Going through the transition of living with your parents at home in high school to living on your own in college is a time of really getting to know who you really are as a person. You begin to discover the things you like and don't like, what's good and not good for you etc. etc. The biggest learning process I believe you go through while being on your own in college is learning how to eat properly and learning the discipline of listening to your body.

As a personal experience during my first year in college, maybe even my first two years, I never listened to my body. I was not accustomed to buying my own groceries and basically feeding myself. As weird as that may sound, I was fortunate enough to have a mom who cooked for us every night and I was used to eating what was put in front of me and not to question it. I never really had a say in what food I wanted to eat or what kind of groceries I wanted to buy because that was my parents' job.

So when I started college I had the freedom to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. A freedom that I never really had. Sure it was great getting to eat chips and chocolate bars at 3 am while studying for exams to keep me awake but after a while, I began to notice how it affected my mental, physical and emotional health. I began to gain a lot of unnecessary weight and began to feel lazy all the time and I was an emotional wreck. To avoid all the stress and lack of motivation I always turned back to food for comfort.

It took a solid two years of being on my own in college to finally realize that I needed to change my healthy lifestyle if I wanted to move forward with my life. I wasn't getting anywhere by eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted with no control of knowing how to stop. I tried diets fads, weight loss pills and even tried to starving myself many times but nothing worked. I was frustrated because I would only see temporary results, and not permanent. After years and years of ignoring advice, I received from family and friends on how to live a healthy lifestyle it all finally clicked.

I realized that before I wasn't trying to be healthy for myself. I was doing it so that I could make others happy which is why I was not getting the results I wanted. I had to take a step back and re-evaluate what I really wanted to do with my life and how I wanted to live my life. I had to start making a change so that I could start living a better life and get my body back to the proper and right health conditions it needs to be in. It all had to start with my ways of eating. I learned that eating right is the key and the foundation to everything else relating to your physical, mental and emotional health. I am not saying it is everything but it is the start.

Ever since I started listening to my body and taking care of it the way I should have been doing this entire time, I have noticed major changes in my motivation, energy levels and even in my daily emotions. I'm not as tired anymore during the day like I used to be, I am relatively happier throughout the day instead of being angry and annoyed and many more positive changes.

Learning to take care of your body while in college is so vital for when you are ready to enter into the real world and begin working. It is an important building block for setting you on the right track to living a good and healthy life. I get that college can be a hard time for many of us, but it is important to know that living a healthy lifestyle is more than doable for anyone and everyone, even if you are on strict budgets. It just takes discipline and knowing what your body needs in order to be functional in the proper ways. It is never too late or too early to start changing your healthy lifestyle and living the that benefits both you and your body's health.