TL;DR I try to talk about healthy eating in both an insightful way and an awesome way. Awesome way is the last 3 paragraphs if you wanna skip the first bit.

I struggle with healthy habits to this day. It may seem weird to hear that from a guy with intentions to walk 2500+ miles, but this just goes to show that you really,  really need to dedicate hard to things sometimes. It will will be easier for some than for others. So for whom it is not easy, I offer the following;

I know it can be hard to go from those tastebud-detonating junk foods to friggin’ kale, granola, and sadness. To put on your plate some celery and raisins im lieu of a hearty burger and fries of salty goodness.  That being said, step one might not be just learning about good nutrition (though you should absolutely do this), but instead figuring out why it’s so disheartening to make the change to healthier, less-tasty food.

The first answer seems pretty plain: healthy food on the whole tends to be far less satisfying flavor-wise to healthy food, unless you’re a good cook and also have the time to put into those dishes. But this begs the question of how the removal of tasty junk food can suck so badly. Was it all you had to look forward to in the day? Do you tend to eat food for comfort and not in actual hunger? Try to take a step back and analyse how much happiness you derive from good-tasting food, regardless of how healthy it is.

That was my problem, at least. I didn’t really have sufficient satisfaction coming from different aspects of my life, so food comprised part of that bridge for me. It wasn’t until I established a reliable source of contentedness within myself that I didn’t feel the need to sacrifice nutritional value for flavor. Once I began planning my walk across America, I didn’t despair when mealtime came ’round and I poured myself out some flavorless but nutritional food.

It still was less satisfying than my old eating habits, but I felt good enough outside of mealtime that I wasn’t trying to fill every possible moment with distractions from my general malaise. It’s a vicious cycle too, because poor eating habits leaves you with less drive and well-being, which makes you feel the need to keep on with the very habits that produce that very malaise!

I know this all may sound like preachy “I started eating kale and now I’m a better person” crap that makes one very punchable, but understand that I’m mostly putting this out there from having been in the rut bad foods can produce. Also I can try to make the message more interesting.

Are you gonna your taste buds dominate you? Let your instincts drive your every action? Screw that, when you’re cravings are screaming for Doritos and Mountain Dew, drown them in brown rice and good ol’ fashion water! Your body isn’t the boss off you, you’re the boss of it!

Get mad! Yell at those ungrateful punks for demanding what they want instead what you need. Don’t think you could ever establish dominance with collard greens? Think again. It might suck now, but true warriors suck it up and press on when they know it spells victory!

Eat right, get active, and reach your true peak so that you may take in the glorious view and have that to remember, instead of wondering how it may have looked had you gotten there. It’s a long road ahead that leads to greatness, and your body will thank you in the end. Keep being awesome. Strive for greatness.

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