16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap
Published on - July 30th, 2007 (Modified on - December 13th, 2011) (by J.D. Roth) This is a guest post by Mehdi, author of StrongLifts.com. If you enjoy this post, check out his site.
Eating healthy is important.
.
Eating healthy:
- Lowers disease risks
- Increases productivity
- Gives you more energy
- Makes you stronger
You probably think eating healthy is expensive. I’ll be honest — it is. But there are tricks to spare your savings account and keep it low cost. Here are sixteen ways to eat more healthy while keeping it cheap.
What is Healthy Food? Before we start, let’s define healthy food. It consists of:
- Protein. The building blocks of muscles, needed for strength.
- Fat. A balanced intake of omega 3, 6 & 9.
- Veggies. All kinds, especially green fibrous veggies.
- Fruit. Full of vitamins.
- Water. 1 liter per 1000 calories you expend.
- Whole grain food. Oats, rice, pasta, breads, …
On with the tips.
1. Switch to Water. I drank huge amounts of soda daily for more than 15 years. Then I started Strength Training and switched to water:
- It’s healthier
- It’s cheaper
Quit the soda & drink water. Take a bottle wherever you go.
2. Consume Tap Water. Check the price of water on your tap water bill. Now check the price of bottled water. Quit a difference, isn’t it? So why are you buying bottled water?
- Cleaner? Not necessarily.
- Better taste? No, simply a matter of Adaptation.
Bottled water companies get their supply from the same source you do: municipal water systems. It’s like selling ice to Eskimos. If you don’t trust the quality of tap water, filter it yourself. I use a Brita Pitcher. One $7 filter cleans 40 gallons water.
3. Eat Eggs. I always have eggs at breakfast:
- Full of vitamins
- High in proteins
- Low in price
Don’t believe the Eggs & Cholesterol myth. Dietary cholesterol is not bound to blood cholesterol. Want to make it cheaper? Buy a chicken.
4. Eat Fatty Meats. Fatty meats are cheaper & more tasty than lean meats. You think it’s not healthy? Check the Fat Myths:
- Fat doesn’t make you fat, excess calories do
- You need a balanced intake of fats: omega 3, 6 & 9
I’m on the Anabolic Diet, I buy beef chuck instead of sirloin.
5. Get Whey. The cheapest source of protein. 70$ for a 10lbs bag lasting 4 months. Nothing beats that. Use whey in your Post Workout Shake to help recovery.
6. Tuna Cans. Canned tuna is cheap & contains as much protein as meat. Alternate tuna with eggs, meat & whey. You’ll easily get to your daily amount of protein.
7. Buy Frozen Veggies. I mostly buy frozen veggies:
- Take less time to prepare
- You don’t waste money if not eaten in time
- Can be bought in bulk for discounts & stored in your freezer
If you can afford fresh veggies, then do it. I go frozen.
8. Use a Multivitamin. Pesticides lower the vitamin levels of your fruits & veggies. Two solutions:
- Buy organic food. Expensive.
- Use a multivitamin. $10 a month.
Choose what fits your wallet best. I take the multivitamin.
9. Fish Oil. Omega-3 is found in fish oil. Benefits of omega-3 consumption include:
- Lowered cholesterol levels
- Decreased body fat
- Reduced inflammation
You need to eat fatty fish 3 times a week to get these benefits. Time consuming & expensive, I know. Try Carlson‘s Liquid Fish Oil with Lemon flavor. One teaspoon daily. You’ll be ok.
10. Buy Generic Food. The box might be less attractive, it’s certainly more attractive to your wallet. Brand-name food will always be more expensive. You’re paying for the name. Get real. Food is food. Go generic.
11. Buy in Bulk. Think long-term. Buying in bulk is more expensive at the cashier, but cheaper in the long run:
- Gets you discounts
- Saves time
- Saves car fuel
Invest in a big freezer. Buy meats & veggies in bulk and freeze them.
12. Go to One Grocery Store. This grocery store is cheaper for meat, that grocery store is cheaper for veggies, the other grocery store is cheaper for fish… How many grocery stores are you going to, trying to find the cheapest food? Think!
- Time is money. Stop losing a day shopping.
- Cars don’t run on water. Lower your fuel expenses.
I get all my food in a big grocery store near my place. It hasn’t the cheapest price for all foods, but it saves me time & fuel.
13. Make a Plan. A classic, but worth repeating. Everything starts with a plan.
- Make a list of what you need
- Eat a solid meal, don’t go hungry
- Go the grocery, get what’s on your list & get out
No need to take your partner or kids with you. This is not a recreational activity. Just get your food & get back home.
