Disclaimer: This advice is only for your convenience. Please speak to your doctor before making changes to your diet or activity levels.

There’s an epidemic facing our generation. It’s not our obsession with social media nor is it our fixation with being the center of attention; it is far more dangerous. Can you guess what it is? HPV? No, it's not a disease. An unearned sense of entitlement? Closer. It's the atrophy of self-respect coupled with a dangerous habituation to instant gratification that has left the majority of Americans, especially teenagers and young adults, completely clueless as how to eat healthy.

The worst part is that we have culturally come to embrace such poor habits. I can’t tell you the countless times I’ve cringed when millennials on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. post “Eating some [Insert processed, high carb, nutrient deficient, easily-available food] right now, this is so bad for me. LOL!” Anybody reading this article who doesn’t live under a rock has seen at least one instance of this in the past month.

“But Siddartha, I’ve only seen one person post something like that in the past month!” Well, I hate to inform you, but the signs of our dangerous cultural transformation, as seen on social media, are only the tip of the iceberg. An obscene number of children, teenagers, and young adults consume diets not fit for even animals but wisely don’t joke about it on social media.

The result? Our arteries become more clogged than a Taco Bell toilet, our brain chemistry is so altered that even Walter White can’t figure out what’s going on, we go to sociopathic lengths to convince ourselves that our metabolisms can handle the garbage we consume, and we ingest enough sodium and sugar to kill a juvenile elephant. Yes, I do hyperbolize (only slightly), but when over 1 in 5 US children are obese, when over 20 percent of those who represent this nation’s future hopes, dreams, and ambitions can barely run a mile or go three hours without junk food, a touch of drama is necessary.

Now, before we go any further, I would just like to clarify two things: If you are at an unhealthy because financial restraints have prevented you from purchasing healthy, wholesome food, I urge you to find healthy, affordable alternatives to your current diet; they do exist. Additionally, if you are currently underweight or overweight, this is not an attack on you, but it is my perspective on what can be done to lead a healthier lifestyle. Let’s begin.

Now you may pull the classic argument, “But Siddartha, people of all shapes and sizes are beautiful in their own ways!” Sure, your weight doesn’t necessarily change who you are, but an unhealthy weight will unquestionably decrease your quality of life. We live in a day in age in which inclusivity and acceptance are forced down our throats, but this doesn’t change the fact that one who is underweight or overweight increases his or her chances of strokes, cancer, diabetes, and depression significantly. Sounds awful, right? Fortunately, there is an easy way to prevent the aforementioned from ever affecting you.

Hmm? What’s that? You want to know what it is? Is it a magic pill or workout program? Is it restricting your caloric intake to 500 calories a day? Is it becoming a vegan who only drinks cucumber water and does spontaneous yoga? No, none of those are correct. What’s the answer then? Well, it turns out mom was right after all, “You are what you eat.” When you eat nothing but sticks of celery seasoned with salt your sanity and immune system will become as fragile as the carrots you consider too “high calorie." When you send a Snapchat pic of yourself eating a slice of greasy pizza or a fistful of fries with the caption “*Heart eyes emoji* I’m in heaven right now” more than once a week you’ll probably be visiting heaven sooner than the person who went with the grilled chicken sandwich. When your diet consists of lean protein (salmon, turkey, chicken, eggs), vegetables, and whole grains, you will look good and feel good, mentally and physically. Now which of those sounds like the ideal situation?

Eating cleanly and healthily should not be a four week charade to prepare for spring break only to abandoned once you no longer need to don a swimsuit, it should be a habit for life. Now, I understand that I may come off as the “Fun Police," but yeah, sure, I enjoy greasy carb-heavy food once a week, if not to to enjoy the flavor, then just to maintain my sanity. But remember, everything in moderation. If you decided to skim this article, hoping that reading this last sentence would provide you with the answer, shame on you. But if there’s one thing I want all of you to take out of this article, readers and skimmers alike, it’s this: there is more to life than food.

Maintaining a healthy diet improves your mental and physical health and as we millennials enter our mental and physical primes these coming years it is important we do all that is possible to not maximize our potential but also live up to that potential. By doing so we can not only become integral members of society, but we can also be satisfied knowing we left nothing on the table. Don’t do yourself a disservice; eat healthy and become the person you can possibly be.