Transitioning to healthy foods is definitely a worthwhile goal. Here are some tips to lead you down the path from a junk food based diet to a healthy one, in sha Allah.

First of all, you need to determine where your diet currently stands.

Are you an almost 100% processed food eater?

Do you eat 80% junk foods and 10% healthy foods?

Are you currently eating 80% healthy and 10% junk foods?

This can help you decide where to go from here. Remember, baby steps. Jumping in all at once is great, if you are capable of being consistent with it, but if not it’s better to move one small step at a time.

First off, I would recommend checking your fridge and pantry for all processed foods. Generally, this is anything with a label and more than one ingredient. (Although there are sometimes exceptions!) Take these things and donate them to your local mosque or homeless shelter so others, who actually could use these foods, can benefit.

Second, always plan your shopping list before you go to the store. You can also have it delivered to your house or pick it up (from some stores like Walmart) in case you are concerned about being tempted by junk foods. Only add foods to the list that will nourish your body. These are generally foods that walk/swim/grow on the earth. Fruits, vegetables, fresh dairy products, whole grains, etc.

When you go to a gathering always offer to bring a healthy meal and try to make at least 80% of what you eat there your healthy dish (or whatever other healthy dish is offered).

There is a helpful website fooducate.com that can help you determine what some healthy alternatives to your current favorite foods are. Just make sure they are halal!

Slowly you can replace your foods, one by one, with better alternatives from that website. For example let’s say you currently eat Funyuns chips. These are rated around a D+ on fooducate which is a very low score. If you click on Funyuns one of the better alternatives listed is Tostitos Tortilla Chips which are a C+. You can transition to that for a few days or so then next shopping trip get the better alternative listed for Tostitos which is Skinny Pop Popcorn which is listed as a B+. Keep doing this until you average around an A rating for all of your foods. You can also use this plan for working towards ramadan weight loss in sha Allah.

In sha Allah this helped! If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.