14. Take Food To Work. Ever counted how much money you throw away buying food at work daily? Start preparing your food for the day on waking up:
- Get up earlier
- Eat a solid breakfast (like Scrambled Eggs)
- Prepare your food for work in the meanwhile
Total time 30 minutes. No stress during the day about what you’ll be eating & you get healthy food while sparing money.
15. Eat Less. This one is obvious. The less you eat, the lower your grocery bill. If you’re overweight, get on a diet. Your health & bank account will thank you.
16. Don’t Buy Junk Food. The last one. Stop buying anything that comes out of a box, it’s:
- Unhealthy
- Expensive
If you actually find junk food that is cheaper than whole food, think long-term. Health implications.
Mehdi is author of StrongLifts.com, a blog about Strength Training, nutrition, lifestyle & attitude. His articles include the Anabolic Diet & the Beginner Strength Training Program. Join him at StrongLifts.com for the fascinating journey toward more strength, bigger muscles, low body fat & a better health.
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[QUOTE]Bottled water companies get their supply from the same source you do: municipal water systems.[/QUOTE]
Wrong. A friend of mine owns a bottled water company. It is [i]source[/i] water, not tap water.
[QUOTE]Eat eggs. Want to make it cheaper? Buy a chicken.[/QUOTE]
That was the best part
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A plant based diet can be as cheap/cheaper than the suggestion in the article above.
Aside from tastier, more varied food there is a good chance to save even more money by avoiding the medical costs associated with a diet high in animal products.
Something to consider since about 1/3 of Americans do not have health insurance.
The other side of the story:
http://tinyurl.com/3au294
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One thing to consider is learning to use meats more as flavoring ingredients rather than as main ingredients. By most accounts, americans already consume way too much protein and saturated fats. There was also an article on how the huge amounts of livestock we raise to accommodate our lust for animal protein contributes more carbon to the atmosphere than a lot of other sources. It’s something to think about. Diets based on whole grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats with small amounts of meats have been shown to provide all of the nutrition needed for healthy living. Read “Eat, Drink and Be Healthy” by Walter Willett for an excellent source for nutritional information and diet guidance. Willett presents a good alternative to the USDA food pyramid.
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Meat is important for health. For those fearing cholesterol, you should know that dietary cholesterol makes very little difference in serum cholesterol.
http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth3.htm
Bottled water is *sometimes* obtained from municipal sources, but this is certainly not always true. I drink bottled water when away from home, not only for the taste, but to avoid the consumption of chlorine and flouride. I’m fortunate to have a deep well at home, which provides me with safe, healthy drinking water.
Carrion==> I didn’t say pesticides aren’t poison. In fact, I made no claim at all. I asked for a reliable source for his claim that pesticides reduce the vitamin and mineral content of foods, specifically.
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Wow, you’re a genius. “If you’re overweight, go on a diet.” Because fat people can choose to diet and lose their excess weight anytime they feel like it right? It couldn’t have anything to do with self-esteem, emotional eating, lack of motivation, etc that cause other people to drink or shop or be permiscuous or smoke or do drugs…… They should all just stop too.
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What vitamins are found in eggs bozo?!
Two, Poland Spring bottled water is bottled at several sources: Hollis, ME; Evergreen Spring, Fryeburg, ME; Garden Spring, Poland, ME and so on… The point is simple: not from a municipal water system. Fiji Water, clearly from Fiji. Anyone who drank huge amounts of soda for 15 years lacks intelligence.
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i think people are being overly critical of these tips. The author is simply expressing what worked for him personally. I agree with most of the tips in the article except for the part about fatty meats. I eat nothing but healthy foods and im a 6’3″ 25 year old man that weighs 195 lbs . I find that its hard for my body to digest foods high in saturated fat such as pork and other cheaper fatty meats. If you want to spend half your day on the toilet then i guess go ahead and eat all the fatty meat you want. Also i dont think the average person really needs to consume whey protein. If one follows a healthy diet of eating turkey,whole grains and what not they should get more then enough protein, not to mention that the amount of protein that one can digest an hour is dependent on their sex and physical condition. They key to any diet is moderation and also figuring out a weight that you will be happy with and then just doing something about it. as long as you don’t sit around like a bum all day you should be fine. Maybe tomorrow morning instead of taking the elevator the stairs might be a good bet.
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Tap water is more heavily regulated than bottled water.
Frozen veggies, if frozen right when picked, can/may actually contain *more* nutrients than fresh (or “fresh”, as they may be).
