Can You Afford to Eat Right?

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

Karoe — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:34:00 GMT

If you take time to plan, as Dr. M suggests you do, you can make things from scratch in quantities and freeze them. Overall, you then spend about the same time cooking. I have had great success with soups and stews and it' s cheap to do because you use cuts of meat that are less costly...chicken soup, and turkey soup --- use chicken backs and turkey wings...you will be absolutely astonished at how cheaply you can obtain these things. Luckily we have a market that has good chicken for sale in parts, as well as turkey. Also, find a source of grass fed beef bones....sometime they come with meat on them...I make a pot of something once a week...it's also a good use for not-so-fresh vegetables.

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

smallfarmgirl — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:51:00 GMT

For me I must admit, I would be hard-pressed to live a healthful diet on one hundred dollars a month (as I do) if I did not have fruit, vegetables, fresh raw milk, and meats on my own property or available locally. I grow more than can be used, sell some from a little stand on the property or trade with someone who has raised something different.

I learned how to eat well from my grandmother who ate an apple a day, a spoonful of cider vinegar in water (as the only liquid she drank,) as well as a vegetarian, meatless, and grain less diet. I am now 76 and love to grow and “put up” my own food. I am neither meatless nor grain less, although I am working on it. I have a high-powered blender in which I buzz up flax seed to include in my juice “drink of the day.” In addition, I take my cod liver oil each day in the winter, when I cannot get enough sunshine. I have also started using full spectrum lighting. On my income, I cannot afford medical expenses and fortunately, am extremely healthy, with none of the usual elderly afflictions.

Without my little farm, I would have to find other means to eat well on one hundred dollars a month … but I believe I could do it, as I believe the mind of a positive well-nourished person will always find solutions. Dr. Mercola is right on with his suggestions to make it work. Bon Appetite!

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

merci — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:05:56 GMT

Too bad Mercola joins in holding it's healthy snacks and supplements above the heads and out of reach of 80 % Americans. Where are his 'coupons'?

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

Mr. Tim — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 14:20:17 GMT

If your healthy you can save money by not having health insurance. Why pay money for something that might or might not happen? I'm on a fixed income too. I'm a disabled vet receiving a pension from the VA and SSI. My disability is not service connected so I can't get all my health care at the VAMC but I can eat healty and exercise. I do volunteer work in my community to help others less fortunate than me. I do without things that are uneccesary and a waste of time like cable tv which is controlled by the left wing extremist anyway,mostly liberal propaganda.

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

Conscious Evolution — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:10:51 GMT

I think one of the best self sustainable options we have is to actually go and work on the small Local and Organic farms in our state. I still work on a Biodynamic farm which is above and beyond Organic in terms of health and diversity. It is really the only way I can get the best food possible in exchange for working out in the sun and getting my hands deep into mother earth. So I get my health and spiritual wealth all at the same time! Not to mention that if you grow your own food it tastes soooooooo much better, no joke, it’s like the food attunes itself to your energy field. Even my friend’s 90 year old mom comes out and helps us on occasion. Besides receiving more benefits than I can fit on this page, you also are at the ground roots level for revolution in this country. It is on the farmer’s level that real change will happen, not in the Demonic Cabals White House. Even if you can’t realistically work on a farm, just contributing 7 hours a week will get you exercise! Sunshine! Fresh Air! Calm stress relieving atmosphere! And usually if someone bothers to come out and really help us we give them enough fresh food to last at least a few days and a big discount off of any of our products! Most farms will do this without you even asking, if it is a small community based farm. So I hope this helps out! Remember even if your disabled there are plenty of things we can use you for! ?

“Life is not an eternal search for GOD; Life is a eternal expression of GOD.”

PEACE AND LOVE.

‘Anything and Everything is possible with SPACE, LOVE and IMAGINATION.’

That’s my quote so don’t take it. ?

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

heykapo — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:54:26 GMT

Loren Smith, what town in Mexico do you favor? If you're willing to say, that is. I'd like to divide my year just as you do, Yours, Kate

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

healthyfriend — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 04:14:25 GMT

Just wondering if anyone can answer this question. Now that I am trying to eat better, I have started on Matcha tea. Now I have large-ish red spots, a bit like acne, on my face. They fade after a day and new ones appear. Am I allergic to Matcha or is this some kind of cleansing of toxins?

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

green1_203 — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 02:03:20 GMT

I am not sure where Dr. Mercola shops, but fresh veggies cost MUCH MORE than canned ones. I am curious where in the country and at what stores that fresh veggies are cheap.

I am VERY poor and try to eat well. It is very difficult, but we eat almost no junk and drink tea and water only. I have also found that when I "go to town"(60 miles away) that if I shop at ethnic grocery stores I can get better deals than everywhere else. Bulk barley at the Korean grocery for much cheaper than at health food and regular grocers and healthy spices and herbs are cheaper(and better) at the Indian grocer.

