereal, old plain corn flakes are the best.
I eat eggs once a week, and meat/poultry/fish also, but I can live without eating those. Try not to eat outside, I’d rather wait to go home, or if I have no choice I will pick a salad or the vegetarian option everywhere I go. I also drink a glass of cold water every morning as soon as I wake up, and another half hour before lunch and dinner, and I drink herbal infusions a few times a day, preferably after meals. The first month will be bad, very very bad. You will miss everything! You may even start over eating (the water before meals helps with that). After the third month you will see a lot of changes. You will feel with more energy, you will begin to sleep better, you will feel sharper, faster! Everything will begin to taste different. After that, you will feel the need to exercise, like walking instead of taking the bus/metro whenever you can… I was in good shape when I was young, then grad school happened, then unemployment happened, then I decided that I wanted to be the old me so I took out my old notes from a past life and I begun working on developing healthier habits again.