There is such a negative stigma on the word "diet", but why?

It is hard to stick to a diet, especially in the trying college years, so why diet when you could just have a healthier life style?

Saying that you are on a “diet” has such a negative stigma these days. When you tell someone that you are dieting, the question is always, “Why? You look fine!” or, “You don’t need to diet, you’re in college, its okay!” But when you're feeling sluggish and not yourself, dieting and eating healthy seems like the best way to go. Instead of saying that you are dieting, say that you are trying to eat healthier, or you are cutting out grains, etc.

Another problem with dieting is sticking to it. I know that I have a really hard time staying to my diet when there is a birthday in the house (cupcakes), someone’s parents came to town for the weekend (cookies and homemade brownies), or one of the girls is just feeling domestic (banana bread and chocolate chip cookies). If you are on a specific diet, you feel like you are cheating by eating a cookie, and it has a negative effect on you, leaving you feeling defeated or like a failure.

After realizing that eating a cookie every now and then shouldn’t make me feel bad about myself, I decided it was time for a change. But what should I do instead of dieting? Eating healthy, especially in college, is a big challenge. Organic and healthy food is always more expensive, and it also takes more time to prepare. It is so much easier to reach for the ramen noodles and Wheat Thins than the vegetables and chicken. Being a broke college student doesn't help one lead the healthiest lifestyle, so how is anyone supposed to stick to something?

After a lot of research, and looking at my empty mac and cheese bowl, I realized how many processed foods I was eating and how easy it would be to cut those suckers out! I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to cut out all processed foods right away (because I had some processed foods in my cabinet and you can’t just waste all the food and money), but I knew that I could make a start.

The other plus side of this is you’re not technically on a diet. You're just living a healthier lifestyle! Eating a cookie every now and then doesn’t feel like cheating, but it feels like a treat or a reward instead. It's not too much more expensive to buy the fruits and vegetables, and it will last you a lot longer than a bag of Goldfish will. Cutting out processed foods was actually easy because I decided to start by making foods that would be non-processed and still taste delicious. I chose to make granola bars and after realizing that these homemade foods could still taste wonderful, it really helped me to notice that giving up processed foods wouldn't be that hard.

If you want to give up processed foods, there are tons of websites and blogs online that have recipes for many common things that we eat every day! If you want to make granola bars like I did, here’s the recipe from “Red and Honey”.

http://redandhoney.com/healthy-homemade-granola-bars-recipe/

Ingredients:

2/3 cup almond butter (you could also use peanut butter which is cheaper, or sunflower seed butter, if you have nut allergies)

2/3 cup virgin coconut oil

2/3 cup honey (raw is best)

2 cup oats (gluten-free if desired)

2 cups total of any add-ins you’d like (such as chopped nuts, dried fruit, dark chocolate bits, coconut flakes, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc). I use my large 4-cup measuring cup and just dump in ingredients until it’s at 2 cups.

How To:

Mix almond butter, coconut oil and honey together in a small pot and warm until everything is melted. Stir together. Add oats. Add the rest and stir until well combined. (If using chocolate chips be sure to cool the honey mixture completely before adding the extras or else the chocolate chips will all melt). Refrigerate until firm. Cut into bars, wrap individually, and store in the fridge.