Discover the power of budget healthy eating in the UK. Learn how using economical ingredients can boost your brain health while saving money on food.
Written 19th November 2024
' ...it tastes like sunshine '
I'll never forget the words she used when my friend, who never ate fruit, was describing her first fruit breakfast. Sunshine... its an apt metaphor for a food stuff that soaks up all those rays to become ripe and big and juicy.
I know, peeling or chopping is valuable time wasted when you could be watching a short or getting your friends' updates on Facebook. But fruit is good for you. Really good. You don't need me to tell you this. Our ancestors, before the advent of the food that we now buy from shops, lived on the stuff. And seeds and grains and veg and occasionally meat or fish (which had to be caught rather than picked so not so easy to come by). They only had water and milk to drink too until we invented alcohol, tea, coffee, energy and soft drinks.
If you are eating and drinking things that enhance your brain function, regulate your blood flow, reduce your stress levels, keep your bowels working efficiently and all the other benefits to eating a well balanced diet, well for one thing, hopefully you will live a longer, healthier life. Most importantly your brain will operate clearer and faster. You'll be able to think better, sleep better and make better decisions.
Interesting fact - of all the mammals on earth, less than 30% are human, 10% are wild animals, the rest are animals bred for food. And they take up a lot of space.
I hate cooking. My partner insists on meat at every main meal. I love to sneak some lentils into recipes or chickpeas or stick some pumpkin seeds on the bread pudding I've made and I always swap ingredients for the wholegrain version wherever there is one. I try to cram in ingredients with as much nutrition as I can whenever I can. Does he always like it? Nope, it's a source of great amusement in our house as my son recounts tales of lentils in the spag bol, lasagne, curries or stews when he was younger. These natural ingredients are good for you. End of. They are a very economical ingredient too and help by bulking out your meals making them go further, they help you feel fuller longer and by reducing your cost making a recipe in a lot of cases as well.
When you go to the doctors about an ailment you have, do they ever ask you about what you eat and drink? I'm not talking about when you visit for a sprain, a cut or backache, I'm talking about when you're stressed or depressed or anxious or can't sleep or your hair is falling out or you have high blood pressure or you're constipated. You are what you eat. That's a fact. If you don't eat fruit and veg, live on coffee and cola drinks or squash, ready meals or premade stuff, just look at what you are putting in your body. YOUR body! That's right, you own it! You are responsible for it's health and longevity to a point (obviously we can inherit some ailments but generally humans are a pretty robust species).
You don't see overweight animals (unless owned by a human). You don't see depressed sheep, or monkeys smoking. Nope, they just do what they do. Eat, sleep, reproduce. And some of those poor species have a really tough time of it. We've all seen the film about the King Penguins. Standing in the freezing snow for 6 months to protect an egg. We have it so, so easy. But we have the big pharma, who don't really care if we're all getting ill, because they know that the more rubbish we eat and drink, the less motivated we are to exercise, the bigger and the more ill we get.
You don't want to be ill. Take care of your body.
Every processed convenience meal or overpriced takeaway order is a silent pipeline leak that drains your physical energy and your hard-earned wages. Head over to the Non-Essentials Calculator right now to tally up what your monthly grocery and lifestyle habits are costing you, plug the cash drains, and keep your health and money firmly on Team Me.