How have you built up better eating habits? I’m getting overwhelmed. I was told to eat more fat, tons of veggies, less carbs, avoid gluten. I’ve been trying for eight weeks to do this. The shopping, meal planning, recipe-finding, cooking, storing is overwhelming.

Are you perhaps trying to do too much at once? Putting too much pressure on yourself to do the diet perfectly?

I agree about low pressure, maybe do changes 1 at a time and see how you adjust, it's a lot easier to build new habits that way. Be warned that OCD and eating disorders including orthorexia are closely linked. Remember that you don't need to diet perfectly. Whatever positive impacts you're trying to get from changing your diet will still be there with small changes/if you're not totally consistent. Any good change is good change and makes a difference, it truly doesn't have to be perfect.

I've started and restarted a tonne of times but what I can say I've learned through life long journeys with healthy eating is break it into steps. Dont do everything at once because it puts a lot of pressure on you. One of the best things you can do is just increase fruit and veggie intake. It gives you vitamins naturally, takes up more room in your tummy so you naturally eat less of the other things and is very low pressure. Just start at the grocery store by exploring what fruits and veggies you like and are EASY. I really like eating cucumbers and peppers BUT find I wont eat peppers as much because they are more work than a cucumber (pepper seeds everywhere when you chop them). So I've learned that cucumbers are a staple for me. I have an apple slicer and apples last a long time so apples are a staple for me. I love citrus but peeling them gives me eczema, so I dont buy them in big quantities. Things like that! Then I just eat what I want but make sure I'm adding in my fruits and veggies. Soon enough I'm eating less of the 'treat' food because I'm not hungry from the fruits and veggies. Do low pressure things. No sense in giving yourself trouble over something we need to be doing (eating).

I found popcorn flavorings that come in spice jars, like you sprinkle them on. We make the air-popped popcorn for which it’s intended, but I love to mix mostly plain (Greek if possible) yogurt, cottage cheese for texture, and just a little sour cream as a dip base. Then I add either ranch or a cheese popcorn flavor and some other spices, usually dill and cayenne, and eat it with veggies sticks. (I’ll sometimes also have some chips if diet allows.) Quick easy way for a healthy snack. Nothing you can mess up. No cooking. Easy way to eat your veggies and also add a little healthy protein and calcium.

Also, salsa is my friend when trying to stick to a specific diet plan. Don’t just eat it with chips, but use it as a sauce when you’re supposed to have brown rice or veggies. Since it is essentially just veggies, the one diet book & plan I ever followed suggested it as a go to to liven up blander recipes.

Healthy snacks distributed in ball jars helps.