Ask HN: What food/diet change has been life changing?

After a fasting lab panel had a follow-up appointment six weeks later. "You have diabetes." Managing food intake for that is more complicated than a single line on a nutrition label and just avoiding "added sugar" isn't enough to avoid my kidneys doing the work that insulin couldn't. Felt better. Lost weight.

All of this to say that my diet changes are because I have a reasonable financial budget for groceries, sufficient time to shop, and a social environment in which there is not a cost for eating what I need and there is not a social cost for not eating what I should avoid.

Time, money, and relationships are the necessary conditions of habit development. If I was trying to feed a family of four from the bodega on minimum wage, pills would be about the only viable option.

It's also worth noting that my habits are easier to maintain because I feel better. If it were just a matter of weight loss, I doubt they would stick anymore this time than previously when I lost weight but didn't feel better chemically and my hunger still there.

YMMV. Good luck.

I might eat something chocolate once a week instead of 2x daily and that's big.. Plus I focus better. I'm also on ADHD meds but it didn't work as good when I was depressed because it's used to focus on something productive when you're not motivated to get out of bed.

Mental health apparently contributes to obesity a lot more than I ever thought.

There’s a lot of information out there about how many products that you wouldn’t even imagine contain sugar (or some derívate). There’s no need for this.

I have not been able to eliminate this from my diet completely, but being aware of it had allow me to reduce significantly its consumption and make better choices when picking what to eat.

Benefits are plenty, from healthy weight loss and a sense of “soberness” that is worth the effort. I’m sure there are many other positive and well documented effects of this