10 Tips For Staying Healthy On A Budget

There's just no two ways about it...

 Organic produce costs more than conventional. Good quality natural bodycare products are more expensive than those off the supermarket shelf, and avoiding fluoridated tap water can be a costly business.

So, how can you stay healthy by buying good quality products, while sticking to some semblence of a budget?

Below are my best 10 tips for doing just that!

1. Plan, Plan, Plan!!!

 I really can't stress this highly enough. A weekly or fortnightly menu plan is one of the best time and money savers you can utilise.

Yes, it takes some time and discipline to get into the routine, but the savings are so worthwhile.

Before I do my grocery shopping, I go through my fridge and pantry and see what I already have.

Then I sit down and write out my main meals for the next week. Any ingredients needed for those meals, that I don't already have, gets written on my shopping list, along with fruit and snacks/nuts/seeds.

During busy times when my routine has gone out the window and I don't bother planning the menu, I find myself rushing to the shops for one or two items (but leaving with 5 or 10...) because I don't have what I need to make dinner.

It will save you so much time, and eliminates those evenings when you stand, staring into the depths of the pantry, dithering over what to make for dinner.

On my menu plan, I also list jobs that I need to do on a certain day, in preparation for the following day(s). For instance, today when I'm cooking the fish, I need to bake some pumpkin for tomorrow's roast pumpkin salad.

2. Grow Your Own.

This is really the ultimate in saving. Not only is tending a garden great exercise, a source of relaxation and interest, uses less fossil fuels and resources, there really is no better feeling than picking straight from the garden and onto the plate.

I am far from being a green thumb, and where I live has cold Winters, and hot Summers. Not exactly ideal for growing things, especially leafy greens. But there are some things that are so easy to grow, that even I cannot screw it up! These are: potatoes, strawberries, tomatoes, zucchinis, rosemary, lavender, aloe vera and silverbeet.

Even if you don't have a backyard, a sunny windowsill will grow herbs and sprouts. You can grow a batch of wheatgrass on the windowsill quickly, easily, and for less than a dollar.

3. Make Your Own.

You pay for convenience. If you're willing to make things from scratch, there are so many savings to be made.

A yoghurt maker costs about $20, and making your own yoghurt is so quick and simple, it will pay for itself in no time. You don't need to buy the special yoghurt starter packs, just use a few tablespoons of a previous batch of yoghurt as a starter, then add 1 and 1/3 cup of milk powder and add water as per usual.

Rice and nut milks can be expensive if you use a lot, but they can be made at home, if you have a blender. There's plenty of instructions on the Internet for making your own.

Facial scrubs can be made with a little oil and sugar (or salt), with a couple of drops of your favourite essential oil added. Hair treatments which cost upwards of $5 in the shop, can be made using eggs or yoghurt (Wash the eggs out with lukewarm water only, or you may end up with a head full of scrambled eggs...Not pretty.). Face masks can be made using mashed up strawberries, or raw honey.

4. Make Use of Left-Overs.

Did you know that Australian homes and businesses throw out 7.5 million tonnes of food waste every year? That 7.5 million tonnes of food - quite apart from taking up vast areas of landfill - cost us about $7.8 billion. What a waste!!!

If you follow a menu plan, you should eliminate some of the food waste, as you will not be buying food on a whim, with no real plan for how you're going to use it up.

Spend your money on quality food, not quantity that will end up in the garbage.

Twice a week, go through the fridge and pull out anything that is going to be soon past it's prime, then work out how to use it up. Vegetables, both raw and leftover cooked vegetables, can be used up in quiches, pies, savoury muffins and fritters, stews, soups, fried rice, and casseroles. (See my "Really Easy Use-Up-All-Your-Leftovers Quiche")

On my weekly menu plan, I leave two meals for "easy" meals or leftover recipes.

Fruit and vegetable pulp left over from juicing can be used in muffins or desserts.

I recently discovered a great little product called "Forever Green" bags at my local market. Apparently these bags absorb the gases released from food, so that food stays fresher for longer. I bag all of my leafy greens and herbs in these bags now, and they last more than twice as long, so I rarely have to throw any out now. (I think they cost about $7 or $8 for a pack of 16 re-usable bags. They've more than paid for themselves already, with the added bonus that I now eat a lot more herbs because I can now buy herbs knowing I'll use them up before they spoil.)

If you steam vegetables, don't throw out the water underneath. Let it cool and either turn it into vegetable stock, or pour it onto your pot plants or herbs. They'll appreciate the nutrient boost.

