I used to overeat. I’ve never been significantly overweight, so people are surprised to hear this. When you think of overeating, you think of someone who is above their natural weight range(范围), right? Well, I used to purposefully undereat as well. I was able to keep my weight within some control, but only through a lot of physical and mental pain.

Here’s a glimpse(一瞥)into my life as a first-year university student:

Friday: Go to a party and eat a lot of chips. Feel guilt and regret. Vow (发誓) to wake up and run an extra mile.

Saturday: Run 6 miles, come home and only eat a tiny breakfast. Eat like a bird for the rest of the day. Feel proud of myself.

Sunday: Study and snack on chocolate chips all day. Feel sick.

Monday: Head to class with no snack and no money so that I can’t buy any food. Feel hungry but full of willpower. Go home and overeat at dinner. Feel out of control.

My feelings were on a constant pendulum shift. I was proud and in control one moment, and then full of regret and out of control the next. It was exhausting.

As I studied nutrition and human anatomy(人体解剖学) in university，I started to learn just how amazing the human body is! The human body is an amazing, self-regulatory system. It knows precisely how much food it needs. When I learned this, my whole world changed. I stopped trying to manage my eating with willpower. Instead of trying to power through my hunger, I would provide my body with wholesome foods, so I would feel hungry less often.

This process definitely took some work and reflection, but after a while it became second nature. Eating has become a joyful experience, instead of a source of stress and worry in my life. All my eating is now guilt-free! I shamelessly eat unhealthy snacks without regret. Of course, the majority of my food intake does come from whole, healthy foods that are close to nature.

I know what you’re thinking: pizza? For breakfast? But the truth is that you can have last night’s leftovers in the a. m. if you want to.

I know lots of women who skip breakfast, and they have a ton of different excuses for doing it. Some say they don’t have time. others think they’re “saving” calories, still others just don’t like breakfast food .

But the bottom line is that eating in the morning is very important when you’re trying to lose weight. “Eating just about anything from 300 to 400 calories would be better than nothing at all,” says Katherine Brooking, R., D., who developed the super-easy eating plan for this year’s “SELF CHALLENGE”. And even pizza can be healthy if it’s loaded with vegetables, and you stick to one small piece.

Breakfast is one meal I never miss, and the same goes for most weight loss success stories. Research shows that eating breakfast keeps you from overeating later in the day. Researchers at the University of Southern California found that breakfast skippers have a bigger chance of gaining weight than those who regularly have a morning meal.

So eat something in the morning, anything. I know plenty of friends who end up having no breakfast at all, and have just coffee or orange juice. I say, try heating up last night’s leftovers---it may sound crazy, but if it works for you, do it! I find if I tell myself, “You can always eat it tomorrow,” I put away the leftovers instead of eating more that night. Try it…you may save yourself some pre-bedtime calories. And watch your body gain the fat-burning effects.

It’s reported that scientists in London have found the best diet for both humans and the planet.

If the world followed the so-called “planetary health” diet, each year more than ll million early deaths could be avoided according to the scientists. For the health of the planet, they say the same diet will reduce (减少) greenhouse gases and save more land, water and animals. This new food plan is the result of a three-year project organized by The Lancet health journal.

Tim Lang, a professor at Britain’s University of London. He said, “The food we eat and how we produce it decide the health of people and the planet.” Lang added, The world’s population is expected to grow to 10 billion people by 2050. If we want to feed everyone, we all need to change what we eat and the way we eat by improving food production and reducing food waste”. So, what do you eat on the “planetary health” diet?

The scientists who created the “planetary health” diet say it is largely plant-based but still has a little milk, fish and meat. The diet calls for cutting down red meat and sugar by 50 percent and increasing nuts, fruits, and vegetable.

Walter Willet of Harvard University in the United States also talked about the “planetary health” diet. He said, “More than 800 million people around the world do not get enough food while many more people have very unhealthy diets.”

The scientists think it difficult to reach their aim. But for them, doing nothing is also not a choice Willet said, “If we can’t make the best diet, it’s better to try and get as close as we can.”