eating habits

10 Cheaper and Healthier Alternatives to Junk Foods

March 17, 2021 By Kathryn Vercillo Leave a Comment

Junk food is bad for us in so many different ways. And although it’s not everyone’s first thought in the argument against junk food, cost is an important consideration. You can save money on your grocery bill as well as your medical expenses if you switch to these cheaper and healthier alternatives to junk foods.

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The Cost of Junk Food

Junk food costs money out of our pockets in three key ways.

First of all, junk food is often more expensive than healthy food. Of course, you can find deals and sales and fast food that make it cheaper. But you’re often spending more for the junk than you would for fresh whole food.

Second, junk food is addictive. Therefore, you often end up buying more and more over time. You aren’t satisfied with one cookie, now you want the whole bag of them. So, you end up spending more on groceries because you’re buying more and more junk food to satisfy your cravings.

Finally, junk food erodes your health. Therefore, you end up spending money on medications and other medical care. You wouldn’t spend that money if you kept yourself healthy through nutritious eating.

So, junk food costs you up front and over time. Therefore, finding cheaper and healthier alternatives to junk foods can be an important part of your budget.

10 Cheaper and Healthier Alternatives to Junk Foods

There are many cheaper and healthier alternatives to junk food. Some are specific food changes. However, others are about changing your behavior.

1. Eat Fruit

If you tend to have sugar cravings, then stock up on healthy fruit. Buy whole, unprocessed, seasonal fruit. Shop farmer’s markets, local produce stores, farm delivery services, and big chan grocery stores to find the best prices on seasonal produce near you.

2. Find Veggies You Love

Over time, fresh fruit will satisfy your sugar cravings. However, you might be surprised by how many healthy veggies are also tastier than junk food. If sweets are your thing, try sweet bell peppers and carrots. If you like salty or savory, try greens with fresh lemon and herbs. Again, shop in season and as local as possible to reduce your costs.

3. Drink Water

Oftentimes we think we are hungry when actually we are just thirsty. If you’re dehydrated, then reach for water, not for junk food. Before you snack, fill up a big glass of water and drink it down. Give it a few minutes. If you’re still hungry, then reach for a healthy snack, not junk food. In particular, avoid salty and caffeinated junk food as that will just worsen the dehydration and make the cycle worse.

4. Take Time to Sit Down for Meals

Do you often grab food on the go? Or do you eat at the table while multi-tasking with your screens? If so, then you probably eat more junk food than you ought to. Instead, take the time to sit down and mindfully eat each meal. Yes, each meal, three times per day. The more consciously, thoughtfully, and intentionally you prepare and enjoy your meals, the less likely it is that you’ll overeat junk food.

5. Learn About Intuitive Eating

Don’t just give up junk food to “be good.” That mentality will just land you in a thick cycle of eating bad, eating good, eating bad, eating good. It’ll ultimately make the battle with junk food worse. Instead, develop a healthy relationship with food. You can learn about intuitive eating online for free as a starting point. The intuitive eating community is also a great resource for even more information about cheaper and healthier alternatives to junk foods.

6. Make Your Own Junk Food

Maybe you don’t want to give up your favorite junk food entirely. That’s okay. Switching to making it yourself can help you save money. Moreover, you can make substitutions that make those foods healthier. For example, CookSmarts recommends:

Making fries from other veggies instead of potatoes; if you’re smart with your oil then you can have relatively healthy fries
Use kale to make an alternative to chips from a bag
Add fruit to yogurt and freeze it as an alternative to ice cream
Eat a handful of dark chocolate covered nuts or fruit rather than a candy bar
Stock up on sparkling water as an alternative to sodas, juices, and alcohol

And these days you can find recipes to make just about anything using cauliflower instead of eating carbs.

7. Eat Junk Food Only as a Special Treat

Sometimes those cheaper and healthier alternatives to junk foods just won’t do. You want the real thing. That’s okay. Just eat it mindfully. Make it a special treat, not an everyday thing. Set some rules and guidelines for yourself that keep it truly special and rare.

For example, I have a rule that I never order dessert at a restaurant unless they have chocolate mousse. Most places don’t have it, so I don’t come across it all that often. When I do, it’s truly a treat. I’m indulging. It’s part of my special budget. Therefore, I enjoy it without letting it take over my life and my health.

You might choose special foods or special, rare occasions on which to indulge. Then the rest of the time, you make the healthy choices.

