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One of the things people ask me about the most is eating real food on a budget. To help answer some of these questions I will be posting tips each Monday. To start this series off I want to talk about starting to switch to a healthier diet and a bit about how I got started.
While I now eat a mostly organic and real food diet I didn’t always. I did grow up eating a lot of healthy food but as a teen and early in marriage I didn’t always make the best choices. What largely made me want to eat better was my health.
I have fibromyalgia and I was not feeling well at all. I was in a lot of pain and dealing with extreme fatigue. Things had to get better and conventional medicine offers little for people with fibromyalgia. I read that some people had a lot of relief when they removed a lot of the toxic chemicals from their life so I decided it was worth a shot. And the results have been amazing!
The changes I wanted to make would have been overwhelming if I did it all at once so I took it one step at a time. I decided to not worry about organic and just work on removing the worse things I was eating. The ten steps below are some of the first steps I took. They aren’t in any order but they are a great place to start when you want to eat better.
Ten First Steps to a Better Diet-
- Eat more produce.
- Wash your produce. (I recommend Biokleen Produce Wash or a vinegar based wash)
- Avoid artificial dyes.
- Avoid high fructose corn syrup.
- Avoid fast food.
- Start learning to make more food from scratch.
- Eat more whole grains.
- Avoid nitrates.
- Avoid artificial sweeteners.
- Eat less sugar.
Several of these steps will also save you money. And they will definitely help improve your overall health. Don’t feel like you have to do all ten at once, pick one or a couple to start with. Before you know it, all of these things will be habits.
If you have questions or tips, share them in the comments below!
Photo- Some rights reserved by snre
jess meddows
I think learning how to make food from scratch is one of the most important steps in a better diet (particularly when you’re on a budget). So many people just simply don’t know how to do this, and that’s why they eat so much processed food instead.
Lisa Sharp
It really is. Knowing what is in your food is great and it saves a lot of money. Also if you have to bake cookies to eat them, you are going to eat less of them.
Chelsie
I totally agree with the eat less sugar! We’re trying to cut back and I realized one of the easiest ways to not eat sugar is to stop buying stuff with it!
Lisa Sharp
I have a major sweet tooth. Keeping around sweet fruit helps me. Just ate a banana to help me avoid making some cookies with the homemade dough I have in the fridge. 🙂
Micaela @MindfulMomma
LOL – I think I eat MORE cookies when I bake them myself – but that’s just because I rarely eat store bought cookies. I’m so thankful to my mom for teaching me how to cook. (and thankful that my husband loves to cook too!)
Lisa Sharp
I freeze most of the dough and only bake a few at a time. Helps me eat a more reasonable amount. 🙂
Brenna
Great tips! I hate to admit it, but I am a truly terrible cook (but a great baker). I don’t like it and always try to avoid it. Luckily my husband took on the role of chef early on due to our work schedules and has become a wonderful one. I do feel like I should practice more often though.
green Bean
What a wonderful, simple and straightforward list, Lisa! So often, there is just TOO much to consider. You boil it down to the basics.
LaLa
This is great! I have been trying to eat a healthier diet, & I really struggle with this. I buy plenty of vegetables, but have always struggled with eating what’s quick & easy versus what’s healthy. I have to do better, & you gave some great tips to do better. Thanks!
Lisa Sharp
Glad the tips helped! Be sure to check back tomorrow for the next post in the Real Food on a Budget series.
Melanie
Totally agree with this! I’ve been eating clean for several years and no processed sugar for almost a year. The health benefits have been amazing. I’ve lost weight, have a lot of energy, was able to cut my blood pressure med in half, the psoriasis on my knees (that I’ve had for almost 40 years!) is almost totally gone.
Lisa Sharp
That’s awesome!