Saving Money While Eating Healthy

The answer is actually simpler than you think.

The basic "pyramid" for healthy eating leaves the Standard American Diet (SAD) pyramid in the dust, wallowing in chronic disease and obesity.

The pyramid is as follows:

1. LEAFY GREENS
2. Colorful vegetables
3. Fruits and Starchy Vegetables
4. Legumes and Grains
5. Nuts and seeds

That's all there is folks.

Do the things that you can do to save yourself money (some of these things come easily):

1. Buy less meat. You don't need it, and after a while, you won't want it. BUT WAIT! you wonder "where do I get enough protein?"... the answer is: plants. Plants have plenty of protein, especially legumes (peas and lentils) and grains (wheat, buckwheat, quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH). And nuts have protein in spades.

2. Don't buy most canned or processed food. The exceptions to this, obviously, are things like canned tomatoes and other essentials that are great for things like FOOD STORAGE. Some canned things are great assets to those on low budgets, BUT! keep in mind that buying fresh or frozen is usually cheaper and is much better for you. Processed foods like microwave burritos, frozen pizza, ice-cream, and other non-essentials (and, I may argue, non-food substances-- really, what is a cheeto anyway?) are actually budget breakers. It is cheaper to make your own burritos with homemade tortillas and dry cooked beans than it is to buy those pre-packaged (and chemical filled) types of food.

3. Shop sales and freeze what you can. If spinach is on sale for 80 cents a bag, buy five or six and freeze it! it still blends nicely in smoothie, or cooked well into a pasta sauce. If oranges are 20 cents a pound, buy a bunch, and peel them and freeze them to put in smoothies. If tomatoes are on sale, chop them up and freeze them to turn into pasta sauce or other delights later (this is good to do during the summer when produce is cheap. AND it helps you store food for times of disaster, and provides you with produce in December.

4. Soup and salad your way through life. When my husband and I are not eating soup, we are usually eating salad. Or stir-fry. Good "S" foods. These are FULL of plants. Almost anything can be turned into a salad. And, if it can't be a salad, then it can be a soup. Or a stir-fry. One of the reasons why people who try to eat more plants find it pricey is because they don't know what to do with the plants they buy and they rot in the fridge until someone throws them away.

5. Use cheap "get-full" foods. These are: whole grain brown rice (stir-fry), whole wheat pasta (buy the generic brand, it is better for you), lentils (seriously, the greatest thing ever... stay tuned for a recipe on lentil tacos), beans, almonds, sweet potatoes, and sunflower seeds. They all pair great with veggies and almost all have protein and carbs to keep you full.

6. Plan your weekly menu before you shop. If your meals consist of veggies pizza with whole wheat crust, whole wheat pasta with spinach and parmesan, stir-fry and rice, taco salad (my fave whole food salad ever!), burritos, and butternut squash soup, you will know what veggies to buy.

7. If you can, plant a garden and freeze the excess produce. You can have nutritious food in January for free!

Two notes: consider investing in a high power blender (400-600 dollars)-- seriously, it saves my life everyday (you can make everything with it). Not cheap from the get-go, but they last forever (seven year warranty on an appliance), and they will save you time and money in the kitchen. And, if you can, consider buying a small, cheap deep freeze (150-200 dollars). Blender first, freezer next.

And, price matching. If you have a Walmart, they will price match the prices of other stores. You may consider planning your menus on what produce they have on sale.

As a final aside, you will find that initially, your grocery bill may be more, and even continue to be a bit higher than it used to be. However, this is health insurance. There is nothing worth more than you and your family's health. And extra dollars for whole foods is nothing compared to the costs of cancer, high blood pressure, colitis, heart disease, and other ailments that almost entirely prevented by dietary choices.

To your health!

Reinventing the Wheel

I was going to write a nice long post about entry level habit changes you can make to move closer to whole foods, but somebody beat me to it.

http://madmim.com/what-i-learned-from-6-weeks-as-a-vegan-and-other-revelations/

It's fabulous, and right what I would suggest. I actually don't recommend being vegan or vegetarian forever, unless you LOVE it, and are committed, but having been both for exactly the same reason as this lady, it kind of forces you to learn how to use vegetables in new ways.

Happy reading.

How To Cook Lentils

Okay, lentils are one of things that everyone should be eating because they cost so little, and can go in almost anything. I make tacos from lentils (just putting taco seasoning and some olive oil with the lentils, instead of using ground beef), I put them in soups to give them substance, and you can throw cooked lentils onto a salad to add some much needed fiber and protein. :) Yay lentils!

And, they are super easy to cook.

To make lentils:

Put 1 cup of dry lentils into a pot with 2 cups of water (this ratio is great for any amount of lentils).

DO NOT SALT THE WATER. The lentils won't get soft that way.

Bring the water and lentils to boil. Stir once or twice, and then turn the heat down to low and cover with a lid. After about fifteen minutes, the lentils should be soft and the water absorbed. Lentils can be eaten at different levels of softness. Experiment with cooking them with a little less or more water to get different levels of softness. For soups, lentils should be very soft, because people usually don't like to chew their soup. :)

So, go eat some lentils!