Being a Healthy Nerd (Part 2) - Food

How eating right can change your life and make you feel better

In my previous post, I shared some background on my personal health journey and why I'm inspired to write about it. If you haven’t read that post yet, it's not required, but it might provide valuable context for this and upcoming posts.

The first and arguably most important topic I want to cover is changing eating habits. If you can do just one thing to enhance your health, let it be this.

Changing My Eating Habits

This is the one and only time I’ll use the word "diet." Honestly, I dislike that word. To me, it suggests temporary, extreme, or inconsistent behaviors - something fleeting. If you genuinely want better health, think about a lasting lifestyle change rather than something temporary. Here's what worked for me.

Before 2020, I ate freely, which typically meant fast food lunches paired with soda, irregular dinners, and frequent sugary snacks.

Naturally, I needed to cut out the fried foods. Thankfully, my wife stepped up and began cooking more meals at home. Interestingly, the COVID-19 pandemic indirectly helped. At work, instead of fast-food lunches like Burger King or Sonic, healthier meals such as Atlantic salmon with rice and broccoli were delivered to our office due to restaurant closures and my boss’s existing health-conscious attitude. This habit shift alone likely improved my cholesterol levels, but I didn’t stop there.