Another thing never to throw out is banana peel. These are great little garden fertilisers, especially for roses and ferns. Rip them into pieces, and sprinkle on the soil. They will decompose and leach their minerals into the earth.

And lastly, invest in a compost bin or worm farm. Not only will you never have to buy garden fertiliser again, you'll be amazed at how much less waste ends up in the garbage.

5. Find Other Uses for Things.

Coconut Oil is an awesome cooking oil. But it's also a wonderful face and body moisteriser, lip balm and hair conditioner. I never buy body or facial moisterisers. I just use my organic cold-pressed coconut oil from the pantry.

Vinegar is not only great for salad dressings, it's the only thing I use for cleaning the house and the windows(along with a microfibre cloth). I use it in the washing machine, along with bicarb soda. I use it in hot water, to wash the dishes if I've run out of detergent.

Not only that, but you can double your amount of vinegar for free. Mix it half and half with water, and leave in a warm place for a day or two, and you get double the vinegar for the same amount of money.

I really cannot see the point in paying high prices for all-natural cleaning products or beauty products when you have all the ingredients in your pantry, for a fraction of the price. The only individual products I do buy are organic shampoo and natural dishwash detergent, because I still have not figured out how to make my own with satisfactory results.

6. Less Meat, More Vegetables.

As a general rule, vegetables are a lot cheaper per kilo, than meat. Especially if it's good quality, grass fed, organic meat. Use the meat sparingly, but fill out the meal with plenty of vegetables.

Not only that, but most vegetables can (and should) be eaten raw, and further save you money on energy costs.

7. Experiment With Different Grains and Pulses.

Pulses and grains like lentils, chickpeas, split peas, barley, and broad beans are not only cheap, they are highly filling and nutritious. Once or twice per week, replace a meat meal with a meal based on one of these.

If you've never tried rolled oats for breakfast, give it a go. It's just about the cheapest breakfast you can eat, and far better for you, than any of the sugary, highly processed boxed cereals. Sprinkle with ground nuts, cinnamon, sultanas, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, add some raw honey, or whatever takes your fancy. If you add the sultanas at the beginning of cooking, they swell up and become deliciously juicy.

Soak the oats overnight in water, then you really only need to warm it up in the morning, as the oats will have already absorbed the water.

8. Pack a Snack.

Any time I step out of the house, I throw into my handbag a.) a bottle of water b.) a piece of fruit and c.) a little container of nuts. Even if I'm only planning on going out for a little while.

You never can tell how long you'll be, and expensive fast food or packaged snacks are hard to resist when your stomach is grumbling.

When heading off to work for the day, I got into the habit of packing more food than I thought I needed. It was better to bring it back home again, then be caught out hungry and sneaking to the vending machine for a packet of chips.

9. Always Keep a Little Bit of Convenience Food Handy.

I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but it actually works (for me, anyway). I don't mean keeping choc-chip cookies in the pantry, where your hand can keep sneaking in whenever you get the urge. No, that's not what I mean. I'm a big believer in winning the battle at the checkout. Once the junk food is in your house, the battle is all but lost.

But I have found that keeping things like some frozen fish and wedges, or tinned tuna on hand is a good idea. Unexpected things come up, people get sick, you run late, and let's face it....sometimes you just don't feel like preparing a meal. If you are running late with hungry children it is too easy to simply go to the nearest drive-thru, if you know that you still have a time-consuming dinner to prepare when you get home.

It's easier to resist the fast (but expensive) junk, if you know that you have a back-up at home, that can be on the table within 15 minutes. Sure they're not the most healthy thing you can eat, but it's gotta be better than KFC....

10. Take Advantage of Discounts.

I know it sounds like a mute point, but a little bit of organisation (see Point number 1!!!) can save you plenty of money.

My local health shop has 25% discount on the first Monday of every month, so during the month I make a note of any supplements and superfoods we need, and I wait to buy them on that Monday. (By the way, this discount is not advertised, I found out only by asking instore. It pays to ask!!)

Sometimes you can pick up good bargains in the last hour before closing at the local fruit and veg, or farmers markets. It can be mutually beneficial for you and the seller. You get a discount, and they would rather sell the produce for less, than taking them back home again, or having to throw them out.

Get together with friends to make the most of bulk discounts, or when buying products online. Many online stores offer discounts or free postage on orders over a certain amount.

***

Please feel free to leave your money-saving health tips in the comments section below. I believe that good health should be available to everyone, no matter what their income. Our current food system sometimes makes this hard to do. (Why, oh why, are imported 2-minute noodles cheaper than the fresh vegetables?) Let's see to it that good, nutritious food are within reach of everyone, including low-income earners.