Most generic foods are “private label” items made by, you guessed it, the brand name items right beside them for much more money.
Each gram of fat has more calories than a gram of protein or carbs. Therefore, eating more fat *will* make you fatter, through the consumption of more calories.
Agree with all the comments re: tuna and mercury.
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You talk of cheap and healthy, but fail to mention one of the best food sources on the planet… BEANS!!!
Great source of protien, carbs and fiber, and so cheap!
Many varieties and comes fresh, canned, frozen and dried.
Eat fatty meats? That’s disgusting.
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Meat is important for health? The US is crazy for meat, consuming at a much higher rate than any other country.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1626 (bottom)
Look at other countries, as well as into the past, and you’ll see that meat is not a necessity as you think. Also, check out The China Study for more information.
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Mehdi, what credentials do you have that support your ability to give out dietary advice targeted to a general population?
JD, I think this post could have benefited from some oversight. I see *way* too many myths being presented as fact, and specific cases being presented as generalities, for this to be a wise addition to your site.
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Cottser, look at the deteriorating health of the developing nations on that chart. Not many people in those countries can afford meat.
I definitely do agree that Americans eat too much meat.
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I don’t know where you got the information that chemicals reduce vitamins in the food. Vitamins are reduced when the food is exposed to air (oxidation) or subjected to extreme temperatures. Freezing or cooking food reduces minerals and vitamins in the food.
Multivitamins are essential because the average person doesn’t get all the required minerals and vitamins from their diet. The problem is that the body doesn’t absorb the stuff in multivitamins very well. Labs are constantly looking to improve this; That’s why every few months, Centrum comes out with a “new enhanced formula” and the health food store carries a dozen sources of the same vitamin.
Vitamins also interact with one another, which has to be taken into account. For example, vitamin C helps iron absorption, and potassium can hinder vitamin B12 absorption causing a deficiency. Taking a multivitamin is necessary, but one should still incorporate at least five fresh fruit or vegetables in their diet everyday.
Animal fat (in excess) isn’t healthy. Fats are necessary for the brain and CNS to function at their peak, but should come from nuts/olive oil.
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#58 Susan
Do you read tabloid magazines? Do you actually believe that generic food and brand name foods are made in the exact same factory, and that they just have different labels?
Go out and buy a few products from a generic line and a brand name line. Compare the quality, and the ingredients, and it’s more than likely that the brand name food will be better quality. Also, look at the manufacturer and owner of the brand – it’s simple.
As for your theory on frozen vegetables, can you provide a reputable source?
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[...] 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap ? Get Rich Slowly (tags: health food diet fitness finance tips recipes) [...]
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This article was interesting, but reminded me of one of my favourite quotes from The Simpsons… “You fatcats didn’t finish your plankton!”
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BRITA is largely a cosmetic (taste-related) system and, for instance, removes neither chlorine byproducts–which occur when chlorine reacts with and kills bacteria–nor fluoride. Bottled municipal waters pass through rigorous reverse osmosis systems, removing just about everything. Fluoride, being so difficult to remove by even the most rigorous, professional systems is, true, still present in Pepsi’s RO signature “Aquafina” at the not insignificant level of 0.3 ppm.
BRITA municipal water tastes pretty fine, but healthwise it’s certainly inferior to the lousy-tasting RO-filtered muncipal waters.
Spring waters are a good best of both worlds if they are stored in more rigid plastics than is standard. Evian and Fiji containers leach less than do the frosty jugs common for distilled water and the very thin, flexible bottles used by Nestle and most others.
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I knew this athlete who ate nothing but
-beans & rice
-eggs
-yogurt (plain)
-bananas
-tuna
-chicken
-calf liver
-oatmeal
+ fresh produce
He was in awesome shape and his food bill was dirt cheap
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[...] how to get the most our of our food budget and eat healthy foods. Here’s some advice from 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping It Cheap: 4. Eat Fatty Meats. Fatty meats are cheaper & more tasty than lean meats. You think it’s [...]
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#64 Michael
Fully agree with ingredient matching and checking manufactures. But its a common marketing strategy for brands to lower prices to compete and knock out lower price competitors to prevent cannibalization of their “quality” brands. Store brands can often be of equal quality, with basic packaging (cheaper), in house produced and distributed (cheaper), and placed on shelves to sell top shelve location to top brands, again cheaper.
Google line extensions, not all of its tabloids. And yes, try them out first.
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[...] 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap ? Get Rich Slowly [...]