8. Start The Day with Eggs or Oatmeal

These are both solid, healthy breakfast options that will sustain you until lunchtime. They are affordable options that are healthier than many other breakfast choices. So skip the bagels, pancakes, and cold cereals in favor of a healthy start to the day.

9. Snack Like You’re Feeding a Kindergartener

What are some of the cheaper and healthier alternatives to junk foods that you’re comfortable giving to your kids on a regular basis? Carrot sticks, string cheese, yogurt, peanut butter on apples … if you can’t wait until your next meal and need a snack, think about these options.

10. Try Therapy for Eating Issues

Okay, so therapy might not be objectively “cheaper” than junk food. But it’s definitely healthier to address any underlying eating issues than to destroy your health with poor eating. Many of us engage in emotional eating or eat due to underlying mental health issues. Working on that is critical to long-term health.

Moreover, if you have insurance or access to sliding scale services then you might actually find affordable therapy that’s cheaper, or as cheap as, the junk food that is harming you. Alternatively, there are free groups, such as Overeaters Anonymous, that provide online and in-person support for eating issues.

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Healthy vs Unhealthy: What Your Eating Habits Are Costing You

July 27, 2018 By Amanda Blankenship Leave a Comment

When you take a look at the overall difference in price between a healthy and unhealthy diet, it comes out to about $550 per year. For some families, this additional cost could be a real burden, but what is that cost compared to the cost of diet-related diseases, such as heart disease? When you take a look at healthy vs unhealthy eating habits makes a bigger difference than you’d think.

The Cost of Eating Healthy

Organic foods can be somewhat expensive. These foods are touted to maintain a healthy diet. These organic diets are rich in fruits, veggies, fish, and nuts. The healthiest of diets cost around $1.50 or more per day than the least healthy, according to research from the Harvard School of Public Health.

They analyzed data from 27 existing studies. Once the data was collected, they looked at the difference in price per serving, price per 200 calories (for certain foods), price per day, and price per 2,000 calories (the recommended average daily intake).

Overall, it was found that healthy diets cost significantly more than an unhealthy one. This is because some food policies have led to an inexpensive, high-quality approach, making unhealthy food cheap. However, researchers hope their findings will eventually lead to a decline in prices of healthier foods.

Cost of Poor Eating Habits

Spending $1.50 a day more pales in comparison to the cost of poor or unhealthy eating habits though. Diet-related health diseases include conditions such as heart disease, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, and some cancers. Each of these leads to more than 700,000 deaths each year. Even more, 1,000 people die each day from heart disease, stroke, and diabetes alone.

The U.S. spends around $3.3 trillion (more than $10,000 per person) on health care each year, accounting for 17.9% of the country’s overall spending. Cardiovascular disease costs the U.S. $555 billion each year.

Diabetes-related spending is estimated to be $327 billion. Strokes account for $34 billion of health care-related costs and obesity-related illnesses are responsible for another $194 billion.

Number of People Living With Diet-Related Illnesses in the U.S.

Obesity	78,100,000
High Blood Pressure	66,900,000
Diabetes	29,100,000
Heart disease	26,600,000
Cancer	20,073,000
Osteoporosis	9,900,000
Stroke	6,400,000

So, what are millions of Americans supposed to do? Obviously, eating healthy is the right thing to do for your health. But, how do you transition from unhealthy food to healthy eating habits?

Healthy vs Unhealthy Eating Habits

Before you embark on any kind of journey, whether it be changing your eating habits or your financial habits, you should know what you are looking to change. There is some debate as to what is healthy and what’s not though. Whether low-carb diets or a high protein diet is the best is not certain, but it is pretty much agreed upon that the following foods are considered healthy.

Whole grains
Lean protein, such as chicken and fish
Unprocessed red meat
Low-sodium lunch meats
Fresh fruits and vegetables
Fresh leafy greens
Cold pressed extra virgin oils
Raw nuts. seeds, and sprouts
Seaweeds and sea vegetables
Brown rice
Whole grain pasta

While some grains and higher carb foods have been added to the unhealthy food list in some circles, the food items below are generally considered to be unhealthy.

Processed foods like white bread and white pasta
Refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and aspartame
MSG and other taste-enhancing chemicals should be avoided
Processed fats and oils

Although the $550 a year price tag is a turnoff, there are a plethora of benefits when it comes to eating healthy vs unhealthy.