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The Raw Food Challenge

Not long ago, while holidaying on the Gold Coast, I stumbled across a gorgeous little raw-food restaurant. I was meeting up with an old friend for lunch, and we were both keen to try it out.

(Now let me just say that I have never been a huge fan of salads or sprouts. I love cooked carbohydrate foods, like pasta and breads. But for a while now, I've been thinking that I really need to increase the amount of raw foods I eat.)

So we tried it.

And it was awesome!! I loved it.

I had these spiced sweet-potato "pancakes" topped with avocado salad and macadamia feta, all displayed to perfection with tiny edible flowers and pomegranate seeds strewn over the plate.

Then we shared a raw choc-orange cheesecake for dessert.

I came away inspired to try out more raw food recipes at home.

However, working five days a week, studying part-time, with two young children and another on the way, while getting your home ready to sell, and - more recently - a husband in hospital, does not exactly lend itself to researching and trying out new recipes!!

But...I am now finished work, my husband is home from hospital, and our house is just about ready to go on the market, so....I am back with a vengeance.

The last few days, I've been having a look around at some of the raw food blogs and websites.

And if I wasn't already inspired to be more raw, I certainly was after reading through this raw-food blog by an absolutely stunning woman, radiating health and vitality at 53 years young.

I want to glow like that!!

I discovered the Raw Chef's thoughtful blog, and his divine-looking Choc Torte with Whipped Cashew Cream. He's even released his inner hippy, and is offering his full collection of e-books for whatever price you can afford. I'm terribly tempted to take up the offer...

So. I've come up with a challenge for myself (and for any other pasta lovers out there) to increase the amount of raw foods I eat.

Currently, on an average day, I eat probably 20 - 30% raw, mostly as snacks, such as fruit or raw nuts and seeds, and an occasional salad served with dinner, or on a lunchtime sandwich.

That is simply not good enough, for someone who wants to radiate with health!!

While I consider my diet to be an improvement over the "Standard Australian Diet", there are still a number of changes that can be made, including more raw and fermented foods in my diet.

My challenge is to increase the amount of raw foods in my daily diet, to around 70 - 80%. That's roughly all but one meal per day. Some of the things I'm really keen to try are: making kefir and rejuvelac, making nut cheeses, experimenting with sprouted essene bread (I tried it once, but it wasn't really to my taste. I'm keen to experiment and find ways to make it enjoyable.), making a raw cheesecake, and experimenting with different salads and dressings.

I'm giving myself 12 months to achieve my goal of 70-80% raw, seeing as there is a lot of major changes happening in the next 6 months, including a new baby and moving to a new town.

I have three conditions for my challenge.

1. I'm a busy mum, with a lot going on. I simply do not have time for food that requires a lot of fiddly preparation. Not on a regular basis anyway. The food must be relatively simple and easy, and won't keep me in the kitchen for hours on end, while hungry children hang off my legs, whining for dinner.

2. Since making the switch to healthier, better quality foods, our weekly grocery shopping bill has roughly doubled. Given our current situation, I really cannot stretch that budget any further. But eating more raw foods is probably going to cost a little bit extra, (especially with all those nuts). So, I'm going to need to be creative, and find other ways to save money. I'm going to be thinking over this, and my next post will be some of my ideas for being healthy on a budget.

3. Until I'm settled into my next home, which won't be for a number of months, I won't have a dehydrator, so recipes that require dehydrating are out. I know that you can use an oven on low temp with the door partly ajar, but a gas oven running for 8 or 9 hours seems like an awful waste of energy to me, so I'd rather prefer just to wait until I have a dehydrator.

I'd be thrilled if there are any cooked food lovers out there, who might join me on the challenge. You can amend it in any way, to suit your own circumstances and goals. Your goal might be to simply eat one salad every day. Or you might wish to become 100% raw. Whatever takes your fancy, as long as it gets people eating more raw foods, I'm happy.

And if you're not convinced that eating raw foods can take you to new levels of health and vitality, then just take a look at these unbelievable before and after photos. Actually, when I re-charge my camera, I'll add my very own "before" picture to this post, to keep me accountable, and give me a reference point.

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The Cure For Cancer.....Is In Your Pantry???

About three months ago, my uncle was diagnosed with Stage 3 prostate cancer. His doctor urged him to have surgery, before it spread to other parts of the body.

He refused.

His doctor warned him that if he did nothing, he would simply "walk off into the sunset".

As luck would have it (or perhaps, as God had arranged it) just a week or two before he was diagnosed, someone had passed along information to him about using bi-carb soda (yes, baking soda) to cure cancer. The friend who had passed on the information, had used baking soda to treat kidney cancer, after being sent home from hospital to die. One year later, she is still going strong.

