Do we really have no money to spend on a healthier lifestyle?

Having been in this industry for 13 years now, you can be assured that I have heard every excuse possible as to why people find it challenging to change their ways and commit to living a healthier life. A major part of this is what we chose to put into our mouths and into our bodies. Aside from having ‘no time’, the second most common excuse or reason that I hear is “Eating healthy just cost too much and I can’t afford it”. Now I will agree that if you are eating 100% organically or completely gluten-free with speciality products this can be very true…unfortunate, but true. However if you are eating a balanced healthy diet of fresh fruits, veggies, grains, beans, nuts, seeds, eggs, almond or rice milk (I am not the girl you want to talk about cow’s milk with :), lean meats, chicken and fish, I challenge you that you can’t afford it.

You choose to either pay for your health today in way of healthy living or pay for it later in way of time off work, doctors appointments, prescription medicine, over the counter medication, stress, no energy, weight gain , digestive upset, constipation, diarrhea, ‘IBS’, poor skin quality, bad breath, bad back, sore joints, headaches, eczema, allergies, sensitivities, asthma, dandruff, bad menstrual cycles, depression, anxiety….shall I go on?

In a few words…poor quality of LIVING

I live in keswick and we have recently had a Walmart Superstore open up, now don’t get me wrong I am stoked about this, the fact that we can actually buy underwear in this town from somewhere other than The Bargain Shop is miraculous. But…I am blown away to see how much crap is being carted around that store in people’s carts and how much wasted $$$ is flying out of their pockets.

I am looking into carts with very little produce, white bread, sweets, packaged and processed luncheon meats, snackables, frozen dinners, aspartame, splenda and sucralose ladenned yogurt, ‘diet foods and disgusting vitamin water (seriously who drinks ‘water’ worth a 120 kcal and thinks they are doing something good for themselves?) Water…it comes out of a tap – drink some! I digress.

Now next to all this ‘food in the carts are toys, clothes, household odds and ends, MacDonald’s food bags or drinks or a Seattle’s Best latte cup – because you can’t shop for crap without eating crap too…

Don’t even get me started on how busy the manicure/pedicure place is. It would blow my mind to know how much people are spending per month on these types of miscellaneous items and then feeling like they have nothing left over for better food choices or being able to afford a membership or single class, a good pair of running shoes or home dvd.

Now I know I may sound harsh right now but I tend to get a litle ‘riled’ up over these things and frankly am so tired and sad of watching so many unhealthy people walk past and around me who are just making horrible choices. I would love to do a shopping store intervention; sit down with people talk to them about their families, their schedule, their grocery budget and teach them how to do some healthy meal-planning and strategic shopping that won’t break the bank but that WILL get them healthier.

Pretty sure most people would run in the other direction HAHA but who knows maybe one day I will make the attempt:)