Not too long ago I was helping my friend, Gene start her new health journey with a good detox.
I created an entire health transition packet to help guide her through the process. The packet consisted of an in-depth detox, a supply list of things she’d need, including a grocery list, and healthy detox recipes to get her started. Gene was going to be on an all raw fruit and veggie detox for an entire week.
Gene was due to take some vacation time from work, so it was the perfect timing for a cleanse. While attempting an in-depth detox I always encourage people to either wait until they are due some time off from work, school, or from their busy schedules, or to just take the time off to cleanse. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking: “Who wants to use up perfectly good vacation or personal days to do a cleanse and feel miserable?” I get it. I do. But there are great benefits to cleansing while not under the pressure of life. I go into the benefits of removing yourself from your busy schedule while cleansing in my how to detox post.
Anyway, Gene and I agreed to go grocery shopping together to get her raw foods for her cleanse. Unfortunately, Gene’s vacation time from work hadn’t started yet, so her schedule from work, and then life at home was pretty hectic. When Gene was two days away from starting her cleanse, she still hadn’t found the time for us to meet up to go grocery shopping for her food. To help Gene out, since I was going to the grocery store anyway, I volunteered to get the things she’d need for her upcoming cleanse. Utterly relieved, Gene gave me her budget for her entirely organic grocery list–$60.
My heart sank a little. I usually spend about that much in the organic produce section alone at Kroger, but my friend also needed organic supplements, spices, and cleansing herbs for this detox, which already put me well over her budget. When I explained to her that $60 wasn’t going to get her much, she firmly stated that that was all she had, and I had to make it work.
What could I do but stick within Gene’s budget? So, I took my friend’s $60 and did the best I could with it. From the grocery/supply list I made her, I just got the things she needed most (thank goodness she already had a juicer!). I even scored the fantastic fish oil supplement for her arthritis. Unfortunately, she made me return it because it took me slightly–alright, more than slightly over her budget. I was really sad about that. No kidding. That fish oil was a great supplement and not only does it help tremendously with acne, it really helps to strengthen joints and bones. Gene has issues with arthritis, so I knew much it could help her. No amount of cajoling on my end could sway her from spending more than she was able to. In this case of budget vs. necessity, budget ruled.
It’s no secret that eating organic can be pricey. Even though I understand the healing powers of eating organic, as a penny-pincher myself, I admit I have found myself among grumblers about the prices of some of the organic food and supplements. I’ve even eaten non-organic fruit and veggies from time to time to save a buck. Before I got married, I lived paycheck to paycheck, and until recently, my husband and I were a couple of paychecks from being a one-income family, so we still have no choice but to be very careful with how we spend our money. On top of that, there are absolutely some grocery stores that are unnecessarily overpriced. So, I’ve had to make some careful decisions with my spending in the grocery store quite often.
BUT…
I do have to say this: Even though I know exactly how it is living a frugal life, and though I may cringe at prices of organic foods from time to time, I also understand my priorities. My health is the one thing without a doubt I will invest in, and it’s not a bad idea to get into the same mind-frame.
You just have to be smart about it.
Fear not. There are ways to do this. Straight from a tightwad to you guys, I’ll show you a few things I’ve learned to manage to live healthy on a serious budget.
Make & Keep Your Health Priority Number 1
First thing’s first. Make and keep your health a priority.
You may be thinking, “What does this have to do with healthy living while broke?”
The answer is, “Everything.”
When your health is a priority, you have drive and focus. You’ll do whatever it takes to bring your health goals into fruition and maintain them, including thinking outside the box. For instance, my health consists of natural healing from acne and uterine fibroids. Since I’ve made the health of my body a priority, I have done whatever it takes to achieve that goal. When I’m broke I find creative ways to get the healthy supplies I need to further help me with my health. And some of the supplies aren’t cheap.
If you’re struggling to get past the cost of healthy living, making your health a priority is the best way to come to grips with it.
Listen, I get it. I really do. These days, with jobs that don’t pay much, families to take care of, living expenses, savings, and other life obligations, it can be hard to make the expense of healthy living a priority. But it absolutely needs to be. Your health is just way too important to be placed on the back burner. Plus, once you start to take better care of yourself, your mind-frame changes, and you begin to naturally seek ways to manage all life’s obligations with ease. You begin to understand your worth, and look at things differently, and go after things you never thought were possible. Your whole life changes.
Also, you have to understand and accept that once you decide to do a cleanse, cure your acne, lose weight, or just take care of yourself it’s a lifelong journey. You can’t just do a cleanse, then once the cleanse is over, return to the unhealthy habits that got you in the state you’re in. I’m not saying you can never have any of your favorite foods. I am saying you have to have a balance of just how much of your favorite foods to eat before you cut yourself off, or until you’ve reached a point where you’re no longer tempted by food that isn’t good for you.
