I've always known my dietary habits were shit, but depression kept me from making any lasting changes. Eating was a comforting activity, and sometimes it was the only positive experience I could muster for myself.

Another weird factor to it was that, when I started eating, my apparent hunger *increased*, and I was compelled to keep eating. Whenever I had to prepare a meal for myself, I felt like I needed a massive serving size to accommodate for that—otherwise I wouldn't feel full.

The recommendation I got was to eat primarily protein, which should induce fullness more than other foods. The most basic form of that was to have hard boiled eggs available, but if there was leftover meat from a previous dinner, that would be a great thing to grab for breakfast, but cheese/yogurt work too. And I've started stashing protein bars in my drawer at work—if I can't have a proper breakfast, at least I know those are on hand.

Making all of that available for myself requires preparation in advance. I've had to maintain checklists and some scheduling to keep up with it. The biggest hurdle has actually been money: sometimes there's only enough to cover normal meals, and then I'm stuck with whatever food happens to be in the house.

But once the hunger has been reduced, the other changes are less difficult. Mainly: avoid carbs. And carbs are the most delicious, pleasurable foods.

One easy change is to never add sugar to *anything*. I was surprised that I could stop adding it to my morning coffee and *not* feel like I'd rather die. But for anything I normally added sugar to, I would try it without, then decide if I should even continue consuming that thing at all.

Breads/pastries were tough to give up, but easier if I'm just not hungry. And it's not the end of the world if I'm offered a doughnut or something, it's more important when I can make the choice.