Wellness On A Budget; My Top 5 Tips

18 Jan Wellness On A Budget; My Top 5 Tips

I am not new to living on a budget. 9 years of University definitely teaches you how to reign it in. Interestingly, while I was a student, I was always learning about health, so my budget and lifestyle choices could never totally be mutually exclusive. 

Here are some things I learned along the way

Meal plan and don’t buy extra

• Focus on important foods: proteins and veggies.
• Try a pasta that is high in fibre and protein (such as Liviva black bean pasta). This way if you can’t afford an extra protein, this noodle will give you 20g along with lots of fibre, which will help you to feel full fast.
• Beans are very filling, so be sure to add them in, rather than just stock up on carbs, which tends to be the trend.
• If eating organic is important to you, go back to basics, and buy it organic if it’s on the dirty dozen list. If it’s not on the dirty dozen list, maybe that’s not where you need to spend your money this week.

Exercising on a budget 

As long as you have running shoes, you can:

• Go for walks/runs
• Do cardio (there are lots of free videos)
• Do some HIIT circuits
• Do workouts that involve your body weight (no equipment needed) 

No Psychology coverage, but struggling emotionally?

• Start to work on being present. Here is a link to my YouTube video where I show an easy way to do this. 
• Do a 30 second body scan periodically throughout the day. Here is a link to my YouTube video demonstrating how to do this.
• Do some box breathing. If you don’t know what this is, here is a link to my YouTube video demonstrating how to do this type of breathing.
• There are some free counselling resources through Bounce Back Ontario & Abiliti CBT
• Journal: if you aren’t sure where to get started, here is a good website that includes some really great journaling prompts. When I was young and going through a very tough time I would journal. I’m pretty sure that I wrote about the same things every day. Then one day, I must have written it differently or read it differently, but I had such a moment of clarity. It was incredibly healing!

Cut expensive habits

The following are costly on your health and on your budget!

• Alcohol
• Smoking
• Fast Food
• Foods and drinks high in sugar

If you think illness prevention is expensive, please consider the expenses that come with an illness caused by the above!

Important supplements

When keeping on a budget, it’s easy to skimp on certain nutrients. This can be compounded by the fact that we live in Canada and some nutrients are less available in the North American diet and climate.

These nutrients include:

• Vitamin D
• Probiotics
• Fish oils
• Multivitamin and/or greens products

Make sure you check in with your ND or MD before you start self prescribing!