• Look at nutrition labels. Don't look at calories. Do look at ingredients. The fewer ingredients, the better (it's a good rule of thumb anyway).
  • If there's High Fructose Corn Syrup, avoid it. HFCS makes food sweeter, which makes you eat more of the food it's in. Hence where overeating comes in. It's literally addicting. Eating sugar releases endorphins in the body. If you rely on sugary food to feel better, you will crash and feel worse when you don't have it. In my experience, the "withdrawal" lasts about a week. Just make it through the withdrawal. You can do it. You'll have much more energy without it. You won't need it to feel good.
    • The recommended limit for daily intake of sugar is 30 - 40 grams for processed/refined sugar. Follow the limit. Craving sugar? Eat fruit. Write a list of fruits you like. Mention them to whoever does the grocery shopping in your family or pick them up yourself.

• According to receptors in our stomachs... 500 calories of plant-based food is filling, 500 calories of processed or fatty food is sort of filling, and 500 calories of oil is not filling (source: Forks Over Knives ). Incorporate this idea into your diet so you don't overeat.
• Eat until you are comfortable. Not until you are full. The healthier you eat, the less you will overeat. Overeating causes your stomach to stretch and want to eat more, but the opposite is also true. Eating less causes your stomach to shrink.
• Milk isn't healthy. It actually decreases the calcium in your bones. It's fatty and high in cholestoral. Ahem, Extra! Extra! Read all about it! I suggest adopting milk as a splurge or buying unsweetened almond milk
• My college level biology teacher said most of the time we crave food, we are thirsty. Get some water if you know you're not actually hungry.
• "Want help achieving and maintaining a healthy weight? Aim for eight hours of sleep a night. Research suggests that appetite-regulating hormones are affected by sleep and that sleep deprivation could lead to weight gain. In two studies, people who slept five hours or less per night had higher levels of ghrelin - a hormone that stimulates hunger - and lower levels of the appetite-suppressing hormone leptin than those who slept eight hours per night." - Source
• Have a cheat day once a week.
• Don't weigh yourself. Ever. There are too many factors to count for a few pounds to count so much (people's varying bone structure, increased muscle, water retention, etc.)

Affirmation for healthy Eating:

"I don't rely on food to feel better."