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It’s important to remember that you can also save money by staying healthy, something which will likely result if these tips are followed. Of course every person is different and there’s no 1-size-fits-all model for diets, but it’s definitely a good start.
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[...] 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap ? Get Rich Slowly [...]
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Wow….Thanks mate.
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[...] to my blog feed. Thanks for visiting!Get Rich Slowly featured an article by me last Monday: 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap. The article got plenty of [...]
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#1 Water
Water has no nutritional value and a lot of nutrients cannot be completely absorbed from multivitamins. Just because your daily amount is in one doesn’t mean your body absorbs it all (like calcium, iron).
#3 Eating more than one egg every day for breakfast is an unnecessary high intake of cholesterol.
#4 Fatty meats are so much worse for you to eat, just cut the fat OFF of them! Eating fatty meats means you have to eat less of everything else so you don’t go over your calorie intake.
#5 Never heard of eating whey.
#6 Tuna is overfished and tuna fishing harms many other sea animals like sharks and dolphins.
#7 Frozen vegetables are MORE expensive because they are prewashed, cut, and packaged. Plus kept frozen.
#9 My mom has known about fish oil for years.
#11 Buying in bulk means things are more likely to go stale, moldy, or get freezer burn. Plus the expense of paying to freeze all of it.
What I was expecting on this list was stuff like
Make your own granola to save on buying cereal
Take healthy snacks to the movies
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This is a good, healthy bulking diet for a young man. I saw some woman in here saying this isn’t right for the average person… well that’s fair to say. I wouldn’t expect many women to eat large amounts of protein. For a twenty year old man at 5’9″ 140lbs who is strength traning, this sounds just right though.
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[...] 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap [...]
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What nearly all of you fail to understand is that there is no one right way to eat for everyone, and sitting there sniffily dismissing item X or Y for no reason other than “I say so” isn’t helping. “don’t eat X!” “why?” “it’s bad for you!” “but why?” “durrr…” some of the fattest, most unhealthy people I’ve known are vegans. that isn’t saying that veganism is bad, but it is stating that it’s bad for THEM and they will not change whether out of ignorance or willfullness.
I am a 45 year old man who’s done the whole-grain-leafy-veg fruity low fat thing. my blood glucose and triglycerides are through the roof and I am insulin resistant. doing nothing meant type 2 diabetes before long. for years I did not eat any refined starches or sugars, no soda, nothing processed, everything whole and organic and blah blah blah but despite that my bloodwork is not good. about ten years ago I lost a bunch of weight on Atkins, so now I am lifting weights again and eating very-low-carb because I know FOR ME that a high-fat/protein very-low-carb menu works for me. for someone else maybe a diet of thistles and burrs is the cat’s ass. everyone’s metabolism is different. there are far too many variables involved esp. with the endocrine system to ensure any kind of uniformity.
Most Drs have about 10 minutes to see you in this fantastic for-profit health care system we have, and don’t know jack about nutrition in the first place other than what they read off the last batch of Big Pharma freebie flyers they got. my doctor SMOKES for chrissakes. so they are about the last ones I’d turn to for nutritional advice.
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Just to throw some wood on the fire, here’s an article from a year or two ago, by Gary Taubes, a Pulitzer prize winning investigative journalist for the New York Times entitled “What if it’s All Been a Big Fat Lie?” It’s pretty interesting and does a decent job of questioning (whether you ultimately choose to believe it or not) the dietary advice we’ve been getting from doctors and the AMA for the past 30-40 years. It’s a long article (10 pages or so), and you may need to register to read it (it’s free).
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E2D61F3EF934A35754C0A9649C8B63&sec=health
Apparently what Taubes learned while writing this article was significant enough to get him to write a book which comes out in September sometime. It supposed to be very well researched and referenced and pretty damning of the AMA and medical establishment.
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[...] 16 formas de comer saludablemente gastando poco (en inglés) [...]
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Health articles that you may have missed…
In my daily surfing I run across a mass of great articles and thought I would share a few that I ran into today. These are all health related and great reads to teach you how to live a healthier lifestyle. The Perfect Road-Trip, Water Bottle – A 67 Yea…
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[...] 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap: You probably think eating healthy is expensive. I’ll be honest — it is. But there are tricks to keep it low cost. [...]
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16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap…
Link: 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it CheapMakes sense to me! This comes from a blog called Get Rich Slowly: Personal Finance that Makes Cents and I don’t know it, but the food advice is sound — for…
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Most of these things are actually things you should NOT do. Fatty meat and dairy products are the worst things you can possibly put in your body!!! It has been scientifically proven that fatty meat consumption can lead to heart disease, cancer, and even impotence! Please Please go to http://www.goveg.com and find out the truth! You can still eat on the cheap and be healthy too!
