Now I'm saying this from the experience of "The Summer of Hot Dogs and Spaghetti From the Dollar Store" and "All we can afford is ramen" and "We're out of food, and the Church is feeding us for free because we're on unemployment and food stamps ran out, but all they give us is 6 huge loaves of white bread, a box of crackers, donuts, a can of creamed corn, and 5 boxes of mac 'n cheese".
Obviously in those situations it's difficult to be healthy no matter if you can work out or not. This is why a lot of poor Americans are actually overweight and malnourished. "You sure don't look like you're starving" is a common misconception if you've never actually had to panhandle or get on food stamps.
But even if you're not at this extreme, the economy hit everyone and it's hard to prioritize healthy food sometimes in the budget. Frozen [insert healthy frozen dinner brand here] dinners are convenient and easy to take to work, watch portions, and ensure that you're eating healthy; but at $3-5 a box that becomes impossible for a lot of people. Same goes for Slimfast/South Beach Diet/etc. shakes or bars.
So here are some tips I've learned on my journey. If anyone out there has more suggestions please let me know and I'd love to add them!
*Note: Links are fun! When I mention a Youtube video I'm not linking to the site. I actually found an awesome example for you. So go :)
The first step is common sense. Stop eating out so much. Buy cheaper brands of whatever you buy. Stop buying a $5 Starbucks whatever every day. Look for sales. Buy more fresh stuff and less prepared stuff (make spaghetti with sauce instead of the $15 box of frozen lasagna you throw in the oven). Duh people.
1. Don't let money be an excuse
for the right equipment!
So you have a crappy microwave you kept after college and maybe a toaster. The best things to have are a big crockpot, a small George Forman, and a blender. For everything else use your stove/oven (Yay Broil!).
- Ask family and friends. I got a free blender and George Forman in perfect shape from someone who just wasn't using theirs.
- Ask for it as a gift for whatever holiday is coming up.
- Go to Goodwill or ARC - there are tons of appliances (and pots/pans, glass casserole dishes, metal bread pans, etc.) that work for cheap.
- Share a crockpot with someone from work who only uses it when you have potlucks.
- Have a cooking buddy who brings their appliances (or casserole dishes, etc.) over for you two to cook up 2 weeks' worth of stuff together at a time.
- And for basic kitchen needs: you can get almost everything from the Dollar Store - spoons, cutting boards, whisks, containers, etc.
- I literally have one small glass casserole dish and a glass pie dish. I make a ton of casseroles and stuff you need those for. So get creative with your containers and time management, and you may have to wash it in between each thing you cook, but you can totally do it.
- Walk. No matter how old you are or what condition you're in, almost everyone can go walk at some pace. Your dog needs a walk anyway. Make it a family habit to spend time together this way, or catch up with your best friend. There are billions of ways to find walking buddies too. Go to the Dollar Store and get a pedometer (it counts your steps). There are tons of sites to track and challenge you based on your steps taken per day. And if you're disabled, go walk 5 steps if you can. I was literally in a wheelchair and bedridden and I started just taking 2 steps. Later I got up to the length of the sidewalk in front of my apartment building. Then up to 15 minutes. Now I can hike! PRICE: FREE. (You can go in your pajamas and crappy tennis shoes - you do not need to spend $200 on a new outfit. I don't wanna hear it.)
- Weights. Assuming you can't afford a gym membership, you can buy dumbbells at Walmart, Goodwill, or in the paper under Classifieds. Being disabled, I got some little 3 lb. ones from Walmart for $15 and just increase my reps when I get stronger. If you're dirt poor, lift cans of soup, buy a giant waterbottle (Dollar Store)/thermos and fill it with water and lift that, bench bags of flour, your kid, whatever. My thick Harry Potter books worked for me for some time. PRICE: FREE - $15+.
