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Try planning out your daily snack for one week and limit it to fresh, whole fruit and/or veg. Be patient with yourself and know that your cravings will slowly change as you feed your body healthier foods. Build up slowly.
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ETA- Bit of clarity with my wording.
Start by learning how to make a good omelette. Eggs are really healthy for you. Add in veggies that you like (mushrooms, sweet peppers, onions, spinach, tomatoes etc).
Sauté your veggies first in olive oil and then remove from pan. Add your eggs to a bowl and beat together with 1 tablespoon of water. This will make your eggs fluffier. Add eggs to pan (with more olive oil) and cook until set, flip over in pan, add sautéed veggies on top. Add cheese on top of veggies if you like (I add feta cheese) and then fold over. Cook for another minute or two. Voila … a quick and healthy meal!
You can also buy precooked chicken or turkey sausage and sauté together with fresh veggies for a quick meal.
On the weekend you can make several meals ahead so that all you have to do is heat them up when you get home. Wash and cut up a container of fresh fruit. Make a big bowl of salad to dish out over several days.
I saw that someone above mentioned protein shakes. These work great for a quick and filling meal that you can take with you if you are on the go frequently. I use coconut milk as my base then I add protein powder, and a combination of fruit, coconut manna (healthy fat - I add 1 tbsp), spinach, almond butter etc. Whatever sounds good that day that I have on hand. Fills you up!
You can find coconut manna by the peanut butter at the grocery store.
I have adult kids in their 20’s and they’ve used these suggestions. Hope this helps!
I’d suggest getting a blender and starting to make some shakes. Get some protein powder and milk or ice, and then you can add pretty much any produce (soft produce is better, obv) and it’ll turn into a good shake that has protein and nutrients.
I think this is a good place to start because it’s manageable, doesn’t require a lot of skills, and then if you eat out the rest of your day’s food, at least you got some fruit and veg for the day. That will make you feel much better.
Pick one thing about your current way of eating that you need to change and address that alone with the appropriate time to do so.
For instance, if you drink 3 cans of soda per day, cut the number down to 2 cans and replace the third with a glass of water. After a few weeks, reduce the amount of soda to 1 can and consume 2 glasses of water per day. After a few weeks, increase the glasses of water per day to 3 and drink soda only occasionally, if at all.
Proceed to tackle the next “bad” habit in the same methodical manner.
Making changes as described above doesn’t allow the brain to really register that a change is being made, allowing for the change to take place without the resistance that occurs when people perform a complete overhaul of their engrained fitness and nutrition habits overnight.
Take cooking lessons. It’s amazing what you learn while learning to cook & you cook everything from scratch. Look for recipes on Google, you tube. A cheat on creamy sauces cream is the best, bechamel is next & the real cheat is corn flour (add marg for extra taste) Also butter is a super food & is good for you.
When you learn to cook from scratch junk food isn’t so junky when you can regulate what is in it.
It’s hard when your young and broke. Concentrate on small steps in nutrition.I suggest 1 easy veggie at each meal and a fruit at breakfast, add them as a side to your fast food. They’ll help fill you and consume some good nutrients. Carrots and raw snap peas are ready to eat. Celery is inexpensive and can be prepped once for the whole week. Microwave frozen peas for dinner. Good luck! I’m rooting for you.
If you have a freezer then frozen vegetables. Fresh is better but unless you use it it’s going to waste. Do you have a microwave? Jacket Sweet potato. The way to look at it is that anything you make yourself is going to be 10x better than take away or processed foods. Start with the basics and go from there.