You know that feeling you got as a kid when your mom got you your favorite chips, cookies, candy, juice, or even bread? It was the best feeling in the world, your eyes lit up, and suddenly you were beaming from ear to ear. Turns out as we get older and technology advances, the foods we've been eating haven't really been so great for us.

The amount of sodium found in fast food is far beyond the limit any regular adult should be consuming, so to feed it to our youth is even more detrimental.

As an entire community, nation, world, finding a way to say no to processed food could potentially cure us all of our chronic illnesses. I always found it interesting that most food that came in boxes, plastic, or any packaging had a warning label. Most warning labels stated not to consume if tampered with, but in actuality, it was too late.

It had already been tampered with, and in most cases, in the worst way. Pumped full of hormones, additives, fillers, colorings, the list goes on and on, and it not only sounds but it IS the most horrific idea. This idea that the FDA and the United States find this acceptable to feed to their American people is mind-boggling.

I found a raw Instagram account that I've been following for about five years now, and although I'm not raw and free right now, it's something I strive to attain in my life. Raw diets consist of no processed foods, and only fruits, veggies, nuts, beans, all those goodies. The best part about the raw diet is the color experience on your plate.

The array of foods on this Earth are so much more beautiful than any food that could be made in a factory and boxed. Being a college student around so many low-grade food places, it's super difficult sometimes to find the light at the end of the tunnel. I call it being "grandfathered" in; this diet of half and half and being content.

Growing up, my family ate a variety of foods, but ultimately, the processed foods were at an equal level with the healthy foods we consumed. It starts when you're young, and I believe that if we didn't look at it as occupations for doctors in "curing" chronic disease, but rather feeding our nation a healthy diet, the chronic disease would be a distant memory.