He decided to try it first, before submitting to surgery. One teaspoon of (aluminium-free) bi-carb soda in a glass of water, morning and night, and each morning he tested his urinary pH level. His aim was to raise his pH level to 8.5 for 5 days straight, as cancer simply cannot thrive in such an alkaline environment. Meanwhile, he continued on with his daily life, as normal. He was not in any pain, in fact, he began to feel better than he had in ages.

After a month, his PSA (Prostate Specific Antigens) reading had come down by one full point.

Another month later he went for scans, which showed that the cancer had shrunk, but not completely.

Another month later, and his doctor has just given him the "all-clear". The ultrasound performed last week could find no evidence of any cancer.

Contrast this, with two of our other family friends and their recent battles with cancer. One recently passed away, after a couple of years of treatments - both conventional and natural - an unrecognisable shadow of her former self, aged just 54.

Our other friend, also in her 50's, began with lymphoma about 3 yrs ago. After some months of chemotherapy she went into remission. But last year, the cancer was back again, this time it was leukaemia. Her doctors admitted that this new cancer was caused by the previous chemotherapy treatment. Back down to Sydney she went, for more months in hospital, attached to a tube. She survived it, and came back home again.

Sadly, she is now in hospital again, fighting for her life. The leukemia is back again, and on top of it, she contracted swine flu while in hospital, which has now developed into pneumonia.

Now, can we say that my uncle's cancer won't come back? No. Only time will tell, if he has been cured permanently. But it does beg the question....

After decades of research, and over $200 billion in funding and public donations, the medical establishment can offer no better option, than A.) to cut you open B.) to burn your insides, with radiation, or C.) to poison you with chemotherapy?

Are we in the Dark Ages of Medicine, or something???

Where is the funding and research into something as cheap, and harmless, as bicarbonate of soda?

In Italy, Dr Tullio Simoncini treats cancer patients - many of them classified as "terminal" - by injecting bi-carb soda directly into the site of the cancer. His theory is that cancer is actually a fungus (quite possibly candida, which I've written about before), and bicarb soda is a very potent anti-fungal.

His success rate is somewhere around 90% (remember that many of his patients are "terminal", in other words, there is no hope for them...). Some cancers have a better success rate than others.

There's another school of thought which also helps to explain why baking soda is effective against cancer. Baking soda is highly alkaline. Cancer thrives in an acidic environment.

Unfortunately for us, today's diet and lifestyle promotes acidity. Stress, medications, antibiotics, processed food, yeast, dairy products, sugar, red meat, alcohol, smoking, chemicals and toxins - all of these make your body acidic. The ideal ratio of alkaline foods (fresh vegetables, whole grains) to acidic is about 80:20. Most of us are eating the opposite - 20% alkaline to 80% acidic, and wondering why we have aches and pains, low energy, hormonal disturbances, bad skin, digestion problems....

I do believe that the food you choose to eat has the potential to kill you. It also has the potential to heal you. Which is why I suspect that the cure for cancer, can indeed be found in our pantries....

There are some natural health practitioners that believe NO DISEASE KNOWN TO MAN, can survive in an alkaline environment. Do you realise what the ramifications of this could mean for society? The elimination of disease, cheaply and safely, without unnecessary procedures, vaccines or medications?

Just imagine...

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Illness....is the new "Normal"?

Recently I was having a conversation with a work colleague which drifted onto the subject of hair dyes, and I mentioned to her (a frequent user of hair-dyes) about the link between cancer and permanent hair dyes.

Her reply: "Oh, well.....Everything gives you cancer these days..."

Another reaction I hear sometimes, is: "Oh well, I've got to die from something, I may as well enjoy myself while I can..."

I cannot help but wonder if they would say the same if their loved one was struggling with a disease that made life so painful, it was anything but enjoyable? Would they say the same if they were watching their child go through that horrendous torture they call "chemotherapy"?

Would they say the same if they realised how good they could feel without the constant bombardment of toxins and junk food?

I've started to think that our society's mindset - when it comes to health - has become terribly skewed.

Since when did illness and dis-ease become the new normal?

When did we come to accept that cancer, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and a whole host of other disorders were a "normal" part of ageing?

Since when did childhood allergies and asthma become commonplace, and learning and behavioural disorders reach such epidemic levels that we have to come up with new names to label them?

Since when is a bout of influenza, and coughs and colds just something to be expected and endured every Winter?

I suspect we've forgotten the meaning of true health!