Boosts Your Immunity

A nutrient-rich diet helps your body fight diseases and ensures it obtains immune-boosting nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, iron, and other essential vitamins. Unhealthy foods, on the other hand, increase toxicity levels in your body. This weakens your immunity.

Higher Energy Levels

Eating healthy ensures a stable supply of energy all day long. Those who eat diets high is bad fats, processed food, and sugar are set up for a crash. It leaves you feeling sluggish by early afternoon.

Maintain Your Weight

A healthy diet boosts your metabolism. This can help you lose weight if you’ve been looking to lose. It can also help with digestion issues and help your body burn fat, wheres unhealthy foods lead to the storing of fat in the body.

Emotional Well-Being

A nutrient-rich diet will have you feeling energetic all the time. This helps your emotional wellness. When you have energy and feel happy, you get out more and interact with others, and this all supports a healthy mental state. Eating a poor diet can cause vitamin deficiencies that leave you feeling tired throughout the day.

All in all, to make a real difference in your life health-wise, you’ll need to drop your unhealthy eating habits. Even though it costs a bit more, think about everything you stand to gain from it. You can shield yourself from the cost by shopping at places like Aldi, Costco, or keeping an eye out for coupons. Eating healthy will have you feeling better and possibly save a boatload in health costs.

Readers, have you experienced transitioning between an unhealthy and healthy diet? How did you do it? Have you noticed any positive changes?

The Time You Eat Dinner May Cut Your Risk of Getting Cancer

July 22, 2018 By Amanda Blankenship Leave a Comment

Your sleeping and eating habits have a direct impact on your overall health, whether you realize it or not. In fact, a recent study found the time you eat dinner each day may decrease your risk of developing cancer.

The study, which was published in the International Journal of Cancer, found that individuals who ate dinner before 9 p.m. had a lower risk of developing breast and prostate cancer.

It is estimated that more than 40,000 women will die from breast cancer this year and nearly 30,000 men will die from prostate cancer. Although both carry a high death toll, it isn’t the reason researchers picked breast and prostate cancer specifically.

“We focused on breast and prostate cancer because these are the two cancers that have been mostly been associated with night shift work,” lead author of the study, Dr. Manolis Kogevinas, told Moneyish.

Previous studies have focused on the type and quantity of food intake and not necessarily what time people were eating. It has also been known that people who consume 25% of the daily intake of calories right before bedtime are more likely to have disrupted sleep patterns, which can lead to weight gain.

Individuals who work graveyard shift are more likely to eat at strange times. So, researchers wanted to see if this was directly correlated with health problems associated with working overnight, such as breast and prostate cancer.

Researchers at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health took a look at 621 patients with prostate cancer and 1,205 breast cancer patients. A group of 872 males and 1,321 females without cancer were submitted to researchers as a control.

To determine the impact of dining times on risk of developing cancer, researchers examined what time people ate and what time they went to sleep. Each participant was asked about sleep patterns, activity levels, diet, and what time they ate their meals the year before diagnosis.

What was found were men who ate two or more hours before sleeping had a 26% decrease in prostate cancer when compared to individuals who ate right before bedtime. The same habits in women decreased the risk of breast cancer by 16%.

The exact time you eat dinner played a role in the findings as well. Participants who ate before 9 p.m. had a 25% decrease in prostate cancer and a 15% decrease in breast cancer when compared to individuals who ate after 10 p.m. This suggests the two-hour window before bed is better for your health, overall, but eating before 9 p.m. will serve you well too.

Study researchers also found that early birds (people who wake up between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.) have a lower risk of developing cancer as well, versus night owls. All in all, the lead author of the study Kogevinas said it best, “Food is best metabolized during that day. If you eat late and go to sleep, this can have an effect on obesity and cancer.”

Typically, you should try to eat your heaviest meals for breakfast and lunch. End your day with a lighter meal. The best tip for individuals who don’t have a choice in the hours or time of day they get to eat is leaving enough time to digest your food before going to bed. As mentioned in the study, a two-hour buffer between finishing your meal and your head hitting the pillow is best.

Readers, what do you think about this study’s findings? Are you considering changing the time you eat dinner?

10 Cheaper and Healthier Alternatives to Junk Foods

Give the Gift of Home Cooking with Blue Apron E-Gift Cards

The Cost of Junk Food