{"id":10136,"date":"2021-07-19T00:03:46","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T00:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ovadiahearthealth.com\/old-site\/?p=10136"},"modified":"2022-03-11T06:49:05","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T06:49:05","slug":"eating-for-metabolic-health-on-a-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ovadiahearthealth.com\/old-site\/2021\/07\/19\/eating-for-metabolic-health-on-a-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Eating for metabolic health on a budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you worry that eating healthy costs a lot of money, I\u2019ve got good news: it doesn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a persistent idea that low-income families can\u2019t afford healthy foods, and in this post you\u2019re going to see that it\u2019s not true.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly true that low-quality foods can be purchased cheap. However, consider the fact that processed food has minimal nutritional value, which means it doesn\u2019t fill you up. You therefore need to eat more of it, requiring you to spend more money.<\/p>\n

When people change their diet and eat more whole foods, they\u2019re often amazed at how little they want to eat. That\u2019s because good quality food is packed with the macro and micronutrients that our bodies need, which satisfies our hunger. On the other hand, processed foods are high in calories and low in nutrition – so our bodies crave more food to get adequate nutrition, meaning we eat more and more calories while starving ourselves of the goodness we need.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth considering the fact that there are entire items you stop buying when you commit to eating healthy. For example, sodas may be relatively inexpensive, but a healthy diet doesn\u2019t include them. Tea and coffee are allowed but incredibly cheap, and water will be your main drink.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the chips and chocolate bars won\u2019t be necessary. By eating quality ingredients, you\u2019re unlikely to feel hunger between meals. And if you do, it can be satisfied with simple and inexpensive foods like bananas, yogurt, healthy nut butters, or jerky.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to remember that your diet doesn\u2019t need to be all or nothing. It\u2019s a process and the objective is to make improvements. Don\u2019t make the mistake of thinking that if it\u2019s not perfect you should give up.<\/p>\n

Imagine a sliding scale. At one end are suboptimal foods, consisting of fast food, cookies, sweets, cereals, microwave meals, margarine, sodas, and seed oils.<\/p>\n

The other end of this scale has ideal foods, such as grass-fed meat, organic dairy, and locally grown produce.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of space between these two ends. If your diet currently consists of microwave meals, fast food, and sodas, you can make one quick improvement by simply removing the drinks. If organic and grass-fed meat is outside of your budget, eating supermarket beef is still an improvement over a microwave meal.<\/p>\n

Instead of reaching for the cookies and candy for snacks, have berries in yogurt. You\u2019ll quickly replace all of your low-quality foods with healthier alternatives, and you\u2019ll probably notice a slimmer waistline and a smaller grocery bill as well.<\/p>\n

The hidden costs of cheap food<\/h4>\n

There\u2019s more to something\u2019s cost than its sticker price.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve stated in the past that food is the number one factor for people ending up on my operating table.<\/p>\n

Your health is an asset. When you\u2019re healthy, you\u2019re less likely to become ill and are more likely to recover quickly when you do get sick.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, being unhealthy makes you more susceptible to prolonged and frequent illnesses. Think about the hidden costs and how they add up:<\/p>\n