I recently started making homemade food and feel so much better

Hey, everyone! I'm a new cook and poor college student, so I lurk on this sub a lot but never really say anything (I suppose that changes today). I made some changes to my diet and it really had a positive effect on me, so I thought I would share in case it could help others too. This summer I read Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss, which was a book I'd seen mentioned either here or on r/52book, and I learned that a lot of the foods I thought were healthy were actually killing me slowly. Sugary "healthy" cereal, ready meals, prepackaged Smartfood popcorn (my ultimate vice), etc. It wasn't fun, but I cut those foods out of my diet and started paying attention to food labels. Not in an "I can't eat anything that's not xyz" kind of way - more of in an "I could eat this, but my body is really not made to sustainably eat this" kind of way. Since there weren't lots of ready-made, affordable healthy meals at the grocery store, I decided to buy a Home and Gardens cookbook and start making my meals at home. What a difference that has made.I have been cooking a lot lately, and it has changed my days for the better. I vary my diet most days of the week and get creative with food to make it interesting. It takes more focus than I thought to cook well, but I like that because it's a nice change from concentrating on school work. Being active for an hour or two in the kitchen means I am not sitting on the couch watching re-runs, and I really like that change of pace (not that watching TV instead is bad, just different strokes for different folks). It feels like I'm constantly learning, and the best part is how I feel after I eat the food: proud, healthy, active, and full. I used to eat cheap pasta and canned soup all the time to save money, but that was negated by all the snacks I bought to fill myself up because I felt constantly hungry. Now I eat meals that have a little bit of everything: veggies, meat, spices, butter, broths, etc. I feel amazing. I have so much energy, I am in better shape, and I don't crave sugary foods very much anymore. Actually, when I do try them, I don't feel well at all.I'm writing this because I used to be someone who thought they were eating cheaply and relatively healthy, and I actually wasn't. Spending an extra couple of bucks at the store to get spices and vegetables has made my life so much better, and I have also learned a valuable new hobby that has increased my confidence and gotten me in better shape. If you are where I was, know that it can be an incremental adjustment and you don't have to cut out your favorite snacks, just moderate them. Know what is in your food, and don't feel bad when you have a cheat day here or there. Cooking meals ends up being quite cheap, and eating well will yield so many dividends.Note: If you are looking at a recipe and are put off trying it because you have to buy things like heavy cream, broth, flour, or spices, know that once you have those things, you can have them in many different recipes and they last a long time. via /r/EatCheapAndHealthy https://ift.tt/2Aif5FQ