My bad eating habits probably started when I was 12. That was the year I decided to become an ovo-lacto vegetarian for reasons I've forgotten now. I think it was because I wasn't a fan of most meat dishes, which may or may not have been due to my mom's meatloaf and greasy porkchops. With the help of school cafeterias, I replaced the meat in my diet with refined sugar and flour. Not that the salad bar (iceberg lettuce, carrot shreds, cucumbers) offered me many vitamins anyway.

I quit my vegetarian diet at age 18 when I landed at a college with a healthy cafeteria. The pizzas have whole wheat crusts, with goat cheese and red peppers ... mmm. Unfortunately, I also began to snack at weird hours and panic about my pear body shape. My eating schedule got extremely erratic. By junior year it was very rare for me to sit down and eat a meal, and I wasn't on a meal plan anymore. I was too impulsive and lazy to plan my groceries and prepare food.

I'm approaching my senior year, and this summer I'm an intern. I wake up early and feel too queasy for breakfast, so I down a couple coffees with fake creamer and Equal when I arrive at the office. There's also a popcorn bowl of fun-size candy a few feet away, and a nearby locker full of packaged snacks you can buy with your loose change. I usually eat out for lunch, and my options around here aren't pretty. Then when I get home I feel exhausted, and lay around the apartment eating yogurts, popsicles, popcorn, or pizza until I crash into bed.

The result of all this is that I constantly crave sugar. Fresh vegetables and healthy meat are practically unknown to me. My body isn't fat thanks to sporadic penance diets and fasting, but it's exhausted and chubby. My boyfriend, parents, and friends all comment on my terrible diet.

I'm VERY tired of trying to run my body on sugar and flour. I'm tired of not accomplishing any of my weight loss goals because I give into impulse or turn my brain off when it's time to eat. How do you successfully jump-start a healthy diet after eating so badly for so long? How do you organize and focus the laziest scatterbrain in the world?

It's great you are looking at your diet at such an early age! And, as I think you suspect, the fatigue (and even the scatterbrainedness) could clear up with some improvements in diet.

Do you cook? Or are you looking to do this with food you pick up elsewhere?

One thing that helps me is to snack on fruit, nuts or salad before I'm hungry. Many say that you should eat every 3-4 hours. Then you are less likely to crave sugar, bread and pasta. And meats and fats too I suppose. I've never craved those so I don't really know.

Then start finding better things to eat balanced-meal wise like Salmon or chicken breasts with veggies. Eat them more often.

Just eat fewer bad things and more good things. That's how I do it.

Salads are a great way to load up on before a meal. You can buy those pre-packaged ones at the store, so all you have to do is add some dressing.

At least you realize what your diet is like and want to take action. A good thing you should always remember is, if it's not there..you can't have it. Get rid of the popcorn, sodas, candies..etc and stock up on more veggies, fruits, and more practical foods and this will help you to change the way you diet, and you will become more used to eating them.

My point has already been made, but I think it's important enough to reiterate. Your fatigue and scatterbrainedness (is that a word?) will almost certainly change with a better diet.
A few years ago I was advised to quit all yeast and sugars (harder than I thought it would be but I was determined). I'm vegetarian anyway so my diet wasn't too bad, but I could not believe the difference. Within about 4 weeks of cutting out bread (except soda bread which has no yeast), Marmite, mushrooms, yoghurt (if you're confused by the last two it is because mushrooms are a fungus and yoghurt is "cultured" therefore they are both yeasts) and absolutely all sugars (including fruit), I felt FANTASTIC. I kid you not. I was waking up earlier, not feeling horribly tired in the morning, I was jumping out of bed with more energy than I'd had since I was about 12, my skin cleared up, my hair looked better, my eyes were brighter.......you name it, it improved!
I'm not saying that that is what you should do - but that is the kind of drastic result that can come from a change to a better diet.
Go on - you owe it to yourself!!!

A few years ago I was advised to quit all yeast and sugars (harder than I thought it would be but I was determined). I'm vegetarian anyway so my diet wasn't too bad, but I could not believe the difference. Within about 4 weeks of cutting out bread (except soda bread which has no yeast), Marmite, mushrooms, yoghurt (if you're confused by the last two it is because mushrooms are a fungus and yoghurt is "cultured" therefore they are both yeasts) and absolutely all sugars (including fruit), I felt FANTASTIC.

Was that because of a candida imbalance? Because that sounds like what people do temporarily to fix the imbalance and you don't have to stick to such a strict diet forever.

And Candida can cause all those things you describe and more. I did a candida cleanse hoping to help my sinuses, and it did, but wasn't exactly a miracle like you describe.

What really works is a very good breakfast. It will keep to fresh as well as automatically prevent you from snacking.
I am sure it will be difficult at first but you need to slowly incrase it and make it the heaviest meal of the day.
Try fresh fruits, cereals, skimmed milk, toast (whole wheat bread).
As they say Breakfast like a King, and you will see the difference.:)