You Can Afford Good Holistic Nutrition and Vegan and Raw Foods

This is a question I get often about holistic nutrition and vegan and raw food…



“How can I afford staying healthy? It seems like all these things everyone is recommending cost so much money!”



I have firsthand experience with this, so I’m certainly qualified to answer.



When Annmarie and I were first starting our personal training business, we didn’t even know where the mortgage payment was going to come from so as you can imagine our budget was tight.



So here are some of the things we did…



We borrowed a juicer from a friend.



I guarantee one of your friends or family members has a juicer sitting in the closet that they’re not using that’s just waiting for some love. In fact we have a really nice Champion that we don’t use in our closet it needs a soulmate. (In case any one wants to bid on it!)



You may even be able to find these items on EBay as well.



I took inventory of the supplements and things that we needed as well as made a list of all the other things we wanted on a regular basis like a dehydrator, Vitamix, etc.



We ended up getting a cheap blender to start for our smoothies. But here’s what’s funny about that. Before we got the Vitamix we have now, we broke about 3 $100 blenders, so it would really have been worth it to get the Vitamix in the first place!



We went to a local health food store and they had a co-op which was cheaper than getting all our fruits and veggies separately. What they did was basically give you 2 big bags of goodies every week. They’ve since closed down, but we still buy in bulk when we can.



As for supplements, we’d buy what we could and then refer to the list when we had a little more to spend. We were as patient as we could be–adding things as we became more stable financially.



We had a cheap shower and water filter from Aquasana, we’ve since upgraded.



We eventually brought green cleaning detergents and soaps into the house. (We are in the market to get rid of both of our cars in 2009 to give the environment a break as well.)



Now we’ve reached a point, through this process, where we have what we need and get what we want for our health.

Sure I still want a built in infra-red sauna and a few other toys, but we’re waiting until we move to a more pedestrian friendly place where we might stay a while.



So how can this help you?



Here are a few steps…



(1) Write down what you want. Write down everything from supplements to “toys”.



(2) When you get some extra cash put it aside for the larger ticket items or go on a monthly autoship for your supplements if possible. This will force you to pay every month and you’d be surprised that when you’re doing this how the money just seems to “appear”.



(3) Don’t think you have to buy everything at once. Particularly supplements. You don’t have to take $500 dollars of supplements a week right off the bat. In fact you probably don’t have to ever take $500 in supplements a week, unless you’re really sick.



(4) Find a local co-op where you can get your organic veggies and fruits cheaper. Maybe this is through a local farm.



(5) Don’t stress about it, you’ll find a way.



(6) Spend money on education. You’d be amazed at what a few books or programs can tell you about what works and what doesn’t. I’m continually amazed that the more I read, the less things I feel like I need to take or have regularly for optimum health. Education for multiple sources gives you freedom from the myths and “telephone-like” sharing of knowledge that is always goodhearted, but at times misleading and frustrating.



I hope this helps.



What have you done to stay under-budget and extremely well nourished? Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page to add your tip!



Live Awesome!

Kevin



http://renegadehealth.com/blog/



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