photo: mauricesvay/ BY-NC-SA

The following aired on KCBS. 

By: Venus Morris

Being healthy isn't easy when you're homeless.

At one point in high school at was out in the world living alone. For that time, I ate at fast food restaurants like Taco Bell or I ate nothing at all, and this habit was hard to break.

By the time I went back to my parent's house, I had trained my self not to eat, and It got to the point where I passed out on my way to Spanish class from dehydration. I realized at that moment that being healthy means more than knowing about proper nutrition. It starts with having some peace of mind.But living in today's society, is not that easy.

My community tells me I need to eat organic and shop at Whole Foods and my doctor told me that ideally, I'd be 15 pounds lighter. But when your mind is being pulled into 50 different directions, its difficult to prioritize what you eat.

Now, I work with underprivileged youth that often eat too much or too little, and are constantly being told that they aren't good enough. I couldn't focus on getting healthy until I figured out other issues in my life, and it's the same for the young people I work with.