Getting Healthy is Like Saving Money

As part of my NOT SPENDING PROGRAM and GETTING HEALTHY PROGRAM I've seen some similarities between the two.

I CAN'T EAT 95% OF WHAT'S IN THE FOOD STORE!!!
Lately, I've been cutting the sugars, and rich foods out of my diet. This is in aid of losing weight and feeling better. I walked into the food store the other day and looked around. I thought to myself, based on my new diet, I can't eat 95% of what's in here!!

I can't eat canned or processed foods, foods with sugar, red meat, breads, cheeses and dairy, desserts etc. (This is part of a stricter diet that I'm doing for a few weeks.)

It's been an extreme contrast in what I can eat and what I used to eat. I must say that I've cut down alot on food over the years, but I still have tended to eat the foods with sugar, and rich foods such as pizzas etc.

This new diet that does allow for:

• Green Vegetables
  
• Rice
  
• Beans
  
• Eggs
  
• Turkey meat, chicken meat
  
• Oatmeal with soya milk (no sugar)
  
• Nuts, almonds
  
• Hemp seeds
  
• ... Any thing without sugar

As you can see, this diet is pretty limited!

I was a little shocked when I first looked at it. It's not a rich diet by any means.

In the first few days with the unsugar diet, including NO COFFEE, my system sank into the floor. I had no energy, headaches, and was basically uncapable of working for the 3-4 few days.

This told me that my system was used to powering itself with sugar and high carbohydrates and caffeine.

I was even more impressed with how I felt after this withdrawal period. I started to have a more even energy, and was not craving sugars like I used to! This is VERY IMPORTANT to weight loss in my opinion.

To be honest, I still miss alot of the foods that I liked, but I feel much stronger that I can do with this diet for a while to see how it works.

How does this relate to MONEY?
It's directly tied into money, in that the foods that I'm eating are dirt cheap. They are the cheapest in the store. They are the least processed foods, and thus the cheapest foods.

SO... In order to lose weight, I am forced to buy the cheapest foods possible, which incidentally are the healthiest foods possible.!

RICH LIFESTYLE MEANS SPENDING ALOT OF MONEY
When I was driving my Cadillac to my air conditioned office building and eating at the restaurant 2-3 times per day, I was enjoying about as much convenience as anybody could. This was the rich lifestyle that I was looking forward to all of my career.

Nowadays, I'm riding my bicycle, I work out of my house, and I'm eating the diet talked about above. My expenses are lean and I have never been happier in my life.!!

I need to ride my bicycle to lose weight, so I'm NOT purchasing a car for a while. I need to eat this basic food so that I can get in control of my weight problem. I cannot spend money on the old things I used to enjoy. Thus I am starting to lose weight and feel better.

I've slowed down my lifestyle enough to be able to sustain these new life style choices. This means that I look forward to bicycling, and to cooking my non-sugar diet. So far I am very pleased to do these things because I know they'll have long term benefits.

I am saving money, eating well and exercising. I've probably even lost a few pounds by now.

I'm writing about this in my money blog because there are alot of people out there who live a rich lifestyle as well, and they seem to be addicted to it. It might take slowing down your lifestyle and learning to really enjoy the more basic things of life to get you off of the rich, fast life style that is building up your debt load. Just a thought..