Fit as a Fiddle on a Dime in Little Time.

Being healthy is one of the most frugal things you can do.
Here we explore why and how.

Everyone knows that eating fruits and veggies is one of the keys to good health yet we have an epidemic in America of heart disease and diabetes killing us, literally killing us. And if you are lucky enough not to die you may live without your limbs as diabetes often results in the loss of limbs, blindness and loss of feeling in your feet and legs. You may have a stroke and get to live with neurological problems the rest of your life. Yet two thirds of Westerners are now considered overweight. That means that more people are overweight now than at a healthy weight. 

 I am a Solution Focused Coach and a Certified Yoga Therapist so I generally focus on the solution, so that is what we will do here. I do encourage you to focus on the why and ask yourself "Why you want to be healthy?" 
 When you ask people why they don't change you often hear "I want to be Happy". Does this mean eating bad food and being lazy are the keys to happiness. What do you think?

In third world countries that subsist on mainly grains, beans, seeds, nuts, fruits and veggies they are void of many of the cancers, heart disease , and diabetes that are killing us. They are often also void of many of the mental and digestive problems that plague us. Food can either me poison or medicine. You must choose what you put in your mouth. Garbage in, garbage out. Doctors for the most part treat the symptoms of disease not the underlying causes.

We as a nation have become more dependent on cars for transportation and the technological age means we spend more time than ever with our behinds glued to a chair. This not only results in obesity but also in many other problems that are created when movement is void in our diet. Our joints begin to hurt as we sit all day often in ways that are not ergonomically correct for our spine. Our bones which are alive need to have healthy movement patterns to stay anatomically correct. Our muscles will atrophy often causing the need for aides like walkers by the time some hit their forties. Keeping your buttock and thigh muscles fit keeps you out of a walker or using a wheelchair. Keeping your abdominal muscles and back muscles fit keeps you from having back surgery due to strain on your spine, your lumbar spine that is between your low back and upper back, we now see people in their twenties have spinal surgeries for lumbar issues. Your lumbar spine has to support your torso, arms and head, if its weak it pulls you low back and you often get bulging disc. Not moving also allows for congestion in our lymph glands, they need movement to drain our lymph fluid which is part of the plumbing system for our bodies. Our cardiovascular system moves lymph and oxygen rich blood through our bodies bringing vital nutrients to our organs. If we are static then blood volume does not get moved around and brings on a host of problems. Movement along with relaxation allows our heart rate and blood pressure to normalize. I could go on and on but you get the picture.

After the excuse that people want to be happy so that is why they eat poorly and don't exercise the next one I hear is "It is to expensive!". Is it more expensive to be sick? One stent can cost upwards are $30,000, and you often need more than one if your arteries get blocked. Open heart surgery is upwards of $100,000. to bypass those clogged arteries. This is a disease of the wealthy nations. 

Health is one of the most frugal things you can do.

10 Steps to Health on a Budget
1. Learn to cook dry beans and brown rice. It is one of the cheapest foods you can make and it is high in fiber, a complete protein and so good for you. Google some recipes or enjoy the tactile experience of a good cook book. Leave the meat out and substitute with a good vegetable broth. Start with one batch per week and have leftovers. 
2. Walk. You need nothing but comfortable shoes. Walk in your neighborhood or go to a park. Walk it's easy and free. If weather is a problem look online there are always used treadmills under $150. This may sound like a lot but this is about the cost of gym membership for a few months.
3. Learn to cook veggies that taste good. Again "Google" or look up recipes. Avoid fried veggies and go for roasted, raw, steamed, or baked. Tip if you are couponing beware that most coupons are for processed foods. You might be better to spend that time gardening.
4. Add these to your diet (Focus on adding foods instead of taking them away). These are super cheap and super healthy. Oats (In a canister easily cook in microwave. Avoid sugary packets.), Bananas, apples, oranges, potatoes with skins on, sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, onions, garlic, dried beans, brown rice. 
5. Soy milk. That's right. GMO free organic soy milk. The test done on soy where from soy isolate that is a highly processed soy filler that is used in fast food and processed foods that is in your fast food hamburger. Skip the hamburger if you want to avoid it not the super healthy soy milk. GMO organic soy is a SUPER FOOD, and can seriously alter your chances of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Eat 2 servings a day. It will not raise your estrogen in this amount. You would need over forty servings a day and it still likely would not have any effect.  
6. Google "Cardio" online and find all kinds of cardio exercises you can do in your home with no equipment. You can do short sessions or long. You choose. Especially if walking is out for you. 
7. Use an app on your phone like 7 minute workout. I will confess I do short workouts often and I am a normal healthy weight with no plaque in my arteries (just got tested) and less than 1% of a chance of diabetes or heart disease, I have perfect cholesterol. I generally do 7 to 12 minutes of cardio several times a week, walk a few times a week, do yoga two to seven times a week (2 full hours and 3 to 4 five minute sessions and meditate). Most days of the week I spend 15 to 30 minutes exercising. 
8. Meditate. Use an app, get a book, sit your butt down and close your eyes and pay attention to what you hear.  You don't have to like it for it to work but I bet you will. It balances heart rate, blood pressure, hormones, and the  list goes on. The benefits are huge. I love Insight Timer on my phone. Replace 10 minutes a day (or heck do 1 minute) of news or t.v. to meditate. 
9. Squat: Do any kind that works for you (again Google how to squat) to keep your thighs and buttocks strong to keep your knees healthy and keep your legs strong so you don't atrophy your muscles. Knee problems are often due to weak thighs and buttocks. Once you start falling mortality goes way down and so does quality of life.
10. Do some kind of core (abs and back) exercise at least three to five times a week. Keep it simple like crunches, locust pose, boat pose, planks, sit ups, anything that strengthens you middle to protect your back. After you do these do some gentle twist and hugs your legs in to release your back. It takes about 5 minutes.


The benefits of eating right and exercising are health. It doesn't take more time or more money, you are just reallocating the time you already spend. You have to work more to pay to eat out that fast food meal for $10, wouldn't you rather work less and eat a healthy meal for $4. It takes less time to eat right and exercise than it does to go see the doctor and have cancer or diabetes or spend years with heart disease. You can spend 1 hour a day focused on exercise and preparing good food or you can spend 24 hours a day sick or dead. You get to choose. Life is full of choices and health should be an easy one.