Now that you have eliminated junk foods from your diet, it’s time to replace them. So what kinds of foods should you replace them with? Well, I guess it all depends on what your goals are.

I personally try to eat as many fruits and vegetables as I can reasonably get into my body each day. This means that I eat a salad or two nearly every day. Either for lunch or dinner, I will get one. Just that one simple step really helps me out as far as my mindset goes.

For me, I have debated the idea of eating “sugar free” foods, but I just don’t want to. I eat fruits as desserts and they do a good job of helping me out when I get cravings for sugar. I figure God really did know what He was doing when He created plants and water. People survived a long long time without the advent of Twinkies, so maybe they were onto something.

Basically, if it’s a fruit or vegetable, it’s a good start. I tend to side toward the organics, though I can’t always get them in my small town. I have found a brand of organic whole wheat bread that I love. Again, these changes have really helped me to regain perspective on life and view foods drastically differently.

Joel Wagner

Joel Wagner (@sywtt) began teaching band in 2002. Though he had a lot of information, his classes were out of control. He found himself tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting. He had had enough. He resigned from his school district right before spring break of his second year and made it his personal mission to learn to be a great teacher. So You Want To Teach? is the ongoing story of that quest for educational excellence.