Save money at the store:
Buy in bulk. Remember that, typically, more packaging means more expense. So while those little single servings of oatmeal are cute and convenient, do the math, and you’ll see there’s more bang (well, oats) for your buck if you go for the 18-ounce canister. Head to the bulk food aisle for products with long shelf lives, such as beans, lentils and granola, and keep some bulk in your wallet.
Ask for a discount:
If you’re regularly buying a specific product in bulk, ask the store manager for a discount on that item, especially if it’s a specialty ingredient like tahini.
The manager may very well grace you with, say, a 10 percent discount on that product going forward. Even if she doesn’t, you might as well ask, right? Asking for a discount is also fair game at the farmers market if you become a regular.
Stick to whole food sources:
The more people needed to manufacture, package, distribute, transport and market your food, the more it will cost. (It’s doubtful any of those people worked for free.) Avoid processed foods, and try loading up on whole grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes and seeds. Oh, and whole foods happen to be the more nutritious choice, too.
Be mindful of food labels:
Organic! Vegan! Gluten-free! These buzzwords can look promising when they’re plastered on a package of flavored kale chips. But take a look at the ingredient list, and you may find it’s nearly as long and unreadable as that of the sugar cereal in the next aisle.
Always be a food detective and check ingredient lists, even for a product with front-of-package labeling that screams how “natural” it is. You know what food ingredients don’t need guesswork?
A bundle of kale from the produce aisle. Make your own kale chips at home, and you’ll know exactly what’s in them.Shop at wholesale warehouses. If it’s an option, head to stores such as Costco and Sam’s Club for foods with longer shelf lives, such as canned foods and seasonings.
Then head to a farmers market. Get some fresh air, support local vendors and potentially save. Often, the produce at these markets was picked the day before, which means they’ll last longer in your kitchen and help reduce wasted food (and money). Pro tip: Head to the market toward the end of the day, and you may snag discounts as vendors pack up their remaining goods.
Continue saving money at home:
Plan, plan, plan. Before going to the store, take inventory of your pantry, fridge and freezer. Know which foods you already have, which foods you need and which foods are quickly going south.
This inventory will ensure you’re only spending money on foods you actually need and not doubling up on items you already have, which will then run the risk of going bad. Make a detailed shopping list of those foods as you plan your week’s worth of meals.
Use fresh foods first:
Loaded up on fresh peaches, plums, Swiss chard, squash, apples and zucchini at the store? Excellent! But beware that fresh foods – especially delicate produce like leafy greens – will be the first to spoil. So plan your meals accordingly: Prepare meals with fresh produce the first few days after shopping, and as they’re used up, start turning to your canned and frozen foods.
Stock your pantry.:
Save money by keeping your cupboards full of canned plant-based foods like tomatoes and dried foods, such as those oats and lentils you bought in bulk. Not only are these options typically more affordable, but they have longer shelf lives than fresh foods. So when you run out of fresh produce or don’t want to spend time cooking, you can look to the pantry, instead of ordering an expensive veggie pizza.
Cook in big batches:
Kudos if you’ve largely avoided those pricey convenience foods, but for busy after-work scrambles and eating-over-the-keyboard lunches, you could probably still use some convenience. Try making foods in bulk when you have time so you can enjoy them when you’re swamped.
For example, make a double batch of Cindy Silver’s lentil soup, and you can enjoy it Sunday, and then reheat Monday and change up the sides for a super-fast dinner. Make your own individual breakfast bars with all that granola you bought in bulk, and pack one for lunch each day of the week to save money at the vending machine.
Make Dreena Burton’s hummus, and store it in a few airtight containers, so you have a quick and easy snack or appetizer ready to serve.
By: Laura McMullen
You may have noticed this interesting comment from a therapist colleague after my last blog, “The Scale: Friend or Foe:”
“We’ve seen many eating disorders begin with people who are overweight trying to get healthy by dieting. I would not recommend daily weighing for college students because that’s when so many eating disorders begin.”
I think I had better make myself clear: I am against dieting for weight loss. Here’s why:
First of all, “diet” is a confusing word because it can mean “the customary food and drink of a culture, a person, or an animal.” Usage example: “Mom, my friend is on a vegan diet, so please don’t make creamed spinach for dinner.” There are also diets prescribed for medical reasons, like the DASH diet or a diet to control diabetes. These are necessary and serve a healthy motivation.
But most of us know “diet” in its more insidious incarnation as “a temporary and highly restrictive program of eating in order to lose weight.” This is the kind of diet that I’m referring to in this post.
Why am I against that kind of diet? So many reasons, so little space…
1. As weight loss programs, diets don’t work! Yes, you lose weight, but about 95% of people who lose weight by dieting will regain it in 1-5 years. Since dieting, by definition, is a temporary food plan, it won’t work in the long run. Moreover, the deprivation of restrictive diets may lead to a diet-overeat or diet-binge cycle. And since your body doesn’t want you to starve, it responds to overly-restrictive diets by slowing your metabolism which of course makes it harder to lose weight.
2. Fad diets can be harmful. They may lack essential nutrients, for example. Moreover, they teach you nothing about healthy eating. Thus, when you’ve “completed” your fad diet, you simply boomerang back to the unhealthy eating patterns that caused your weight gain in the first place! This is the beginning of “yo-yo dieting,” which can bring its own health problems in its wake.
3. Overly restrictive diets can take all the pleasure out of eating! There’s no reason to be a sacrificial lamb, so to speak, to lose weight.
4. Dieting, along with the frequent and compulsive weighing that accompanies it, can lead to eating disorders. According to one source, people who diet are 8 times as likely to develop an eating disorder as people who don’t.
5. Unscrupulous people can peddle “magic weight-loss potions,” such as “special” powders and pills, to desperate people, costing them their money and time at best, and fatal health consequences at worse (think “fen-phen,” the diet drug that caused often fatal heart valve problems). And have you ever noticed that every diet product claims it will be wondrously effective “if used simultaneously with a healthy diet and regular exercise program?” Skip the magic potions–it’s the healthy eating and exercise that are actually the effective ingredients.
6. Obesity and overweight can be conditions that are caused by early life trauma. Although I had known this for some time, I was amazed to discover recently all the well-documented research on the obesity-trauma connection. In one early study of 286 obese people, half had been sexually abused as children. In these cases, “…overeating and obesity weren’t the central problems, but attempted solutions.”
For these people, therapy might be a prerequisite to healthy weight loss–it could help clients identify the feelings and situations behind emotional over-eating and replace it with healthier self-care patterns. (A much larger study of over 17,000 people provided further documentation of the links between “adverse childhood experiences;” unhealthy behaviors like smoking, drinking, and overeating; and mental, emotional, and even medical disorders later in life.)
Okay, okay. You want to lose weight before you attend your class reunion. It’s perfectly fine to control portions and skip desserts so you can resemble your svelte high school self. In fact, keep going with that plan–it’s healthy eating. But skipping meals or starving yourself is not.
So the first step towards permanent healthy weight loss is, somewhat ironically, to lose the diet and the diet mindset. Instead think about a Healthy Eating Plan (a HEP) that you could live with and enjoy for life. The best answer is to dieting, then, is: A lifelong program of everyday healthy, pleasurable eating coupled with regular exercise. To lose weight, eat less and exercise more. How boring! How prosaic! Yet how true.
By: Meg Selig
