healthy choice

10 Healthy Choices to Make Now That Save You Money

healthy choice

It is tough to make a healthy choice. Watching television is easier than working out. A cookie or two is tempting.

Likely, you’re already aware that avoiding healthy choices now results in consequences later. By not exercising, you might fail to drop to your goal weight. By eating a cookie or two, or three or four, you’ll possibly gain weight.

What you may not know is your choices impact your wallet.

Healthy choices can sometimes cost more short-term. However, healthy choices save more in the long run.

Below, I’ve listed ten healthy choice ideas that can — and will — save you money.

10 Healthy Choice Ideas That Save You Money

It’s common knowledge that the cost of living is skyrocketing all over the United States. Now more than ever before, it’s important to save when and where you can.

Saving starts with good health. And good health starts with making healthy choices.

Let’s check out 10 healthy choice ideas below.

1. Exercise

Exercise is one of the most effective healthy choices that you can make.

Certainly, a regular work-out will help you lose weight. Obesity and being overweight can lead to health complications down the road, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

But let’s say you already suffer from high blood pressure. Exercise increases your body’s tolerance for stress, thereby lowering your blood pressure.

You can work out at a gym, but you can also work out at home. You can take a jog around your neighborhood in the morning or evening. You can also do sit-ups, push-ups, and other exercises in the comfort of your own home.

2. Don’t Eat Out

Eating out is expensive. It’s hard to find a restaurant that charges less than $10 for a burger, fries, and soda.

Moreover, eating out is unhealthy. Case in point: the burger, fries, and soda.

In fact, most food served at restaurants is fried and, as a result, fattening. Even if it isn’t fried, there’s a good chance the portion size is too big.

Stick to packed lunches or good, old-fashioned, home-cooked meals. They’re portion-sized and not as often fried.

3. Eat Fresh Products

It’s true that packed lunches and home-cooked meals are less expensive and more healthy than meals served at restaurants.

It’s also true that home-cooked meals tend not to be the healthiest.

Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and fried chicken are all staples of home-cooked meals. They’re also not healthy choices.

When it comes to eating right, nothing beats fresh fruit and vegetables. Celery, apples, carrots, peppers, grapes, and the like are wonderful sources of vitamins. Plus, they don’t have the calories that potatoes, meat, pasta, and cheese have.

It should be noted that canned fruits and veggies are not fresh. They are preserved. The preservation process wipes them of most of their nutrients.

4. Drink Water

Water is necessary for human beings to function. After all, we’re made of 60% water.

Stay hydrated and refreshed by keeping a small, refillable water bottle with you at all times. Refill it when you come to a water fountain. Make sure you don’t leave it when you leave your home.

While exercising, it is especially important to stay hydrated. Sweating causes you to lose fluid, which water replenishes.

Plus, water is typically the only free drink at restaurants. It also helps fill your stomach and ease food cravings while dieting.

5. Stop Smoking

Do I even have to explain this one?

Cigarettes contain numerous toxins and poisons, including those that are known to cause cancer. Smokers also suffer from short breath, constricted blood vessels, and heart disease, among other health issues.

But let’s not focus on the unhealthiness of smoking for a second. Instead, let’s focus on the finance strain it causes.

One pack of cigarettes can cost as much as $10. Ten-packs of cigarettes can cost as much as $100.

Smoking is as expensive a habit as it is an unhealthy one. If you’re already smoking, stop. If you’ve never smoked, don’t start.

6. Participate In Wellness Programs

Many companies offer wellness programs through their health insurance plans. Health insurance companies use programs such as HealthEdge to stay on top of their clients’ workers and those workers’ health.

Wellness programs reward participants for making healthy choices. For example, if you pass a wellness screening, the insurance company might lower your monthly premium. It might also send you a gift card or other prize.

Another common offering made by wellness programs is health-based challenges. For instance, in exchange for a small prize, you might be challenged to walk a certain distance within a day.

7. Turn Down Your Thermostat

Keeping your heat turned up doesn’t just cost you dollars. It also costs you sleep.

Heat causes discomfort. When you’re uncomfortable, you don’t sleep very well.

Not sleeping well leads to sleep deprivation, which turns into stress. When you’re stressed, you’re more likely to gain weight.

8. Keep A Food Diary

Keeping a food diary isn’t an obvious healthy choice. But, it’s one worth looking into, especially if you’re struggling with your diet.

Food diaries help keep track of what you eat during a given time frame. They’re a wonderful opportunity to count calories and ensure you’re eating right.

Additionally, food diaries can help you make healthy choices according to which foods leave you feeling good. Fruits and vegetables are lighter as well as nutritious, so you’ll find they make you feel better than fried foods do.

9. Download A Work-Out App

Struggling to exercise like we all do?

No problem! There are numerous work-out apps that help you exercise.

These apps keep track of your work-out for you. You can set how long you want each work-out to be. You can also choose a certain part of the body to work on.

10. Bike To Work

Cars are extremely expensive to maintain. They require gas, inspections, and regular oil changes.

That’s not even touching on any repairs you might have to make to your car.

Instead of driving a car, bike to work. Biking to work will save you a ton of money as well as give you an opportunity to exercise.

Need More Advice? Check Me Out!

Paying full-price is for suckers! My name is Laura, and I’m a thrifty momma looking to help you save a buck or two. Check out my blog for advice, tips, coupons, giveaways, and other goodies.

Know a great way to save cash? Want me to cover it? Contact me today!

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