Eating Healthy on a Budget
Eating healthy on a budget is possible even when you eat low glycemically. In fact, it is probably much easier to eat more cheaply on the low glycemic plan! Processed foods are expensive. You are paying for the packaging AND the processing. It pays to buy in bulk when you can. Just to give you an example, flaxseed meal is $4.59 a lb. in a package but you can buy organic flax seeds in a bin for $2.59 a lb. and grind them in a coffee grinder. I picked one up at a discount store dirt cheap.
Eating healthy on a budget means including these foods in your daily eating: beans, eggs, barley, bulgur, oats, quinoa, fresh locally grown fruit and dark greens. This is a low glycemic food list of super foods. These are the ones that give you the most bang for your nutritional buck and do NOT raise your blood sugar.
BeansPeople joke about eating beans when you need to be frugal but the truth is beans are super foods! Eating healthy on a budget means you are eating like a king. Eating low glycemically is all about controlling your blood sugar. Guess what super food helps you to control your blood sugar? BEANS! Eating as little as 1/2 cup of beans a day has been shown to greatly improve your ability to control your blood sugar. Not to mention they keep your cholesterol low. This is why you will find a lot of bean recipes on this site. They are the power food for people wanting to lose fat for a lifetime AND never get type 2 diabetes or any of the other sugar eating diseases.
They are super delicious when you cook the dry beans and add just olive oil and some seasonings. There are 2 reasons people don’t do it – flatulence and they think it’s too time consuming. There are solutions to these 2 issues! Eating healthy on a budget means eating lots of beans and cooking them yourself and here’s how.
Beans are super foods and instead of eating them once in a blue moon it’s far better for you to eat them all the time but in small amounts. You will be eating healthy on a budget with beans. Cook up a bunch on the weekend and then have them in the refrigerator to add to a soup. For a simple dinner for one person sauté them in a clove of pressed garlic and season to taste with salt and pepper or your favorite seasoning. Add them to your chili, to a salad, as a side dish for eggs, meat, or vegetables. A pile of beans sautéed in garlic with salt and pepper and a green salad with grated cheese is a great meal and what did that cost? Practically nothing and it’s low glycemic, super nutritious, high in fiber and supplies a lot of nutrients. Finish up with some fruit and yogurt. That is eating healthy on a budget.
EggsSo eating healthy on a budget means getting up close and friendly with beans and what else? How about eggs for your protein? Eggs have provided us with a high quality protein for thousands of years and they contain almost all nutrients especially fat soluble vitamins A and D.Get pasture fed or cage free chicken eggs if you can find them. It's worth paying a little extra because eggs are super cheap to begin with and they are a super protein source. They will be much more nutritious if the chickens have been out in the grass eating bugs. Maybe you could even find out what the regulations are in your neighborhood and buy 5 chickens and grow your own eggs. That might sound crazy but if you are raising a healthy, free protein source it could be well worth it.
Barley and BulgurThe two super cheap and great tasting grains to eat that are low glycemic are barley and bulgur. These 2 grains are at the top of the low glycemic food list. These need to be your staple grains because they are the ones that will keep your blood sugar stabilized. Pictured to your left is a mushroom, barley, onion stew - delicious and easy to make! These are cheap, healthy foods that can be bought in bulk. Remember the more you buy out of a bin the less you pay for all that expensive packaging. Barley packs a nutrient punch. Chromium is a mineral that keeps your blood sugar low and there is a lot of chromium in barley. You can add barley to soups, breads and casseroles. It has B vitamins, iron, copper, magnesium and phosphorus.
Bulgur is cracked wheat and a staple of Middle eastern cuisine. It is used to make tabouli which makes a cold grain salad and in soups and casseroles. It is traditionally made from sprouted grain which is far more digestible and delicious than processed wheat. Bulgur is extremely high in fiber and can prevent constipation, prevent colon and breast cancers, reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease. It is extremely rich in minerals and contains manganese, selenium, magnesium. Super easy to prepare because it doesn’t even require cooking! Soak it and make a salad. If you've never tried bulgur you don't know what you're missing. OatsWhen you’re eating healthy on a budget don’t forget the oats! They will also help you manage your blood sugar. Try my low glycemic oatmeal recipe and start out your morning with a breakfast that will sustain you at your optimum level until snack or lunch. In a study by the New Ork Obesity Research Centder at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, 60 people who ate oatmeal for breakfast had 30% fewer calories at lunch. The soluble fiber in oats creates a feeling of fullness. Oats are cheap when you buy whole, rolled oats.
QuinoaQuinoa is a grain that comes from South America, specifically Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. It is unusually high in protein, 20%, making it low glycemic and highly nutritious. It contains the amino acids that tend to be low in other grains making it the ideal grain for vegans and those needing to manage their blood sugar which means practically all of us. It contains iron, calcium, phosporus, B vitamins E and fat. I already have one quinoa recipe on this site which is a risotto I call Quinotto. It is cooked like rice, 2 cups of water to 1 cup of quinoa but the taste is enhanced if you toast the quinoa seeds in a dry skillet about 5 minutes before cooking with water.
Fresh Fruit and Dark Leafy GreensOne of the cheapest strategies for eating healthy on a budget is eating local food that is in season. This way you eliminate all the costs of shipping to your corner of the world. Oranges in winter, apples in the fall, stone fruit in summer... this is the way we used to eat before we got spoiled eating bananas all year around shipped in from South America.
WalnutsWalnuts may not seem to be the cheapest food around but considering how nutrient rich they are and how they compare to meat as a protein source, they really are a cheap healthy food. You don't need to eat many to get as much protein as meat. Plus we need an omega 3 food to round out the "eating healthy on a budget" plan since all the food groups are represented, proteins, carbs and fats. Walnuts are protein with lots of good fat.
Walnuts are truly a super food and you don’t need to eat a lot, 7 nuts for a snack is enough – to get the great health benefits. They are brain food and contain loads of vitamins, phenolic acids, tannins and flavonoids as well as the omega 3 fatty acids. They support heart health, prevent cancer, fight diabetes, improve cognitive function and they may even help you sleep better. They contain more antioxidants and nutrients than any other nut.
There you have it. Cheap healthy food for eating healthy on a budget. It's easier to eat more cheaply when you eat low glycemically! Now onto some cheap healthy recipes to help you promote and support a lifetime of fat loss and your optimum health! You can start with our Lifetime Fat Loss Low Glycemic Recipes.
How to Cook BeansYou want to eat high fiber beans more often but you don't know how to cook them and you get gas? We tell you about a dozen different beans and how to cook them and tips for digesting them too!
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Beans are extremely high in fiber and a great source of minerals especially iron and potassium, antioxidants and lots of the B vitamins. They are high in soluble and insoluble fiber. The trick to falling in love with beans is buying them whole in bulk, not in a can. On the other hand, when you are short on time nothing is more convenient than having a can of beans on hand! Do both.
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Do you want to balance your metabolism, lower your blood sugar and have optimal health and longevity? Learn about the latest breakthroughs in the science of weight managment and how others are getting slender on the Lifetime Fat Loss Low Glycemic Plan!
February 7, 2012 "How To Create Fast Low Glycemic Meals" - Issue #008
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December 6, 2011 "Lifetime Fat Loss Holiday Tips " - Issue #006
November 2, 2011 "Eating Healthy On a Budget " - Issue #005