The Costs Of Health

​Welcome back! I’m so glad you decided to come back and read our next blog post.  Maybe you’re still sitting on the fence, not quite ready to join us. Maybe you’ve already too started to exchange some of those bad habits? 

​One of the biggest things we hear from people is the high expense that eating healthy can be.  We hear you, it’s not necessarily cheap, but we’re here to tell you that it also does not have to be expensive.  Reality is in the long run it is cheaper than the haunting costs of medical expenses, lost time at work due to health issues and the quality of life that we can lead having a healthier lifestyle and diet.
I don’t know about you, but I would much rather spend my later years being able to travel, see and do things, play with my grandchildren, and not be spending my time, money and energy on Doctor appointments, medications that just mask symptoms, and unable to enjoy life because of bad health. 

​When we enter the grocery store, most people think they can’t afford to buy healthy foods.  It’s quite the contrary.  Exchange those 2 bags of chips for a bag of apples and a bag of carrots.  Yes, I know, those chips taste so good! All that fat, salt, and sugar content YUM.  But what they do to our body’s is atrocious.
Apples and carrots are usually two of the cheaper alternatives. Yes, you will have to cut them up, peel them likely also. (Please don’t buy those little mini carrots they are full of chemicals used to process them) They also contain a higher amount of sugar or natural fructose.  But because you are getting all the fiber with them it releases those sugars into your bloodstream at a much slower pace therefore your Insulin levels don’t spike.

​Buy a head of lettuce, not the packaged salads.  You can get more meals out of a head of lettuce, therefore cheaper.  Just add your own grated carrots, which you bought instead of chips, a stalk of celery, maybe some cucumber and onion. Whatever you like, it’s your creation. Best part is, you’ve likely bought a few more vegetables that you can snack on J
 
Prepackaged anything is bad for us. Try to eat real, whole foods that you can prepare.  I will have a post soon on helping you do that! 

Meat is another HUGE expense on our grocery bill.  As a society, we eat way too much meat. We don’t need a 16oz steak! We need to cut back, a 4 oz steak is really sufficient.  We used to eat meat at just about every meal, and if we were having chicken breasts we cooked 4 big ones! Having steak? We would cook 4 big steaks. (There are 4 of us in the house)
Now we eat meat less often, Mark and the kids eat meat 4-5 days a week, but much less.  I only eat meat 1-2 times a week now.  What a huge difference on our grocery bill, kind of, we now come home with a cart full of fruits and veggies. So honestly we  spend the same amount per week, but we have all these wonderful healthy exchanges that we have made, and believe me our bodies are thanking us already. 

​Take care until next time
 
                        Shelly & Mark