- Play With Your Kids. I've heard for years that playing with your kids can burn a ton of calories. So parents who are exhausted by your kids' energy, start channeling it into something structured to wear them out. Whether in your living room, yard, or a park, chase them, wrestle, whatever. Don't cop out and watch them play on a jungle gym or throw a ball back and forth. Tell me what 2 year old doesn't love "Airplane" where you lift them over your head and zoom around the house? Ever seen a 4 year old spin in circles until they get dizzy and fall over? Seriously, pride is not an issue here guys. Roll down hills. Have a 3-legged-race. Dance like an idiot to their favorite music. Pretend you're a ballerina with your daughter or a pro-wrestler/football star with your son. Guess how fun your daughter will think you are if you play "Cheerleader" and lift her, etc.? Your son will love the quality time with anything competitive. I bet they can do more pull-ups/push-ups/whatever than you. My family went on bike rides together all the time and I loved it. Climb trees. Hike. Jump rope. Ask them for ideas. For older kids, do family bike rides, go walking/running with them after school, play basketball with them in the driveway, whatever. Obviously you can go to the YMCA or something as a family with a basketball court, equipment, and usually a pool. That's awesome, but these are ideas if you can't afford that. PRICE: FREE.
- Pilates. Pilates is good for flexibility, strength, weight loss, and toning. You can literally do pilates no matter what physical condition you're in. I was bedridden and did some of these in bed. Seriously. Go here for beginner pictures, explanations, and resources. There are tons of Youtube videos as well. I found a free app on my ipod touch that gives me videos on each move, and a way to track my workouts and progress. You could use a giant ball, a mat, a 3 foot rubber band, etc., but you can do it without any equipment. PRICE: FREE.
- Mats. Doing yoga, pilates, stretching, etc. is great - but it's especially great when you have a mat. My whole body is tender so I needed a thick foamy one to tolerate situps or contact with the floor. They're cheaper than you think! Walmart: $15 and up. If you're dirt poor, use a towel or some pillows. Not as nice but it works just fine. PRICE: FREE - $15+.
- Bands. If you've ever been in physical therapy, a gym, or watched TV you've probably seen those colorful giant rubber bands. They're usually a few feet long, and they're great for resistance training and toning. There are so many kinds, and ways to use them. They're small and easy to take somewhere with you, easy to use at work on a break, and you can change the reps to keep challenging yourself as you get stronger. Ask a physical therapy center if you can buy some, or go to Walmart: $11 and up. When you buy one it will most likely come with instructions and workouts, but there are tons of sites and Youtube videos to use. PRICE: $11+.
- Punching Bag. A great way to get rid of stress and exercise at the same time is beating the crap out of something. Obviously if you buy a punching bag or go to a boxing gym there are costs involved. For 3 years I literally took a sleeping bag that was stuffed tight into its own sack and hung it off my deck. Pillows don't work as well but you get the idea. It worked great. Or have your significant other hold a cushion in front of you. PRICE: FREE.
- Balls. Fitness balls are an easy way to do a ton of good working out. They're also easy on the disabled. Walmart has them at $9 and up! If you go to a gym, they usually charge for a consulation, but I've had tons of personal trainers show me workouts for free just by asking. They're more effective when you do situps on them, but there's a lot of exercises on Youtube that I didn't know you could do. PRICE: $9+.
- Motivation. There's a lot of ways to get/keep yourself motivated to work out. And now with these cheap ways you don't have to feel depressed about your income limitations. My favorite ways to stay focused are an app on my ipod touch where I put a slideshow of pictures that visually motivate me (someone rockclimbing, which is a goal of mine, a hot woman in a pretty dress, pictures of healthy meals, etc.) I have a scrapbook with some great information, pictures, cut-outs of specific magazine workouts, and whatever else I've collected that I like. It's got a lot of motivational quotes and my goals in it. I also have a graph so I can clearly see my progress. Whatever you do, keep it SIMPLE and EASY. The easier it is for you to access an app or website or book that walks you through your workout, the more often you'll do it. Tracking progress is stupid easy with apps and widgets/gadgets. Have an alarm go off on your computer at work to remind you to take a walk on your lunch break. Have a sticky note somewhere to remind you to take the stairs instead of the elevator, or to eat the healthy snack you keep in your drawer instead of the incredibly unhealthy things sitting in the conference room for the potluck. By encouraging yourself, you'll find it's easier to stick with it instead of getting caught up on the bandwagon of everyone else being unhealthy or indulging - especially women. One day you'll find you're inspiring your coworkers instead of trying to resist them. Let me tell you, it's a great feeling. Listen to awesome music that makes you want to move. If you are so poor that you literally don't have a computer or radio, then sing. PRICE: FREE.
