How can I improve my health without spending loads of money?
I already have pretty good health, for example I go to a gym regularly and buy my own health foods. But this does tend to be quite expensive at times. What can I do to save money but improve my health?
For optimal health, I advocate a low carb way of eating. As long as you have <9grams carbs per hour, you will maintain insulin control & shouldn’t gain weight, no matter the calories, because insulin (the ONLY fat storage hormone) isn’t activated.
I personally believe in using fat as fuel instead of carbohydrates. Fat is totally benign in the absence of insulin. There aren’t enough calories in vegetables & fruits to fuel the body, if you get enough calories from carbs to fuel the body, then you maintain an almost constant high insulin level with roller coaster blood glucose levels. I recommend fats from butter, coconut, olives, nuts, fish & meats, chia seeds & flax seeds.
When you restrict higher carb, lower nutrition foods, it becomes much easier to greatly increase vegetables in your diet. Change your mindset just adapt it to low carb -
replace bread with lettuce
replace pasta with cabbage
replace rice with cauliflower
replace potatoes with brocolli
High carb levels trigger insulin which unbalance other hormones, promote inflammation, weight gain, hunger. Controlling insulin levels will balance out other hormones and allow sex hormones (testosterone in men) & human growth hormone (HGH) to be produced naturally so lean muscle will be gained even without exercise. Any exercise will greatly increase muscle mass with high HGH levels.
Simple carbohydrates (sugar, flour, bread, cereal, pasta, potatoes, rice) trigger insulin which can store the calories eaten into fat. The more protein the more the fat burning hormone glucagon is released. The more carbohydrate the more the fat storage hormone insulin is released.
Highly nutritious foods you should consider: sprouts, spirulina, paprika, turnip greens, mustard greens, kale, garlic, brewers yeast, raw almonds, ground flax seeds & chia seeds.
Paprika – 1 Tablespoon = 20 cal = 71% DV Vit.A – 8% DV Vit.C – 10% DV Vit.E – 14% DV Vit.B6 – 9% DV Iron & others way too many to list.
Brewer’s Yeast Powder – Two tblspns. provide a whole lot of nutrition! 158% RDA Chromium – 90% Selenium – 88% B2 – 80% B1 – 50% Copper – 50% Niacin – 40% B6 & others way too many to list. It tastes peanutty to me. I have been adding it to sesame butter, a lil raw honey, coconut cream & coconut oil, powdered whey and tastes like peanut butter to me!
Chia seeds sound so expensive but 1# will make 10# food – Amazon.com has couple lbs. for $16 shipped to you. I buy in bulk (24#) from getchia.com for $5.83# with free shipping.
Chia seeds – 3.5 oz is nearly 500 calories, half calories from fat (high in Omega3 fatty acids) 38g fiber 151%DV & 16grams of COMPLETE protein for 6grams carbs & 63% DV Calcium – 95% Phosphorus – 23% Zinc – 9% Copper – 108% Manganese.
Faux tapioca – 2 cups of water, 5 scoops of low carb whey protein powder, stir together & add cup of chia seeds, after they have started to absorb the water, add in 2 cans of coconut milk & sweetener if you like and mix it all in. Can be eaten after an hour but will be better tomorrow. Cream a pkg. of cream cheese into a can of pumpkin and add to the faux tapioca for an even more nutritious pumpkin pie pudding.
Ground flax seed (2-4 Tbsp) 1/4 cup water, sweetener, cinnamon & mix in a raw egg – let sit 10 min. to absorb liquid, put some cream cheese in the middle & nuke 2 minutes. Suggested for daily fiber needs.
I have been making a "porridge" every day lately as suggested by Dr.Mercola. A low carb whey powder & water, I add ground flax seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, coconut milk, tahini (ground sesame seeds) & raw egg. All seeds & nuts are raw & soaked to germinate them.
Flax seed – 3.5oz – 534 cal – 65% calories from fat (high in Omega3 fatty acids) for 2gram carb – 27g fiber 109%DV – 26% DV Calcium – 64% Phosphorus – 29% Zinc – 61% Copper – 124% Manganese – 36% Selenium – 98% Magnesium – 32% Iron – 110% Thiamin – 9% B2 Riboflavin – 15% B3 Niacin – 24% Vit.B6 – 22% Folate – 10% Vit.B5.- 39% Potassium
Raw nuts are living and full of the energy of life and should be capable of building a tree. Roasted nuts are dead & they may still provide some nutrients, but none can compare to the nutrients and enzymes from a live food.
Unfortunately, raw does not necessarily mean living.
For example – Commercially sold almonds are now required to be pasteurized turning a live food into a dead one. You can not sprout an almond that has been irradiated. I buy my almonds direct from growers off ebay. I get 20# for less than $3# including shipping.
Almonds- 3.5oz – 575 cal – 72% calories from fat for 10gram carb & 26% DV Calcium – 48% Phosphorus – 21% Zinc – 50% Copper – 114% Manganese – 4% Selenium – 67% Magnesium – 21% Iron – 14% Thiamin – 60% B2 Riboflavin – 17% B3 Niacin – 7% Vit.B6 – 12% Folate – 5% Vit.B5.- 131% Vit.E – Potassium 20%
Brazil Nuts- 3.5oz – 656 cal – 85% calories from fat for 4gram carb & 16% DV Calcium – 73% Phosphorus – 27% Zinc – 87% Copper – 61% Manganese – 2739%
http://diet.com/videos Follow along at home with this 6-minute abs workout video that is perfect for all fitness levels. CPT Jessica Bergenfield and Sarah Dussault star in this exercise video.