10 surprising shortcuts to good health

Stay fit at home

If expensive gym memberships are out of your price range, luckily there are many other ways to get fit for free. Try incorporating exercise into your regular routine through everyday activities such as gardening and housework, and take up a free activity such as walking, running or cycling to stay in shape. For those who fancy taking up an exercise such as yoga or Pilates, it may be helpful to take a few classes to master the basics then you can continue to practice the poses at home for free.

Create a healthy recipe archive

Want to get started in healthy cooking but can’t afford to invest in a good cook book? Thanks to the wonders of the internet you don’t need to shell out any money to build up a collection of recipes. With many websites catering to healthy eating recipes on a budget, you are guaranteed to find something to suit your tastes and price range without having to spend a penny.

Practice deep breathing

It’s free, it’s unavoidable and we do it every day, but did you know that the simple act of breathing could help to boost your health? Research has suggested that yogic deep-breathing techniques can help people more effectively handle depression, anxiety and stress as well as stimulating the lymphatic system to more effectively deal with toxins. Try learning and practicing deep breathing techniques on a regular basis to improve your physical and mental health for free.

Spend time with friends

Spending time with your friends is great for your health, with research suggesting that having a strong social network can help you live longer and reduce feelings of depression and stress. If you think that you can’t afford a social life, there are many ways you can spend time with friends on the cheap. Rather than eating out a restaurant, try taking turns to cook each other a cheap and healthy meal. Alternatively, plan a movie night instead of a trip to the cinema, and stock up on comedy films to boost your endorphins.

Drink lots of water

One of the cheapest and simplest ways to improve your health is by upping your intake of fluids. While there is no definitive guideline for how much you should drink a day, it is important not to wait until you are thirsty to drink as by this time you are already dehydrated. Some of the benefits of drinking more water include increased energy levels, improved digestion, less water retention and a better complexion. Replacing sugary drinks with water will also benefit your waistline and wallet.

Opt for home-grown produce

Getting your recommended daily portions of fruit and veg can sometimes work out expensive, so why not take the cheaper and healthier option and grow your own fresh produce? If you haven’t got green fingers, try to at least buy seasonal produce where possible to cut down the costs, or visit your local farmers’ market to stock up on fresh, cheap and healthy fruit and vegetables and support your local farmers too.

Have a bath

If you fancy a little pampering on the cheap, you can’t do much better than a nice, relaxing bath. While many of us think of bathing as a purely functional activity, soaking in the tub actually has many benefits outside of getting you clean. Taking time out to soak in a hot bath has many psychological benefits for a start, helping to induce relaxation and calm the mind. However, it can also help stimulate circulation and relax sore or tired muscles.

Get more sleep

If you regularly get less than eight hours sleep a night, getting more shut-eye could be one of the best (and cheapest) steps to improving your health. Not only can sufficient sleep help you live longer, boost memory and improve heart health, but lack of sleep has been proven to increase appetite, leading to weight gain, increased junk food consumption and more expensive shopping bills.

Cut back on your vices

Whether you like to indulge in a few too many glasses of wine, are addicted to takeaways, or have a smoking habit, ditching these unhealthy and expensive habits could drastically improve both your health and finances. Cigarettes and alcohol are notoriously expensive, as well as being leading causes of stroke, cancer and premature ageing, so try cutting down as much as you can or, better still, cutting out these vices entirely.

Practice portion control

With restaurant portions getting increasingly bigger, many of us have grown used to eating larger portions than we actually need. This not only puts us at risk of obesity and health problems but it can also add significantly to our shopping bills. Rather than eating until you’re fit to burst, try to stop eating at the very first signs of fullness and freeze any leftovers for another day. If you’re worried that smaller portions won’t keep you going all day, try loading up on low-GI foods such as oats, beans and yoghurt which will help you feel fuller for longer.

Healthy eating on a budget

Eat well and stay healthy for less

Eating healthily need not be expensive; eating healthily can easily be done on a budget. There are no special foods, drinks or diets needed to simply eat healthily, and it is important to give your body all the goodness it needs to function properly. All you need to do is eat sensibly — choose foods from the five different food groups and watch the portion sizes.

What are the five food groups?

o    Fruit and vegetables

o    Bread, other cereals, such as breakfast cereals and potatoes

o    Milk and dairy products

o    Meat, fish and alternatives

o    Foods containing fat and sugar 

Good value, healthy meal ideas

Beans on toast

Pulses such as baked beans are a cheap and filling source of protein. To be super-healthy, try not to add butter to the toast.

Eggs

Omelette and salad, scrambled eggs on toast or boiled eggs and toast ‘soldiers’; eggs are a great versatile and economical food.

Porridge

With semi-skimmed milk or skimmed milk, topped with honey or a little sugar, porridge is a great way to start the day.

Bread

Whether you like sandwiches, toast or bread and butter, go for wholemeal as it is more filling than white. A cheap and nutritious starchy food, wholemeal bread is also a good source of iron.

Baked potatoes

With cheese, tinned tuna or baked beans, potatoes are a great way to make sure that you get some protein and starchy carbohydrate in the same meal.

Desserts

Try these three desserts to ensure you have some calcium containing dairy produce and fruit in your diet.

o    Bananas and custard

o    Rice pudding and canned fruit in juice

o    Yoghurt and a piece of fruit

Eat well and stay healthy for less

A little bit of effort before you hit the supermarket will help you enormously. Work out how much you're going to spend on food each week and plan your shopping list around it.

Be wary of special promotions

Just because it is 'buy one, get one free' doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to buy it! If the offer is for rice or pasta (or something healthy) take advantage, but if the offer is for chocolate, crisps or biscuits, try to resist.

Cook in bulk and freeze in portions

That way you will never be caught out, you will always have some ‘convenience’ food in that is healthy and quick to prepare (always make sure that the food is piping hot all the way through when served).

Invest in some basic cookbooks

Learn how to cook from scratch — convenience food (ready meals) is an expensive option; why pay someone else to do all the preparation for you when it’s much cheaper and easy to buy basic ingredients and make much healthier meals yourself?

Be healthy all year round

Use the seasons for the best tasting and best value produce — in winter you'll pay more for summer produce, so try leeks, parsnips, broccoli and winter vegetables instead of asparagus and other summer vegetables. However, in summer make the most of summer fruits such as strawberries, raspberries and blueberries while they last!

Frozen vegetables and fruit

These are an alternative to fresh, and due to long transportation or storage periods of some ‘fresh’ produce on offer in the supermarkets, frozen can be just as nutritious and very often they are cheaper. They are also very convenient to keep in the freezer for when you have little time for preparing fresh vegetables.