Living in an expensive city doesn’t mean it’s an excuse to NOT eat healthy. It’s expensive but there are certainly ways to stay fit with your diet while on a budget.
I want to share a few tips to support you in your health goals while you keep your grocery store budget!
- Consider a healthier and cheaper diet by limiting the amounts of animal products you consume. Meet, fish, cheese and poultry is not only quite expensive, it raises your cholesterol levels, increases your risk of heart disease by clogging your arteries. Get your protein and calcium from far more nutritious plant based sources instead such as beans, legumes, leafy greens and nuts and seeds! Did I mention it is cheaper for you?
- Think a little bit further than the very moment or the very hour. Yes, you may be able to fill your stomach quick, easy and cheap by passing through a fast food restaurant. But since the food is so nutrient deprived and raises your blood sugar sky high, you will be hungry in no time, you will want to eat much larger portions and be so tired youre unlikely to get anything productive done. Eating nutrient rich foods, high in fiber will allow you to feel satisfied with much smaller portions for a much longer period of time and will give you the energy you need to be productive and get something done!
- You can shop organic and cheap in New York! You can find online stores that sell in bulk, for great prices. You can buy in bulk also from Whole foods. You can get pretty nice prices for healthy foods at Trader Joes and you can buy many bags filled with organic fresh fruits and vegetables for a great bargain at Gristedes! Ideally you want to buy all organic and local if possible but we all know that can be a challenge both seasonally and for the wallet. How ever a few items I certainly want to stress on being organic at all times as they have been found to be the fruits and vegetables with highest levels of toxic chemicals.
TOP FOODS to buy ORGANIC:
- Peaches and Nectarines
- Apples- Strawberries and blueberries
- Grapes
- Celery
- Spinach and other greens
- Cherries
- Sweet potatoes and other potatoes
Make simple dishes. This is very cleansing to your body and specially if you have had a hard time digesting foods or are looking to get in shape, your body will appreciate the simplicity in your meals which allows it to digest better and therefor use more of the nutrients your meal provides.
For instance: Cook one grain such as Quinoa or Brown rice that you bought bulk (add little salt and some olive oil when cooked for flavor), choose two of your favorite vegetables such as sweet potatoes and broccoli and sautee them with onions, garlic and olive oil (in order to use less oil, water sautee the veggies first start with onion, then add the minced garlic, then the cut sweet potatoes and finally the broccoli and only add 1Tbs of oil at the end)! Use sea salt, pepper, umebushi plum vinegar or your favorite dried herbs to add flavor.
A very simple, nutritious, tasty, quick and cheap dinner to make casually instead of the salmon with 4 different sides..
So all you need is a little bit of creativity and you can start eating healthy on the daily and it will be light in calories and in your pocketbook!
NYC Cinematography Lady 