I’ve been that girl who time and time again went right back to the same unhealthy habits I left behind once her skin cleared up. And guess what? I broke right back out again. But since my health, not just my skin is a priority to me, I just picked up where I left off, and like Superman’s Doomsday, I got stronger, better, and more creative every time I failed. You can and will, too. You just have to embrace your health into your heart, and even when you fail, stick with it. Your passion for your health will lead to all kinds of creativity to maintain it, trust me.
Shop Smart
You know how you can score the greatest deals on winter clothes in the spring and summer, and summer clothes in the fall and winter? Well, food shopping is done much the same way. During my health journey on a budget, I had to learn how to shop seasonally.
The prices of things go up depending on the season. For instance, I notice the prices of most organic fruit (especially oranges, lemons, and strawberries) shoot sky high in the winter but seem to go down in the spring and summer when they’re in season. This is the time to stock up on them and store them in your freezer to prepare you for the cooler months and the pricey prices that comes with it. You may not be able to get everything on sale, but catching those deals when they’re on sale will save you a lot of money down the road.
Prioritize
Another thing you can do to deal with the cost of healthy living is to learn how to prioritize what to buy and when. Ideally, I try to eat mostly organic foods. But as a frugal person myself, I truly understand how difficult and expensive that can be from time to time. There have been times when all I had to spend was $18 in my bank account to last until payday, only to discover I was out of blueberries, mangoes, ginger, and zucchini.
So what’s a girl to do in a situation like this? A girl has to make an executive decision.
What did I need most? What could I afford to go without? Let’s analyze this a little further.
I confess: There have been times when I didn’t buy organic fruit and vegetables because my bank account just wouldn’t allow it. I’m not saying this is an excuse for any of you to be cheap and not buy organic fruit and vegetables. If you have the money to spend on organic produce, do yourself and your body a favor and just spend the money on quality. What I am saying is if you’re down to your last dollars and you need to buy some produce, it may be a good idea for you to start with what you need most. For instance, during the time of my executive decision-making, I was having candida issues. So, knowing that excess sugar makes candida worse, that eliminated mangoes from my shopping list because they’re a bit higher in sugar than berries, and I didn’t want to provide the crappy fungus with a food source to make it stronger.
Then, I’d read several articles on what foods to always buy organic, even if you’re on a budget. I found this post on livestrong.com that really breaks down the what and why. You should always, ALWAYS buy berries organic. Unlike mangoes, berries don’t have a protective outer peel to help keep chemicals out. Conventional berries are more than likely poisoned with pesticides. Organic berries can run a tad on the pricey side, which weighed in in my decision-making. Since I had to live off $18 for 5 days, I had to be very careful of my spending, and with the candida issues I was having, I ruled the $5 blueberries out. Even though they’re low in sugar, I still didn’t want to give candida a food source.
That left the zucchini and ginger. Zucchini usually costs about $2.50 a pound and depending on how large they are, that’s usually about 2, maybe 3 zucchinis. Raw organic ginger is pricey, but it’s such a powerful herb. There’s almost nothing candida hates more than ginger juice. A pound of organic raw ginger root at the grocery store can run you about $7.00 a pound, but I needed it, along with some raw green vegetables that I could juice and eat. So, with a pound of ginger at $7.00, and a pound of zucchini at $2.50, I had to leave the supermarket with the things I needed most: ginger and zucchini for candida issues.
Branch Out
You may have to be willing to visit multiple grocery stores, and check out a few farmer’s markets, to see who has the best deals on organic food.
The more you educate yourself about healthy living and your respective ailments, the more you’ll see that when you’re out shopping, you may not be able to get everything you need at one grocery store. At least not the best deals on things.
For example, I can find coconut oil at most grocery stores these days, but the rate I use coconut oil is very frequently, so I run out pretty quickly. One 12 oz or 16 oz jar of coconut oil isn’t going to cut it in my house. Not for long. On top of that, coconut oil is pretty pricey. That 16 oz jar of coconut oil can run you anywhere from $12-$16, depending on the brand. So I know in order to get the best deal on coconut oil, I have to know where to find it in bulk. I found a great deal at my local Costco store where I can get nearly a whole gallon for less than $25. That’s a great deal, considering how much I use. You’ll have to search for different stores in your area to find the healthy things you need for a good price.
Some stores don’t carry the things I need. I can only find ghee butter or spelt noodles at one grocery store in my town, so in order to get it, I have to travel to it, which I’m thankful isn’t that far away. And some stores you may be able to find what you need, but it’ll be worthless to your body because the brand of the product is cheaply manufactured, so you may have to travel to another store that has the same item, but its quality is better, though the price may be more expensive because if it. This has certainly been the case with a lot of olive oils. Thankfully, grocery stores all over the world are beginning to get more health-conscious, and carry better products with better ingredients on their isles.
These tips are what guide me in my healthy shopping expenditures. You can tell, that when I mention being on a strict budget, I really mean it. It’s very possible to live healthy while stretching dollars. The thing is, you probably will have to make more grocery trips when you start a healthy lifestyle because you’ll eat out less and less. But when you start with the first tip, everything else falls into place.
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