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[...] posted last Monday was a list of the 16 Ways to Keep Healthy While Keeping it Cheap on the Get Rich Slowly blog. Some of the gems on that list include recommendations to make a food [...]
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[...] Eat healthy while keeping it cheap [...]
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I want to add that Whey Protein is good and cheap, but some people can also become “whey intolerant” similar to lactose. A switch or start on Soy protein may be needed.
Some of the best cheap healthy foods are breads, pastas, tuna fish, eggs and even healthy choice hot dogs.
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> Dave Says:
> July 31st, 2007 at 12:26 pm
> What vitamins are found in eggs bozo?!
Umm, p’raps it’d be nice to do a bit of research before slamming people.
Eggs have vitamin A, all 8 of the B group vitamins as well as vitamins D and E. Eggs also contain iron, zinc, iodine, phosphorus, potassium and small quantities of other minerals.
They do, however, also contain cholesterol, and this can raise the total serum cholesterol and adversely affect the cholesterol profile (i.e. LDLs to HDLs) but this isn’t a significant risk if the rest of the diet is low in saturated fats, and if eggs are eaten in moderation. They have also been shown to increase HDLs (the good cholesterol), and so may help protect against heart disease. Again, in moderation.
(Did someone ask for references?
* Lee A. Griffin B. Dietary cholesterol, eggs and coronary heart disease risk in perspective. Nutrition Bulletin. 2006 Mar; 31(1): 21-7.
* Weggemans RM. Zock PL. Katan MB. Dietary cholesterol from eggs increases the ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in humans: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2001 May; 73(5): 885-91.)
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[...] 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap by J.D. Roth I always like to read practical tips on being healthy, especially if they do not cost much. This article does just that. Some of the tips: switch to water, eat eggs, buy frozen veggies, and don’t buy junk food. [...]
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[...] was Stumbling and came across an article titled 16 ways to eat healthy while keeping it cheap. This article was fantastic! I’ve been having a hard time deciding what to buy, and how much [...]
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fresh vegetables, accept no substitutes. in my experience, 80% of recipes that involve vegetables as something other than a garnish, are loathsome with frozen veggies, and of canned vegetables we shall not speak.
spend the extra money, and you will find yourself eating more vegetables, and much more VARIETY of vegetables.
most of the really excellent sources of protein have specific dietary “costs” associated with them. animal fat is the obvious problem, but fish, soy, and whey all have their issues too. be sure to diversify your protein intake!
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Those are some excellent tips (over simplified but a great start for most).
A.J.
The New Self
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so funny, trying to be healthy you really just killed all of the good shit in that food by freezing buying canned tuna?? come on mercury? at least your purifying your water… if your gonna do it dont do it half assed! if you want to do it cheap the best way is trader joes and costco, otherwise it aint cheap and it aint that healthy!
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Personally, I think many people missed the entire point of this article, which is how to eat healthy and cheap. The two don’t always work together. I will name names to keep it simple, but this doesn’t mean these are the only bad companies in town.
Take for instance, the Wendy’s Junior Bacon Cheeseburger… about $1 (okay, 99 cents…sue me for a penny). The McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger, $1.00. The Burger King Whopper Jr (well, at least no cheese, unless you pay extra) $1.00.
Now, try to buy a large salad from any of these fast food places. Not a small, snack, side dish, but a meal salad. Can you get it for less than $4 or $5?
Many people also only have 30 minute lunches or have to run errands and lunch at the same time. Unless you take the time to prepare your food to take with you (and many people don’t have the spare time), we are stuck with what our fast food places offer…..bad food at low prices, or good food at higher prices.
P.S. Don’t ruin the whole salad with 2 or 3 servings of full-calorie dressing and call it “healthy”.
We need another chain that specializes in affordable and healthy fast food.
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[...] your article 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap you recommended taking a multivitamin. The multi’s that I’ve found are either cheap, [...]
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The whole Mercury tuna thing is really not as big of a deal as people make it out to be. What about the Japanese? Fish is a staple of their diet. And you dont hear about them dieing from mercury poisoning. Fish is good for you. And ALL fish has mercury in it.
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[...] Check how to eat healthy while keeping it cheap. [...]
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[...] 15 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap from Get Rich Slowly [...]
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[...] Go for whole food. Use multi-vitamins & fish oil supplements if you want. It doesn’t need to be expensive, you can eat healthy while keeping it cheap. [...]
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