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

Sandi$gems — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:49:24 GMT

The cost of good food is an ongoing problem for many of us. We are considered poor, but we are so blessed with our little piece of paradise. I have chickens for REAL free range eggs and try to grow as much of our own food as possible. Right now I have an 80 pound pumpkin on the counter I am trying to figure out what to do with. I have a pepper plant that is three years old that I bring inside in the winter. It has peppers on it right now! I have a few lemon trees in pots, too that give us huge lemons throughout the winter. We have to put up with the jungle, but nothing beats the smell of lemon blossoms for a room scent. Being rather do-it-youselfers, the last three kids were born at home delivered by my hubby. None of our five kids needed any tubes in their ears. The only time any of them needed medical attention was when one of the boys tried to cut his toe off with an ax. I refused to let them give him a tetanus shot even though the doc heaped dire predictions of excruciatingly painful death on the boy if he did not have one. I put more money percentage-wise into our food, and shop for clothes, etc. at Goodwill and garage sales. Big items can often by found on Craig's list or free-cycle. Grass fed beef can be found rather cheap here if one can get a whole beef, but 700 pounds of meat even at 2.00 a pound is more than we can come up with at one time. I think it's much cheaper in the long run even with the high cost of good food to buy the best that can be found. We have no doctor bills and even though we have reached an age where everyone we know in our peer group is on at least high blood pressure meds, we take no meds and very few supplements. Gotta have my coconut oil and krill oil and the dandelions in season supply not only wonderful greens, but the best wine I have ever had I made last year with dandelion blossoms and orange zest I saved in the freezer from organic oranges when they were on sale. And I find we eat less when the food is healthy.

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

LORENLSMITHHughes — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:03:48 GMT

I love to go to Mexico for the winter. Cost of renting a 2-story palapas including utilities is less than the cost of utilities alone in N. Calif. I buy fish right on the beach from the fisherman, veggies up town in the mercado, get low-cost dental work done while down there and the locals are very friendly, not the way we treat them when they come up here. Walk for my health soaking up free d-3, attend special classes at their local college for peanuts, have a lively campfire surrounded by rich snowbirds who come and live like paupers....loving every minute of it. No body tries to outshine his neighbor. I get my mail at the local gringo post office (can't trust the govamint PO) an independent coop run by Amerricanadians. So cost of food is negli gible, clothes h ardly worth mentioning, gasoline a dollar per gallon less than Calif. I am glad you prejudiced, northerners love the lovely snow and spend your winters bitching about it. So stay in Minnesota, Maine, Montana.....but quitcher bitchin. Internet is well and alive here too.

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

Naturenut — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:03:07 GMT

Dr. Mercola, how about for your next book - "Living Healthy on a Tight Budget"? It could help the large number of people in this situation!

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

Diane G — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:31:41 GMT

For really cheap and healthy food on a low income, try sprouting. A small and inexpensive bag of seeds or beans (e.g., alfalfa, whole lentils, garbanzos, sunflower, etc.) with the addition of just water, can be turned into a large amount of sprouts or greens in just a few days. You don't need any special equipment or electricity - just some clean old containers or jars, and don't need to cook the results. Eat in salads or you can add to recipes or stir-fry. Search the web for info, ideas, tips. Good luck.

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

bmc — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:03:00 GMT

Junk food is cheap because there is big money in keeping people sick.

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

DJones3423 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:26:26 GMT

I agree. Buying organic takes $$$. Until my husband and I get some major bills paid off, we're on a limited budget, so I follow point #2 from Dr. Mercola. I buy what we can afford and live with the fact that it's not organic. My kids are learning to eat apples, oranges, and bananas as snacks instead of cookies and chips. We eat salads at dinner more than half the time. We drink mostly store-bought milk and RO water. Juices and sodas are a rare treat, not because of cost but because of the lack of nutrition. That's certainly a step in the right direction, and it's the best I can do for right now.

Frankly, with stores like Wal-Mart jumping in on the organic bandwagon, I'm not sure that I trust the organic label any more anyway. Having Wal-Mart do whatever it is that they have to do to force prices down with their suppliers, I don't think we'll be able to trust that the farmers didn't cut corners. Why pay a premium price when the product may not be any better?

Last summer, I found out that most of the vegetables at our local farmers' market were grown more than 100 miles away and trucked in. I found that to be very disappointing. They weren't organic, and they weren't local, and yet they were pricier than our local stores on like items. Why buy them?

The best way to get (uncertified) organic vegetables is to grow as many of them as you can yourself. I grew a cherry tomato plant in a large flower pot this past summer. We brought it indoors before the frost got it, and we ate the remaining tomatoes as they matured over the next month.

In 2008, I plan to landscape using some vegetable plants. A well-manicured tomato plant will look okay up against the side of the house, even if it isn't something you'd expect to find there. Different varieties of herbs and lettuce would be pretty, too. I've found that a thick painter's drop plastic makes a decent mini-greenhouse and keeps plants alive well after they would have died from the frost.

re: Can You Afford to Eat Right?

Stephaniered87 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:26:20 GMT

In my personal experience, I've found that if you eat healthy enough, you tend to not eat a lot, which saves you money in the end anyways, even if you're buying expensive organic food.