You there; try these magic weight-loss pills

Over the past few years, it's been my observation that most people are thoroughly confused when it comes to diet and exercise. I find this discouraging, because eating well and feeling good are relatively simple endeavors once you cut through all the misinformation. That being said, I'd like to share what I've learned thus far about "healthy living" – it's changed my life for the better to a much higher degree than I ever really imagined it could.

But before I do that, I'm going to fill you in on exactly how I got to this point.

Four score and seven years ago...

Well actually, like twenty some-odd years ago, I was born weighing 10 pounds and 5 ounces. I wouldn't necessarily call myself "fat" (although others may have), but throughout childhood I was a rather large and tall boy, and pretty much ate everything in sight. Luckily, I was active and outdoors pretty often. I played mostly basketball as a kid, but also took part in a lot of football and baseball as well. So, as I got older and taller, I ended up being reasonably athletic (yeah I know, who cares).

While I never liked soda, aside from that fortunate coincidence I never really ate that well, even as a teenager. I pretty much subsisted on meat, white carbs and cheese for the majority of my adolescence. While I realized that this was definitely suboptimal in terms of diet, I was young and played for the basketball team so I didn't really care. I felt good, and I thought I had plenty of energy, so I never bothered to learn too much about nutrition.

Then one day, I turned 22.

The natural fitness of youth wore off, I was less active, and I bounced between 225 and 245 pounds from age 22 to 25. I eventually got back into playing basketball regularly, but it wasn't the same. I didn't even notice until I had the misfortune of seeing some game film of myself someone had recorded. That pudgy white guy with the tight jersey on was somebody I did not recognize.. unfortunately it was also me. My mind immediately conjured this dystopic fantasy of a 35 year old version of myself sitting on a couch somewhere looking like the bloated shell of Antoine Walker.

This was me in 2011.. if I was black and played in the NBDL

So, in order to prevent this terrible fate from coming to pass, I took action.

I ventured into the wild and decided to rediscover "real food". I did research. I developed a modicum of self-discipline. I stopped eating after I was legitimately full. I could go on and on about this for quite some time, but for the sake of brevity I'll boil it down to some super-trendy bullet points (I'd hit you with a Power Point presentation but I'm not that cliche yet):

• Eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains and good fats in abundance. It's not just about raw vitamin content when it comes to food (you hear me, "fortified" cookies and Pop-Tarts?). The natural combinations of vitamins and antioxidants that occur in whole, unprocessed foods are vital
• Fat is necessary for health. There is a such thing as good fat. Nuts and olive oil are two great sources of this fat
• Stop drinking your calories so much. Have water 95% of the time.
• Learn to cook -- healthy eating would have been completely unsustainable for me if I couldn't make it delicious
• Eat breakfast. Don't skip it.
• It doesn't matter if you eat at night. It does matter if you're eating garbage. But, if you're eating good food, eat whenever you want, and until you're full.
• You need to exercise. Find something you like that involves movement, lol. Luckily I love basketball.
• Ignore marketing and read labels. Particularly ingredient lists. These food companies are out to make cash and will do anything within their means to get you to buy. Beware of buzz words like "multigrain" and "fortified".
• Processed food should be avoided as much as possible. Even if it's not necessarily "unhealthy", it can be far less nutritious than whole food. The processes used to manufacture many food products rob them of their natural health benefits.

If you follow the above advice, you'll be a healthy person. I can promise you this because I've done it -- I weighed 245 pounds sixteen months ago, but I've been steady at 195-200 for the past eight months. I never deprive myself, I do have snacks from time to time, and I drink beer regularly. It's not about being perfect or flawless. It's about making the right choices the majority of the time, being balanced, and being happy. I don't count calories, and I don't weigh myself every ten minutes. I love food and I eat whenever I want until I'm full. And if I'm out at the bar and I want a big burger with a bunch of fries, I'll get it. Why? Because I fill my house with healthy food, and I've learned to cook so that said food tastes great too.

Living this way is one of the best decisions I've ever made, and I truly hope I've motivated someone to do the same. Leave comments at the bottom if you have any questions at all; I tried to cover as much as I could, but I'm sure there are things I left out.

Healthy living is not complicated. Eat real food, and get outside once and a while. You will not regret it!