Welcome back to another edition of Frugal Fridays! If you’ve joined us in the past few weeks, I’ve been doing a series on “The Financial Costs of Obesity.” In our first week, we talked about some general financial costs of obesity. And if you joined me last week, I talked about how we can develop a healthy eating philosophy. I will be the first to admit that this week has been a struggle. My mother and I (the head chef and junior chef) have not felt well thanks to a combination of fibromyalgia and struggles with depression, so we have not eaten healthy as much as we could have (which has probably contributed to how we feel). If there’s one thing I want to emphasize with this series, it is this: we can and will continue to fall off the weight wagon. Each day, however, God gives us a chance to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and get right back on track! So I look forward to tomorrow being another day, and I pray that I will feel better, eat right, and get back on the Wii to do my exercises!
One of the biggest battles in battling our obesity is deciding how we should eat. There are so many diet and eating plans out there: Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, the South Beach Diet, the Six Weeks Body Makeover just to name a few. Believe me, we’ve tried them all! The only bad thing about any of these programs, however, is that they cost money. Ultimately, it depends on what works best for you and how much you can afford to spend/ invest. Although Jenny Craig has great food, who has over $400 a month to pay for it? Not me! If I were to sit down and sketch out a rough draft of my eating philosophy and what I’ve learned about eating healthy, I would say that Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, and the Six Weeks Body Makeover have all been the most influential to our family.
In choosing to eat healthier, there are several ways you and your family can eat better frugally. The following suggestions are simple steps you can take at home to promote healthier eating habits for you and your family! I also hope you will take the time in the comments to share how you and your family eat healthier on a budget too!
Portion size! As I’ve come to learn through several diets and eating plans, portion size is really the way to control your diet. If you’ve joined me on Menu Plan Monday, you’ve noticed that we weigh our chicken and tuna. We also measure our potatoes and berries. As our doctor told my mom and I, the problem was not what we were eating but how much of it. If you buy snack foods or cereals, measure them out by the suggested serving size. Don’t sit down and eat half a bag of potato chips, measure out an ounce.
Add more fruits and vegetables to your diet. Aim to get your recommended five servings a day of fruits and vegetables. Remember, canned fruits and vegetables count. If you are going to eat canned fruits, look for labels that say “No Sugar Added”, and in purchasing canned vegetables, I would recommend that you look for “No Sodium Added” or “Reduced Sodium.” Be careful though! Make sure you read the labels! Sometimes “Reduced Sodium” actually has as much sodium in it but is at a higher price.
Speaking of sodium, cut down on it! I read a magazine article a while ago that talked about how much sodium we’re getting in our diets…it’s far beyond the recommended daily allowance! So many things have sodium in them…even diet soda! We’ve been cutting down on our sodium drastically. I drink flavored carbonated waters (like Sam’s Choice from Wal-Mart) instead of drinking diet sodas now because they don’t have any sodium in them. We don’t use as much salad dressing (even the fat-free kind), but use flavored vinegars, a squeeze of lemon, or Mrs. Dash! I highly recommend Mrs. Dash…there are several varieties. In the sliced potatoes we bake, I usually put on some Garlic & Herb Mrs. Dash, or some of the Tomato & Basil. Thinly slice your potatoes, add some “No Salt” and some flavor of Mrs. Dash, and you’ve got a great alternative to chips! I also like dicing up my tomatoes, putting them in a bowl with some Mrs. Dash and tossing them to coat the tomatoes…it makes a healthy alternative to using any kind of salad dressing.
Another way you can add more fruits and vegetables to your diet is by growing your own. Next year, we’re planning on growing a much larger garden in our backyard and planting potatoes, green beans, and melons. I’ve always wanted to grow a larger garden, but it’s taken me a few years to get my dad on board. Although I messed up this year (first year gardener mistakes!), I’m going to do a lot of reading this fall and winter online and off to see how I can improve next year.
Little changes add to big changes in your eating philosophy and lifestyle. And some of these changes are relatively frugal! What are your frugal ideas about a healthy eating philosophy? How do you and your family eat healthy on the cheap? Please share your ideas in the comments!
