Day 89 - Grow Younger Every Day Step 6: Spend Less Than You Make

Step 6 is taking a short step away from traditional health and fitness tips. Although monetary matters are not entirely related to your physical health and fitness, they are far more involved than most people think.

More often than not, choices made by individuals are either based on how much money they make or do not make. I am not a financial planner, so I am not here to discuss what you should or shouldn't do with your money, that is everyone's individual choice.

What I am going to try and ask you to do, however, is try and curb your spending as much as possible. Debt is one road that, when traveled down, usually ends up causing mental and potentially physical pain.

I understand that not everyone has equal opportunity in this world, I really do. There can be quite large, almost insurmountable differences between those who have and those who have not. But sticking with the theme that you should try and control as much of what you can in your life, I think your best option when it comes to money is to spend less than what you make.

Again, there are times when shit happens and you have to spend your money. Car maintenance, home payments, bills, health spending, etc. These types of things are (for the most part) out of your control, however. What I am referring to is those times when you see that fancy new smartphone, or the "great deal" on new flat screens.

If you really wish to buy something, save for it! I promise you that by the time you save up your money for something that you wish to purchase, that time will give you a better idea of whether you truly do want that item, or it was just going to end up being an 'impulse buy'.

In my honest opinion, I feel many people buy luxury items out of impulse to fill a certain void in their lives. Whether they are dealing with some sort of emotional issue, or they wish to mask the feelings of something else, impulse shopping gives that specific 'high' that lifts the spirits and makes you feel good.

Also, you may begin to better evaluate your life and your priorities. I find that, for myself at least, healthy eating and staying active is what makes me fell fulfilled and happy. Spending time with my family and making them happy is definitely top priority for me, but leading a healthy lifestyle and therefore encouraging others is also high up on that list.

Unfortunately, far too many people dig themselves into deep holes of debt, throwing away countless gobs of cash in interest when it is unnecessary. Next time you wish to go shopping, just think to yourself, "Do I have the money for this?" If so, then ask yourself, "Do I really need this (insert item here), and will this item enrich my life for the better?" You could potentially save yourself a fair bit of money just by taking a step back and analyzing your thoughts first.

Quote of the day:
"Contrary to the opinion of many people, leaders are not born. Leaders are made, and they are made by effort and hard work."
~ Vince Lombardi

Day 81 - You Are What You Eat

We have all heard this term before, but don't think that everything you put in your mouth stays in your body and is digested. Just keep in mind, there are things that come out the other end - and that will be as far as I go with that!

When you eat your food, your teeth chew it up, then the juices in your stomach breaks things down further into a paste. This paste then travels through your intestines where the nutrients are absorbed through the spongy walls. For most people, however, 5-10% of this paste just keeps passing on through and is expelled as waste. 

For the most part, fat digests easily and passes through the intestinal walls quickly. Keep in mind that animal protein sources are absorbed better than plant-based sources. Then we come to carbs. Glucose and starchy carbs (i.e. chocolate, potatoes) are absorbed rapidly, whereas high-fiber carbs like in fruits, vegetables and grains take their sweet time passing through your system.

Not only that, but fiber seems to prevent your body from absorbing certain calories and can even lower cholesterol levels. Therefore, a specific amount of broccoli and chocolate may register as the same number of calories in a laboratory, but that does not mean that they act the same way in your body.

Studies have shown that individuals with high-fiber diets have close to 20% of their daily ingested calories move through their digestive system without being absorbed. Less calories this way can lead to less body fat!

Quote of the day:

"Happiness is more a state of health than of wealth."
-Frank Tyger

Day 37 - Is 'Junk Food' really cheaper than 'Healthy Food'?

Many of us have either heard someone say, or have used the phrase, "Healthy food costs more than junk food!" Well, I came across an interesting article that I came across on the USDA blog. Healthy Foods Not Necessarily More Expensive Than Less Healthy Ones. The authors of the blog discuss the differing techniques to compare prices of food.

My ERS colleague Elizabeth Frazao and I wanted to look at other price measures as a beginning point in answering the question of whether price is a hurdle to making wiser food choices.  We calculated price in three ways:  price per calorie, price per edible weight, and price per average amount eaten.  Price per edible weight is the price of the food after it is cooked, and the seeds, peels, skins, shells, and bones have been removed.  Price per average amount is the price of the average amount consumed by adults who reported their food consumption in a national survey.

Their findings were actually quite surprising:

We found that the price measure used has a large effect on which foods are more expensive.  If we use price per calorie, fruits and vegetables tend to be more expensive than less healthy foods.  In contrast, if we use price per edible weight or per average amount eaten, then grains, vegetables, fruits, and dairy foods are less expensive than most protein foods and less healthy foods.

This is not necessarily all that surprising (to some) if you actually think about this from a logical standpoint and understand the basic principles of the foods being studied. Vegetables and fruits are made primarily of water. Along with their water content, they contain large amounts of nutritionally beneficial stuff for our bodies - you know, vitamins and nutrients.

On the other hand, most protein sources, as well as what the authors are calling 'less healthy foods' tend to be very dense calorie-wise. This, unfortunately, does not always mean that those calories are most beneficial. What I mean is that just because something is high in calories does not make it nutritionally useful (duh!) and can otherwise be called 'empty calories'.

This topic can be viewed from a couple different perspectives. On one hand, you can appreciate the fact that for your dollars spent, 'healthy foods', although somewhat expensive at times, give you more bang for your buck nutritionally. Not only can their water and fiber content keep you feeling 'full' for longer periods of time, they provide your body with the vital minerals and nutrients that it craves with fewer calories.

On the other hand, some might argue that they would much rather pay more to get more, and in this case, they feel as though getting more calories for each dollar spent, is much more worthwhile.

I don't really understand the logic of some folks. They 'pay a little more' for luxury items like cell phone data plans, decadent coffees, fancy clothes, and other cosmetic material items that have little overall value, yet complain that they may have to pay a little more for an apple rather than an apple fritter.

Priorities I guess...

Quote of the day:

"Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them."
-Author Unknown