How To Eat Clean For Cheap

If you’re looking to eat clean, it can be a little intimidating to start. A lot of times, you see food that is packaged and labeled “healthy” or “organic” and notice a huge hike in price. It’s not necessarily the only way, though. It is absolutely possible to eat clean for cheap, and sometimes you can even eat clean for cheaper than you were eating before!

Diet food concept. Woman sitting on a floor near tropical fruit.

How To Eat Clean For Cheap

The first step on your journey to eat clean is to stop buying processed, packaged foods. You want to steer away from that and move towards more whole, natural foods. Essentially, if you’re great great great grandmother wouldn’t recognize it as a food, don’t eat it. Now, produce can be expensive, especially if you decide to take the organic route. However, there are alternatives to this. While most grocery stores can be somewhat pricey, local farmer’s markets and food co-ops are a good way to save on produce. Additionally, you can search for sales on produce in grocery stores so you don’t always have to make more than one stop for food. Even Aldi has a selection of organic produce.

A big part of your choice to eat clean is protein and meat choices. Meat is pretty costly no matter where you purchase it from, however, there are a few ways to find savings on your protein. Typically, buying small amounts at a time is going to be the most expensive. Buying in bulk is a great idea, especially if you know it’s going to be a large part of your goal to eat clean. If you can find a local butcher that offers deals for buying in bulk, you’ll be able to save quite a bit of money.

Lastly, you want to avoid any sugary foods when you eat clean. This will cut quite a bit off your grocery bill and allow for more spending money. When you remove junk food, sugary desserts, and sugary drinks from your diet, it allows you to spend more on whole nutritious foods and essentially cuts your grocery bill down. You can also cut costs by removing processed, pre-packaged foods.

Ultimately, you’ll find that by starting to eat clean, you will save a lot of money, not only on grocery costs, but healthcare costs as well. You won’t be sick as much because whole nutritious foods boost your immune system, and you’ll be giving your body a healthy foundation. Overall, making a lifelong investment in your body by choosing to eat clean is one of the best decisions you can make, both physically and financially!

 

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How to Eat Clean and Healthy

How to eat clean and healthy? There is not much sadder in the modern world than the evidence that much of the food supply cannot be trusted. The questions of the exact medical outcomes of eating GMO modified vegetables, food additives such as steroids, or white sugars are beyond the scope of this article, but at bottom line, if they can be eliminated from a personal diet, they should be. I thought this would be a GREAT topic to cover as June is “Clean Eating Month” for my Blogger Recipe Challenge Group!

free range chickens

How to Eat Clean and Healthy

Here are some tips:

1)      FREE RANGE IS NOT NECESSARILY BETTER: The term ‘free range’ for chickens and their eggs only means that the hens are not kept in individual cages. They may well still be kept in unethical, over-crowded barns. Beyond that, the concern for the consumer is what the hens are fed. Look for labeling that states that the eggs are laid from hens that are fed “from 100% organic feed.’

How to Eat Clean and Healthy

 

2)      100% IS THE KEY: Foods labeled ‘organic’ in the US may still have up to 5% non-organic content, such as GMO modified corn in livestock feed. Look for the 100% label, or a label certifying that there is no GMO content from a body like the Nongmoproject.

3)      WHITE SUGAR: Avoid white sugars whenever possible. This includes virtually all sweet snacks, sodas, and, yes, even juice from concentrates. 12 ounces of Coca-Cola contains 10 teaspoons of sugar and 145 calories. 12 ounces of processed orange juice contains 8 teaspoons of sugar and 165 calories, and a processed grape juice of the same volume has 15 teaspoons of sugar and a whopping 240 calories. Hint: buy a juicer!

4)      LABELS: Learning to read the bar code labels is an important step in avoiding both GMO modified fruits and vegetables, as well as potentially dangerous pesticides. (Always wash all food before eating it anyway.) If the 5 digit number above the bar code begins with 5, the food is organic. Think: ‘With 5 I’m Alive!’ If that number begins with 8, the food is GMO. ‘Hate the 8!’ And if the number is a four digit number, the food has been sprayed with chemical pesticides. ‘No More for 4!’

grocery produce store

5)      SHOP LOCAL: The local farmers market allows shoppers to learn exactly how foods are raised.

This is just a start on how to clean up one’s food intake for a healthier, safer lifestyle. Look at the labels, know what to look for, and buy a juicer.
Happy Healthier Lifestyle!

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