Have you ever felt like putting a stop to your bad eating habits? Usually that thought enters your mind after you just drank a can of soda, finished off a large bag of Doritos, a pint of ice cream or some candy. Sometimes I find myself victim of what I like to call the “Run-out Diet” that’s a diet that you put yourself on when you have “run out” of junk food.

Being in college I’ve done it plenty of times, of course as a college student it is easy to understand that I don’t always have money in my pocket. When my mini-fridge is nearly empty and I’m almost out of sodas, Hot Pockets, chips and other foods on the “College Student Food Pyramid” I just tell myself “You know I’ll go a week drinking just water and not eating junk food.”

Of course it’s easy to say since I don’t have the junk food to tempt me or the money to go out and buy some more. That is until I manage to scrape up enough change to buy a can of soda from a machine or go to Dollar Tree to stock up on snacks.

Staying active and watching what I eat can change all of that. I’m still a work in progress but I’ve come up with some tips to balance my bank account, health and food intake.

Never shop hungry! If you go food shopping when you are hungry you’ll not only spend more money than you intended but you might buy even more junk food than usual

Limit yourself: Eating junk food isn’t bad if you eat some every once in a while. However, it should not be something that you do as a daily routine

Don’t eat when you are bored: Sitting at my desk watching TV or playing video games can trigger something inside of me to eat. So, instead of candy or sweets I decided to eat something like pretzels or crackers. Low in calories as opposed to chocolate and other junk food items

Resist the smell: I don’t know what it is about college but whenever someone in the dorm pops popcorn or brings a pizza down the hallway that smell just makes me want to go out and get my own!

Say “No” from time to time: Its college so it’s a normal thing for friends to invite you out to eat somewhere usually at a fast food establishment. Usually this happens a lot especially during weekdays after classes have ended. Sometimes you have to say “No” to keep some money in your wallet and also not to overdo it on junk food during the week

Drink water: This is a trick I’ve been trying to practice regularly for the past two weeks. Whenever I drink a can of soda, I will drink 2 bottles of water. This helps me to back off the soda in favor of something more beneficial to my body

Hang tough: I know it’s easier to buy junk food or drink soda. Not only because it tastes better than water and healthy foods but it’s cheaper as well. That is the ultimate test to choose health over cost. Just remain steadfast and never run-out of determination to stay positive and healthy.