- Gym. Contact a gym - a lot of them (especially YMCA) have a sliding scale for membership based on your income. Talk to friends who have memberships and they can take you as a guest for free or for a few dollars. Go to a friend's place who has a pool at their apartment building and go for free as their guest. A lot of jobs have a gym inside the building that you can use if you work there. If you live in apartments, move to one like mine that has a 24 hour workout room and pool included in my rent - and it's cheaper than a gym membership. Ask personal trainers for advice - they'll usually give it for free even though they offer paid consultations. Split the cost of a home gym with your roommates. Look for creative ways to workout: like learning Parkour (pronounced "Pah-Koo") and free running, use the free basketball/tennis courts at a park, hike on trails near your home, join a tai-chi group that meets at a local park, or get involved in classes at a community center like yoga or aerobics that are cheaper than you'd think if you look for them. Martial Arts lessons are kind of expensive, so bargain with someone with a skill of yours: work on their car if they give you lessons. There are lots of free dance clubs in the community, and if you're going out with your friends anyway, choose to go to a club and dance for a good workout while you're there. Group it up: if you're involved in a church, or have a lot of coworkers, it's easier to get a bunch of people involved in a workout challenge or outing and split the cost - like a ski trip, regular gym classes, or a running group. Volunteer at a rockclimbing center, or like a Big Brothers/Sisters thing, or Girl/Boy Scouts, after school sports for kids; whatever will get you involved in physical activity. PRICE: CHEAPER THAN YOU THINK.
- K.I.S.S. - "KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID". My husband is an all-or-nothing kind of guy. He used to run, but hit a plateau where he didn't feel like he was getting better, so he stopped. He worked out at the gym, but didn't know how to get toned the way he wanted, so he stopped. I had some times where we were poor and forced to eat unhealthy food, or I was disabled and couldn't work out, and felt like it didn't matter, why bother trying? Well this led to an eating disorder and didn't help my depression any. The point is that ANYTHING YOU DO IS BETTER THAN NOTHING! If you get overwhelmed, do something simple: have one less soda that day, park further away, take the stairs instead of the elevator, stand more instead of sitting, make your dinner portion a little bit smaller than normal. Feel good about yourself for that one thing. The more you do it, the easier it will be. I never remember how good I feel after I work out when I'm trying to start that day. Sometimes the only way I can get started is just stretching. That way the endorphins get released, my brain calms down and is more clear because it's getting more oxygen, and my body loosens up and feels better. Then if I feel good I can work out, and if I still can't, then at least I stretched and took some deep breaths - which are good for you. Walking 15 minutes a day may not be the 45 minute cardio you're supposed to do 5 times a week, but it will help your cholesterol, mood, flexibility, strength, and tone you down with weight loss. Eating healthier will give you more energy, you won't feel tired and bloated after each meal, and will avoid heart problems and diabetes. Fell off the wagon? SO WHAT!? Start over. Just because you gave in this morning and had 3 cupcakes doesn't mean you have to ignore your healthy snack and go to the vending machine for 2 sodas and some cookies. So what if your exercise that night is only burning off those 3 cupcakes - it's better than nothing. The good news is the only way to go from the bottom is up! Change your lifestyle and don't beat yourself up. Look at my first post to see how to change your mindset. Feel good about yourself.
3. Stress.
One thing that will definitely tangle up being healthy is stress. It can hinder weight loss, actually cause fat, make you feel depressed and tired, make you overwhelmed which can get you off track or give up, make you feel bad about yourself and lower your confidence, and keep you too busy to cook healthy meals or workout. The good news is: there are free ways to fix that!
- Physically: Work out and stretch. Do a few minutes of focused deep breathing. Do breathing exercises and stretching throughout your day no matter where you are. I literally stretch in the bathroom stall at work on my break so I don't look too crazy. Walk a little every day. Literally park farther so it takes an extra minute and it will kickstart all the benefits of working out and give you a minute to collect yourself. Get enough sleep and work on your caffeine addiction - eating things with natural sugar and drinking a ton of water (actual water guys, nothing fancy with vitamins and whatever) will help you have natural energy. These are all really really simple ways to start combating stress.
- Mentally: Journal, talk to a friend, take a bath, make a schedule and work on time management, learn to say NO, prioritize, quit beating yourself up over everything and work on being more positive (it's possible without being obnoxious lol), find something that makes you laugh every day (I read a comedy website before bed), make social time more about quality so you enjoy yourself more and feel obligated less, learn how to combine things like family time and cooking dinner (hint, do it together), take time for yourself (start with 5 minutes a day and lock yourself in the bathroom if you have to, leave your cell phone outside). There are sliding scales (even free) ways to get counseling, especially through a church, if you look for them.
