{"id":79233,"date":"2020-01-29T20:01:41","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T04:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=79233"},"modified":"2020-06-30T17:51:57","modified_gmt":"2020-07-01T01:51:57","slug":"improve-health-on-a-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/improve-health-on-a-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Improve Your Health on a Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Are you ready to make a lifestyle change but you\u2019re worried\nabout breaking the bank while trying to make healthier changes? The good news\nis that you don\u2019t have to worry about spending a ton of money to become\nhealthier, but rather make small lifestyle\nchanges<\/a> that will make a big impact on your overall health. Here are a few\nways you can improve your health on a budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#1 Stop Eating Out<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stop eating out. Not just at fast-food restaurants, stop\neating out at any restaurants. Eating out at restaurants is an easy way to\nconsume extra calories, because food cooked at restaurants often has higher\nsalt and sugar content to make it taste better. Restaurant food is often\nprepared in batches for mass consumption, so it\u2019s hard to modify your dish to\nremove excess salt and sugar. Additionally, restaurants serve 1.5 to 2x the\nnormal portions of, enticing you to consume much more than necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good way to eliminate these extra calories is to cook\nfood at home<\/a>. There are several other ways of enjoying time with friends in\na social environment that doesn\u2019t revolve around food. Grab a coffee at a\ncoffee shop with friends in the morning, meet friends for a mid-day tea, or\ngrab a glass of red wine at a board game bar at night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t always have to follow this rule, especially if you\nhave a special occasion coming up, but for the most part try eliminating eating\nout from your lifestyle. If you do go out for a meal, order wisely. Ask for a\nmenu with a calorie count if they have one available or ask for ways you can\nmake your meal healthier by ordering unmarinated meats, salads with a simple\nvinegar and oil dressing, and food cooked in olive oil rather than butter.\nYou\u2019ll be surprised at how much better you look and feel just by making this\nsimple change. Also, you save tons of money by doing this. This tip will not\nonly make you healthier but will help you keep more of your money in your\npocket to spend on things that make you happy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#2 Eat Whole Foods<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Eating whole foods is one of the only proven ways of\nsticking to a long-term health change. Fad diets, diet pills, and restrictive\ndiets are destined to fail and can even have adverse effects. Shortly after\nstopping the short-term diet, you will likely gain back any of the weight you\nhave lost plus some due to eating large portions, rewarding yourself for\ndieting, and losing only water weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eating whole\nfoods<\/a> consists of only eating foods how they are found in nature. Sticking\nto this rule helps eliminate processed foods, fried foods, canned and frozen foods,\nand overall unhealthy foods from your diet. Filling your plate with primarily\nproduce and small portions of protein, legumes, nuts, and good fats is low in\ncalories and allows your body to easily break down your meal as these foods are\nwell-known to your digestive system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrary to popular belief, eating mainly produce can be\nmore budget-friendly than you might think. Obviously, this depends on your\nlocation, but for the most part you can find produce inexpensively depending on\nwhere you shop. Shop around to not just supermarket chains, but also to small\nindependently owned grocers, produce stands, and farmers markets for the best\ndeals on produce. Once you find where you can find the cheapest produce, make\nit part of your weekly grocery trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to being well-priced, produce is easy to make\nmix-and-match meals with. This gets you more bang for your buck as well as cuts\ndown on food waste. Because the\naverage U.S. household wastes almost $1,000 in food each year<\/a>, it\u2019s\nimportant to buy foods you will eat all of to avoid leaving money on the table,\nor rather, in the trash can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#3 Get GOOD Sleep<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Often people underestimate the effect sleep has on overall\nhealth. We spend about 1\/3 of our lives sleeping. Therefore, we should focus on\ngetting GOOD sleep to avoid spending our days feeling groggy. Not getting good\nsleep has several detrimental effects on our health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how do we get GOOD sleep? Well, there is a large list of\nthings that contributes to getting a lack of sleep. Not getting enough\nexercise, too much exposure to artificial light at night, drinking caffeine too\nclose to bedtime, and many other factors can be responsible for one not getting\nenough restful sleep at night. It\u2019s important to know how many hours of sleep\nyou need<\/a> in accordance with your age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many natural ways to promote sleep health before\nbed. Creating healthy nighttime routines are a great way to create good\nnighttime habits. Try stretching for 30 minutes before bed, reading instead of\nlooking at your phone, and crawling into bed with a cup of chamomile tea which\nnaturally aids sleep. Getting into the habit of doing repetitive relaxing\nactions before bed can help prepare your body for sleep and allow you to get\nGOOD sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting good sleep will help to promote\nhealthy brain function<\/a> allowing you to have a more productive next day. Getting\nadequate sleep each night requires you to dish out no extra cash and can be a\nnice way for you to create good habits as well as take the time before bed to\nfocus on your health, rather than your phone, work, or other sleep disturbing\nactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#4 Don\u2019t Go to the Gym<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Improving your health on a budget can feel overwhelming when\nyou see the price of a gym membership. Before shelling out hundreds if not\nthousands of dollars each year on a gym membership, remember that you already\nhave all the tools to exercise at your disposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s world it\u2019s incredibly easy to work out for free.\nInstead of joining a gym, decide what exercise you\u2019d like to do. If you like\nrunning, get outside and explore your neighborhood on a run. You can even look\nonline for running trails around your city to enjoy more scenic routes. If you\nlike yoga<\/a>,\nsearch YouTube for a free, online instructor. You can find almost any kind of\nyoga on YouTube whether you\u2019re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced yogi. If\nyou prefer strength training, search YouTube for at home strength training\nworkouts. If you don\u2019t have a set of weights at home and don\u2019t want to invest\nin a set, use full water bottles to add weight to your workout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t want to feel pressured to purchase a gym\nmembership, calculate how much it would cost you per day if you don\u2019t use your\ngym. This will quickly make you realize how much money you\u2019d be wasting by only\nusing your gym a few times a week. This can really put things into perspective\nfor you when planning\nyour fitness goals<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outro:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are many ways to improve your health that cost a ton\nof money without a doubt. However, you can almost always find a similar\nalternative, if not the same thing, for free or cheap. When trying to improve\nyour health on a budget, remember to avoid eating out, always shop around to\nfind the best prices on produce, create healthy nighttime habits in order to\nget the best sleep, and exercise at home or outside. By following these four\nsimple tips you\u2019ll be on your way to improving your health in no time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Samantha Rupp holds a BS in Business Administration and is a contributing editor for 365BusinessTips.com as well as a marketing expert for an event insurance company<\/a>. She lives in San Diego, California and enjoys traveling, spending time on the beach and reading up on business industry trends. Feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you ready to make a lifestyle change but you\u2019re worried about breaking the bank while trying to make healthier changes? The good news is that you don\u2019t have to worry about spending a ton of money to become healthier, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18462,"featured_media":79235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[24,22],"tags":[359,2011,4629],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Improve Your Health on a Budget<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Want to feel better but everything healthy feels super out of reach? That's not necessarily true. 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