Our new version of "healthy" is a watered-down, diluted version where it is expected that a "healthy" person will get colds and flus in Winter, probably have some form of allergies or hayfever issues, and be on medication for blood pressure or diabetes by the time they are 50.

This is not true health.

I challenge you to list 5 people who:

a.) do not suffer from allergies or hayfever

b.) rarely, if ever, suffer from colds or flus

c.) do not need medication of any kind

d.) have clear and glowing skin, clear eyes, and thick, shiny hair

e.) maintains a healthy body weight without the need for "diets".

f.) is energetic and active.

Out of all the people I know, or have ever known, I can think of only one who ticks all of the above boxes. (Sadly that person is not me...but I'm working on it!!).

She was so unusual, that she stands out in my mind, when thinking about health, even though it's been 6 years since I last worked with her. You know those pictures in magazines that feature women with gorgeous white teeth, flawless glowing skin, and thick shiny hair, just bursting with (photo-shopped) radiance? Well, she was actually like that in real life - without the help of make-up. Glowing, happy and energetic.

(On a side note, she also drank more water than I've ever seen anyone drink, which kind of adds up now, since reading "Your Bodies Many Cries for Water" by Dr Batmanghelidj. Eye-opening book. Read it if you can get hold of a copy.)

Perhaps such a glowing state of health is not achievable for everyone, but I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of people are living far below their health potential, and many are suffering needlessly because of it, and that saddens me.

I want to see a completely new paradigm develop about health. Real health. Let's stop mis-using the word, because truly healthy people in the Western world are - sadly - a small minority. Our diets and environment full of toxins and poisons, has seen to that.

I want to see people start asking the question...why?

We now have a cancer rate of almost 1 in 2.....Why? Childhood asthma has reached epidemic proportions.....Why? Heart disease is the number one killer of women, even though we're eating more "low-fat" foods than ever.....Why? Autism and it's associated spectrum disorders have risen by 173% in the past two decades......Why? In Australia, 61% of all adults are overweight or obese, even though we are spending more on diet programs and gym memberships than ever before.....Why?

Aren't we doing our children, and our children's children, a disservice if we fail to ask these questions? We are clearly on the wrong path, when it comes to so many aspects of "health".

Illness is not normal. Anyone who has studied Anatomy and Physiology must surely marvel at the amazing way the human body is designed. Every system, and every system within the system, is intricately designed to keep you healthy - to ensure a state of "homeostasis".

Yet it's clear, that even the human body - so astounding in it's detail and design - cannot compete with the onslaught of toxins that we are eating, and rubbing onto our skin, and breathing into our lungs, and radiating through the atmosphere.

3 Ingredients For a Clean & Green Laundry.

I'll tell you a secret.

I have only 3 ingredients that I use in my laundry.

All of them are cheap.

And none of them are found in the cleaning aisle of the supermarket...

1. White vinegar
2. Bicarbonate of soda (bicarb soda)
3. Lavender Oil. (Or eucalyptus oil)

I have a top-loading washing machine. I put vinegar in the "wash softener" compartment, sprinkle approx 1 - 2 tbsp of bi-carb soda on top of the clothes, and then add a couple of drops of water-soluble lavender oil to the clothes.

That's it.

For persistent stains, a paste made from bicarb soda and water, and dabbed onto the stain for a while before washing. Or simply leave the garment in the sun for an hour or two.

A couple of months ago, I was sorting out some boxes and discovered some brand-name wash softener and washing liquid that I had been given for free, and decided to "use them up".

The first thing I noticed, was the lint and gunk filter in my washing machine needed cleaning a lot more. Almost every wash. (With the vinegar and bi-carb, it only needed cleaning every couple of weeks.)

The other thing I noticed, but did not link to the change in washing liquids, was that we had a "flea problem". I started breaking out in "bites" all over, but most especially in the areas where the hem of my clothing sat. Around my ankles, around my hips, around my chest and around my wrists and hands.

I went on using my fancy-smelling wash liquids (being the frugal soul I am, I didn't want to waste them!), while cursing the "fleas" in our house. The salt-in-the-carpet trick did not seem to work on the "fleas", so I repeated another application of salt. Still I scratched. No-one else in the family seemed to be affected.

Thinking about it one day, I was pondering how it seemed to be linked to my clothes.

Ah. Lightbulb moment!

The change in washing liquid. Of course! Why didn't I think of it?! The "fleas" only arrived after I changed my washing liquid.

The vinegar, bi-carb soda and lavendar oil were promptly restored to their rightful place on the laundry shelf.

That was a week ago. Our "flea problem" seems to be on the mend, already...

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