7 Ways To Invest In Your Health-Save Money and Be Heart Healthy

What ever your economic hardships are, you always want to invest in your own health and eat the foods that will nourish and give you valuable nutrients. There is no substitute for proper natural nutrition. Medical bills are a lot higher than going to the grocery store…even though it might not seem like it at the cash register. Today’s savings on food could spell out tomorrow’s high cost medical bills. So, here are 7 ways to invest in your health and save money and be heart heathy…healthy and economical, a win-win situation.

7 Ways To Invest In Your Health-Save Money and Be Heart Healthy

1. Produce that is big in health, small in price. Since it is Fall/Winter, here are some healthy autumn staples that won’t break the piggy bank.

• Vitamin rich vegetables can become the centerpiece of your meals. In season right now are broccoli, mustard greens, arugula, bok choi, chard, carrots, onions, parsnips, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, leeks, beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, mushrooms, and squashes of all shapes and sizes.
• In the fruit isle, apples, pears, and cranberries for inexpensive fruits packed with nutrients.
• Some healthy, flavorful foods that can spice up any dish are ginger, garlic, burdock, parsley and scallions.
• Get some heart healthy cookbooks to help you plan meals.

2. Get protein from less expensive sources

• Soy Products: Get in touch with tofu, which is much less expensive than high quality meat. Tofu, or bean curd, has very little flavor of its own, so it can be seasoned or marinated to work with any dish. You can get more mileage out of your scrambled eggs by combining half soft tofu and half eggs. How about making a vegetable stir fry that is 30/70 seventy percent bean curd and thirty percent meat. Low in calories and relatively high in protein, iron, and fiber, soy is filled with histidine, an amino acid that helps your body digest protein, protect red blood cells, and maintain healthy immune function.

• Beans and legumes also cost very little, but bring a robust flavor and a bounty of benefits to your health. Beans and legumes are packed with protein and fiber, provide the good kind of fat, and are loaded with complex carbohydrates, the nutrients that provide energy to the body. And you can buy in bulk, because dried beans and legumes will keep their quality for 6 to 12 months in an airtight glass container stored in a cool, dry place.

• Whole Grains: Few other foods offer such a diverse array of benefits at such a small cost. A good source of dietary fiber, protein, and essential fatty acids, whole grains are filling and delicious. Also, there is much evidence that suggests eating whole grains reduces the risks of coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and obesity. Try barley, brown rice, oats, quinoa, rice, rye, sorghum, spelt, organic wheat pasta, buckwheat pasta, and amaranth. Again, you can buy in bulk and store in glass containers for up to 6 months.

3. Smart tips about leftovers

When you make more than one meal at a time, you save money, time and energy. The trick is to plan in advance so that nothing goes to waste. Get creative so that you don’t end up eating the same meal over and over. Yesterday’s chili can be today’s bean dip for the game, quesadillas or next weeks stuffed bell peppers.m Freeze and date in your freezer.

4. Soup: the low cost and low calorie super saver

Not only is soup one of the healthiest ways to fill up, due to the ease at which the body can assimilate liquid nutrients, it is also one of the most cost effective. Studies have shown that soup, because if its liquid content, is a wonderful way to lose weight. You can use the vegetable scraps from the preparation of other meals to make your own vegetable broth. Nothing could be simpler than throwing in leek or celery tops, onion remainders or whatever is left over in boiling water with a couple of garlic cloves. Canned broth is VERY HIGH in sodium. I take my vegetables and put them on the grill, burn them a little and then boil them…give a whole different taste. They also can be frozen.
5. Eat in
Eating out is fastest way to blow the whole budget. Get in the habit of bringing lunch with you. Be adventurous; bagged lunch doesn’t have to be a sandwich every day. Get a short wide stainless steel thermos and bring soup, marinated vegetables and couscous, or eggplant parmesan. What ever will satisfy and inspire ‘your’ taste buds.

Why go out when you can have an intimate candle lighted dinner at home. Have drinks, appetizer, the main event and even desert.

Think of the savings. Or, how about throwing  a heart healthy party. Have a hearth healthy potluck dinner, where each of your friends brings a hearth healthy recipe dish and a heart healthy desert. Plan the heart healthy menus so there is no repeats. Have fun being on a budget and being heart healthy together. Plus you have the company of good friends. BIG hint…There are less pots to clean and less cooking.

I like to have cookie parties for the holidays…everyone brings two kinds of different cookies and you trade out. Wa-laaa…baking cookies for the holidays are done, in one afternoon with your friends. Your budget will be saved as well.

6. Don’t leave the bottle behind

Buying a bottle of water every day or tea. Drink more fluids, lose more weight. Think of the recycling bin, leaa trash. Invest in a water filtration system. What seems like a big cost at first ends up saving you money, the environment and in the long run, your health.

7. Grow your own food

Bring back the garden! Start simply by just growing your own sprouts in a jar. Then upgrade to making your own yogurt. Eventually, as weather in your region allows, start planting a garden of fresh herbs and vegetables that will bring you a bounty of healthy benefits. Many can grow in your window or even in a cellar with a light.Take it one step farther and learn how to preserve your food You will be amazed how stocked you will become. And nothing tastes better than food you have grown and prepared yourself. Get a co-op going and trade out. Have a friendly contest for who has the best vegetables.  Be neighbors again. I have a feeling we are going to need each other again.

Don’t forget to start a compose pile. There is not a better way to be green friendly.

It is time to get back to basics and be heart healthy so we can make it though this economic crisis. If we could just get the government to be green friendly as well…Let’s see what the election will bring.

Make sure you go to our Recipe Section and look over our Heart Healthy Recipes and Heart Healthy Deserts. There are some heart healthy cookbooks below for you to look through.

Remember planning your heart healthy menus and meals are cost effective.

~The Baby Boomer Queen~

As promised…