- Spiritually: No matter what you believe, this is important. Running through your day with your mind a blank slate, or feeling like a chicken with its head cut off, is not the way to have a rich, fulfilling, satisfying life. You can do everything perfect and not be happy or know who you are. If you believe in a higher power (even Alcoholics Anonymous is big on that), take a few minutes every morning and focus on looking to the higher power for strength, direction, calm, and love. If you get involved in a church you'll have a great support group and it's easier to make friends. If you're Christian Groundwire.net is a great site up 24/7 for questions, prayer, or support. Even if you don't believe in anything, taking a few minutes before you start your day to focus yourself and just plan out your day will help with stress. Have a picture on your bathroom mirror that just makes you smile or happy, and tell yourself something positive or encouraging before you set out. Even if you're horribly depressed and hate yourself and have no hope, do it anyway and try your best. Eventually it will help. I promise. At the very very least go through your day trying to catch yourself thinking negative thoughts or beating yourself up and just stop yourself short. Figure out what you believe and what's important to you and write it down somewhere. Every night have a little notebook by your bed where you record 1 sentence of the best thing about your day. I do that and there are lots of days where I can honestly say the best or only good thing that happened to me was a nice breeze on the way to my car or someone smiling at me or hugging my cat. I'm not being emo here, I'm being serious. And that's fine - just find something. :)
4. Noms.
- Soup. These are about $1.15 a can, last me for 3 meals (and I don't have crackers or anything else with them, just a veggie), and many are healthy and delicious. Look for the fat free, heart healthy, or low sodium ones. If you get these brands I recommend you ignore the fact that they look like cat food at first because a lot of them are delicious. They're also really fast to make and take to work and don't need milk or anything extra to make. You can also get a bunch of canned veggies (look for low sodium) and fresh cheap veggies and throw them in a crockpot and make a whole bunch, or freeze for later. If you ever cook something and have a little bit of leftover bell pepper or whatever, throw it in a bag, freeze it, and when the bag is full make soup out of it.
- Pizza Toast. This is better for the family than the cheap Mac 'N Cheese. Grab a loaf of whole grain/wheat/multigrain/etc. bread on the discount rack by the bakery. $1.49. Get a jar of pizza sauce from the dollar store. $1. Get a package of turkey pepperoni from the dollar store, or a little more at a grocery store, hopefully on sale. $3.89. Find cheap cheese: I found a sale at King Soopers for 4 bags of part-skim Mozzarella cheese for $5 and froze the rest. $1.25. Toss some garlic salt and Italian seasoning on there and George Foreman it: Awesome. = Several days of meals for about $7.
- Veggies. Join a community garden, or do what my mom and I are doing and buy a box garden to stick in your backyard or on your apartment porch. I went to a country church where a lot of cute elderly people had gardens and brought whatever they had extra to trade at church every Sunday. Find someone who gardens, or a local farmer or supplier, and bargain with them. Offer a skill like fixing their car or computer or babysitting their kids in exchange for some fresh fruits or veggies. I'm serious: my husband and I did computer repair for a guy who paid us in pecans and berries from his backyard. Usually it's cheaper to buy canned or fresh veggies at the store, if you avoid the expensive packaged ones, the organic ones, and the expensive frozen brands. Getting a bunch of fresh bananas and strawberries is cheaper than buying a bag of frozen fruit to use in a smoothie. And you can always freeze it if you can't use it fast enough. At least when you get your own fresh stuff you know it doesn't have a lot of preservatives in it. I'm not getting into the vegan/organic fight because I don't care. I can't afford to shop at Whole Foods, so I just find the cheapest brand of fresh celery or whatever, spray some "Fit" on there, wash it, and eat it. (I got a spray bottle of "Fit" for a few bucks at King Soopers, and it's supposed to use things like acid that naturally occurs in fruits, etc., to clean dirt, wax, chemicals, and other people's touching of your produce).
