The number one rule of dieting is not: Obey. A diet comes from the foods we eat each and everyday so, in theory, you are always “on a diet.” That means every time we eat something, you have to ask ourselves, “Is this helping or hurting my overall diet?”

If you’re not a nutritionist, it can be tough to tell what is healthy for you and what is not. But there are some hard and fast rules you can apply to your life today to generally improve your overall healthy diet.

Cut the soda and juice – Soda is a diet killer. There are about 40 grams of sugar per one 12oz can of soda. You could lose 1-4 lbs a month alone if you cut this out of your diet. Most juices aren’t any healthier. Check the nutrition labels and you’ll see their sugar levels are on par with sodas.

Replace sodas and juices with ice cold water. It might be hard to get used to at first, but eventually you won’t be able to go back to soda and juices knowing how bad they are for you! You’ll actually start to enjoy the taste of food more.

Turn Chips in Pretzels – If you’re a potato chip eater, replace them with pretzels. One serving of chips has 60 calories more than pretzels, and 10 times more fat grams. This can help you lose half a pound this month. That said, pretzels are incredibly high in sodium. If you switched that snack to baby carrots, expect to lose another half-pound and be a whole lot healthier!

Stop Eating Fast Food – It took years and years for laws to come into place that forced fast food restaurants to provide their nutritional information. There’s a reason for that: They don’t want you to know! The average menu at your fast food restaurant is full of fat and carbohydrates and very little nutrition The best solution is to stop all together, but if you absolutely have to have fast food, stick with their healthier options. Always go for a smaller size (value “pricing” is designed to get you to order more!) and cut out the soft drink (replace it with water).

Fixing Breakfast – You must always eat breakfast! Some people tend to think by skipping this very important meal, they are helping their diet. That’s not the case. Eating breakfast allows you to get more nutrition and energy throughout the day, while helping you avoid cravings for bigger meals had you avoided breakfast.

Aim for lower calorie breakfast choices like 1% milk, low fat cottage cheese (with fruit or all-fruit jelly), and healthier cereal (Kashi is an absolutely amazing brand of cereal!)

Skin the Fat – This goes for all the chicken lovers out there – Always have broiled or grilled chicken over the very unhealthy alternative: Fried chicken. Chicken skin is incredibly high in calories and fat – about 200 calories per average serving.