One of the biggest battles in battling our obesity is deciding how we should eat. There are so many diet and eating plans out there: Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, the South Beach Diet, the Six Weeks Body Makeover just to name a few. Believe me, we’ve tried them all! The only bad thing about any of these programs, however, is that they cost money. Ultimately, it depends on what works best for you and how much you can afford to spend/ invest. Although Jenny Craig has great food, who has over $400 a month to pay for it? Not me! If I were to sit down and sketch out a rough draft of my eating philosophy and what I’ve learned about eating healthy, I would say that Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, and the Six Weeks Body Makeover have all been the most influential to our family.
In choosing to eat healthier, there are several ways you and your family can eat better frugally. The following suggestions are simple steps you can take at home to promote healthier eating habits for you and your family! I also hope you will take the time in the comments to share how you and your family eat healthier on a budget too!
Portion size! As I’ve come to learn through several diets and eating plans, portion size is really the way to control your diet. If you’ve joined me on Menu Plan Monday, you’ve noticed that we weigh our chicken and tuna. We also measure our potatoes and berries. As our doctor told my mom and I, the problem was not what we were eating but how much of it. If you buy snack foods or cereals, measure them out by the suggested serving size. Don’t sit down and eat half a bag of potato chips, measure out an ounce.
Add more fruits and vegetables to your diet. Aim to get your recommended five servings a day of fruits and vegetables. Remember, canned fruits and vegetables count. If you are going to eat canned fruits, look for labels that say “No Sugar Added”, and in purchasing canned vegetables, I would recommend that you look for “No Sodium Added” or “Reduced Sodium.” Be careful though! Make sure you read the labels! Sometimes “Reduced Sodium” actually has as much sodium in it but is at a higher price.
Speaking of sodium, cut down on it! I read a magazine article a while ago that talked about how much sodium we’re getting in our diets…it’s far beyond the recommended daily allowance! So many things have sodium in them…even diet soda! We’ve been cutting down on our sodium drastically. I drink flavored carbonated waters (like Sam’s Choice from Wal-Mart) instead of drinking diet sodas now because they don’t have any sodium in them. We don’t use as much salad dressing (even the fat-free kind), but use flavored vinegars, a squeeze of lemon, or Mrs. Dash! I highly recommend Mrs. Dash…there are several varieties. In the sliced potatoes we bake, I usually put on some Garlic & Herb Mrs. Dash, or some of the Tomato & Basil. Thinly slice your potatoes, add some “No Salt” and some flavor of Mrs. Dash, and you’ve got a great alternative to chips! I also like dicing up my tomatoes, putting them in a bowl with some Mrs. Dash and tossing them to coat the tomatoes…it makes a healthy alternative to using any kind of salad dressing.
Another way you can add more fruits and vegetables to your diet is by growing your own. Next year, we’re planning on growing a much larger garden in our backyard and planting potatoes, green beans, and melons. I’ve always wanted to grow a larger garden, but it’s taken me a few years to get my dad on board. Although I messed up this year (first year gardener mistakes!), I’m going to do a lot of reading this fall and winter online and off to see how I can improve next year.
Little changes add to big changes in your eating philosophy and lifestyle. And some of these changes are relatively frugal! What are your frugal ideas about a healthy eating philosophy? How do you and your family eat healthy on the cheap? Please share your ideas in the comments!
2 comments:
Great topic. As a family we try to focus on: eating whole grains, limiting all sugars, and drinking plenty of water instead of lots of drinks full of emtpy calories.
By the way, I've tagged you over at my blog:
http://free2befrugal.blogspot.com/2008/08/holy-cow-ive-been-tagged-thrice.html
:)
I read a few books that talked about everything that goes into processed meat and dairy and decided to take the dramatic step and go vegan. I'm not perfect 100% of the time, but I feel a lot better than I used to and it's not that expensive if you shop sales and buy produce from local farmers.
Not having to buy meat and dairy more than makes up for the additional cost of the other foods I eat to replace those categories.
Love your blog! It's full of relevant information! Hope you guys get to feeling better soon!!!
Post a Comment
Thank you so much for your valuable comment! I appreciate you taking the time to read "The Frugal Bookworm"!