- Cheap Stores. We had a place in Greeley called Save-A-Lot that was super cheap because you bagged your own groceries. There was a large population of Spanish-speaking people in that area, and they were the majority of shoppers here. Get over any prejudices and pride and look for places like these. This particular store had everything a Walmart would have - milk, cheese, meat, shelf food, etc. but it was good quality. I could get 3 times the ground beef here that I could at a Walmart. Dollar General and Dollar Tree also have a lot of food that's good if you try. They don't have fat-free or low-sodium stuff, but a can of spaghetti sauce and a package of egg noodles isn't bad at all. Walmart has wheat hot dog buns and turkey hot dogs in bulk that will last you quite a while and are a lot better than fast food or cheap frozen pizzas. Avoid stores like King Soopers unless you find stuff on sale (they have great sales) and buying there gives you gas discounts.
- Get Creative. Drink a ton of water. Just regular water. It fills you up, helps your sugar levels, is great for you, helps your metabolism, and makes it easier to skip a "drink" with each meal or a glass of wine every night. Frozen juice is awesome: just get the 100% juice kind - the cheapest is usually apple juice so don't be too picky. If you have to buy ground beef that's more like the ground chuck than the 92% lean kind, then cook it by itself and drain all the grease into a jar. Put the ground beef on a bunch of paper towels from the dollar store and this will help a lot with the fat. Look for the rack at Walmart by the bakery where they sell stuff past the date for like $1 - get whole grain or wheat bread/rolls and freeze them or use them for a meal. Buying in bulk really is cheaper in the long run, but if you can't afford the $50 membership at Costco or literally don't have enough money to buy more than a week out at a time, then find what you can cut down on. Instead of a lot of soda or coffee get tea with caffeine and honey from a dollar store. Instead of desserts get a bag of tootsie rolls - they last longer. Find something healthy you love and eat it more often - don't get stuck in the "this is breakfast food" or "this is dinner food" mindset. For many years my husband and I ate the same thing for every single meal for months. It's not a big deal. For snacks fresh or canned fruit is perfect and cheap. Use the meat you cooked and the wheat rolls you got on the discount rack and throw in a can of manwich or two from walmart or the dollar store and you have pretty healthy, filling meals for a while. Use eggs (way cheap) and make a lot of casseroles and freeze them. If you're watching your cholesterol, don't buy the expensive egg white liquid stuff, just drain the egg white out of the shell and use that. Buy the pizza crust mix in the box, a roasting hen/chicken in the frozen section, some fresh/canned veggies, a can of pizza sauce from the dollar store, some mozzarella from the dollar store (you don't need much, avoid the "processed food product" stuff and actually get cheese, and some feta cheese if you can afford some from Walmart. Look for my recipe of the thin-crust pizza I made with chicken, roma tomatoes, canned artichoke hearts, and some turkey bacon bits I found on sale. Cook the chicken in a crock pot with an onion and freeze whatever you don't use for something else. Make a bunch of these pizzas at once and freeze some. It's also good if you have kids that need to throw a pizza in the oven after school or something.
- Swallow Your Pride. Please, please, please get help if you need it. If you are not eating out or getting fast food, are shopping at cheap stores, and are still having trouble making ends meet, and you qualify for food stamps, GO GET THEM! It's hard to get off them once you're on, but it's possible. I found a better job and we were able to stop them and afford the $200/month sudden expense. Food stamp money will go a long way toward eating well and cheap, and they're accepted at a lot of dollar stores too. It's based on a sliding scale too so if your income improves, you can gradually reduce the amount they give you instead of getting better and immediately getting kicked off the program. When that's not enough there are tons of resources in most places (even middle of nowhere country places like we lived) where churches will give you free food. Any social office will have a flyer with a list of awesome resources - not to mention places to help pay rent or buy clothes for job interviews or gas. Some of the places we found let you pick what you want from the pantry, so you don't wind up with a bunch of horrible canned stuff you hate, and you can go for the healthier options. If it's not healthy, it's still food. Do what you need to until your situation gets better, then focus on being healthy. That's what we did. And if you have children, you better take advantage of those resources and feed your kids right! Forget being super healthy, kids need basics: dairy and calcium for their bones, meat, and fruits and veggies. WIC in Colorado gives vouchers for specific foods babies and kids need, as well as help with formula and baby food. Medicare is available to a lot of people if you have kids. There's no excuse for your kids to grow up starving and malnourished. A dinner made of a can of corn and some spam may not be very traditional, but it works. Schools help out a lot with lunch programs, and even weekend food and more meals than just lunch. There's a clinic in many cities who will see you and your kids for free or on a sliding scale and give you birth control, prescriptions, help you with pregnancy vitamins and checkups, your kid's healthcare, and teach you how to feed them and take care of them and yourself.
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