Carbs are just like men… we can’t live with them, but we definitely can’t live without them.

Late nights with pasta, early mornings with bread; I had an unhealthy love affair with carbs.

I used to eat a lot of processed foods like cookies, candy and pasta that contained a ton of simple carbohydrates that spike blood sugar quickly, but don’t provide the much needed energy complex carbohydrates can give you.

Now at the ripe old age of twenty-one, I still love carbs, but I’m a bit wiser with my choices.

I still eat pasta, but only once or twice a week. Low-glycemic and whole-wheat pasta now fill my cupboard along with quinoa.

Packages of cookies have been replaced with Skinny Pop (hate the name, love the snack), fresh fruit and veggies.

It’s an adjustment and cravings will strike, so I have a few tips:

1. If you can’t skip the bread basket, the darker the bread the better. Look for 100% whole wheat or whole grain and steer clear of breads with “enriched bleached flour” (Rule of thumb for any food: Don’t eat anything that has been bleached).

2. Dying to have something sweet after dinner? Whip up a simple two ingredient ice cream. Drop a frozen banana and a spoonful of peanut butter into a blender and mix until a smooth, ice cream-like consistency is achieved. It’s pure magic (or that science thing I just can’t grasp).

3. And if you can’t resist that Milano cookie or that greasy slice of pizza… have a serving. Sometimes you just have to treat yo’ self.