1) Wash your hands often with plain soap, and keep them away from your face. There’s no need to cultivate an obsessive-compulsive tendency with this practice, but definitely wash when you’ve been in a public place (e.g., restrooms, grocery stores, and offices) and before you eat. Your face has various entry points beloved by germs, including the warm mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, and mouth. When you absentmindedly rub your eyes, touch your lips, or ahem, pick your nose, you’re allowing a direct viral and/or bacterial invasion. There’s also no need to fork over extra money for anti-bacterial soap as the regular stuff works just as well. Cheap soap plus thorough hand-washing equals fewer nasty infections, which lessens the drain on your sick leave at work or literally keeps you “on” the hourly job with no benefits that you desperately need to make ends meet.
2) Halve your portions; chew slowly and mindfully. Eat on smaller plates, even saucers. This practice will force you to eat less. Of course, this doesn’t stop you from returning for seconds, but eating more slowly often creates the desirable side effects of satiety and leftovers. When eating out, immediately ask for a takeout box before digging in. Both your waistline and wallet will thank you in the long-term.
3) Limit or avoid meat and/or dairy products. If one avoids processed foods, a vegetarian diet is generally less expensive and healthier than one that relies heavily on animal products. Can’t one consume leaner cuts of red meat, fowl, or fish and still be healthy, maybe even healthier than those holier-than-thou vegetarians? Of course, but the point is to attain the best health for the least buck. Meat-laden diets tend to be higher in fat, and they contribute to the growing obesity and heart disease epidemics that greatly impact ever-increasing healthcare costs. A vegetarian diet is more time-intensive and requires a commitment to eating smart to avoid vitamin deficiencies, but if done mindfully, it will lessen the drain on your wallet in the grocery aisle and the doctor’s office.
4) Lay off the megavitamins. Focus on eating a varied diet that does not rely heavily on processed foods to achieve optimal health. Although they are appropriate for some medical conditions and strict diets (e.g. veganism), vitamins can be costly, so it’s wise to determine whether you really need a supplement versus a diet overhaul. Plus, you run the risk of overdosing on some vitamins, and for others, your body will simply excrete all the excess “good stuff” for which you paid dearly. Strive to overcome your obsession with obtaining health in a pill, and stuff the pill-popping dollars into your expanding bank account.
5) Fidget freely. Climb stairs, park in the spot farthest away from entrances, walk to a co-worker’s cubicle instead of sending an e-mail, or install your printer somewhere that requires you to get up to retrieve your document. Do anything that prevents your rear end from remaining in a seated position for hours on end. Join a gym or make one of your own with a few free weights, a step bench, or exercise bands—the options are endless. If you can’t afford a gym, then walk, walk, and walk some more. Check out exercise manuals and DVDs from the local library. Exercise like you brush your teeth, at least once a day, but twice is better, and after every meal is superb! Regular exercise and simply moving more throughout the day helps maintain a stable weight, increases cardiovascular fitness, and reduces stress, and it does not require loads of cash to perform.
6) Keep a clean mouth. Brush and floss with gusto! Flossing is critical to preventing periodontal or gum disease. The mouth is teeming with bacteria, and its high vascularity means that these bacteria can easily enter the bloodstream, possibly causing harm in other organs, such as the heart. Moreover, restorative periodontal/dental work is extremely expensive while most dental insurance policies have puny annual limits and multiple exclusions. Flossing is a two dollar prevention package for a thousands-of-dollars problem.
7) Sleep tight all night. Adequate sleep is essential to proper immune function, and it’s one of the healthiest and cheapest lifestyle factors to address. Banish work and pets from the bedroom, and insist that a snoring partner get an appropriate medical evaluation ASAP. If you’re the snorer, get thee immediately to a sleep medicine clinic. Invest in black-out shades/drapes or a white-noise machine. Establish a restful, personalized routine at night, such as taking a hot bath, reading a book, or meditating. Aim to retire and awaken at the same time every day. Sleeping pills are appropriate for short-term use only under a physician’s supervision, but they ultimately increase your healthcare costs and do not address the problems underlying your insomnia.
8) Drink tap water and lots of it. In most developed countries, barring natural disasters or other threats to the water sanitation system, tap water is safe to drink. Bottled water wastes resources and often contains tap water anyway. If you’re concerned about contamination, purchase a filter for your faucet or a pitcher with disposable filters. These options pose some costs, but they represent a justifiable trade-off for people who cannot fathom drinking straight from the tap, yet understand the importance of increased water intake to their overall health. Invest in reusable bottles that can be refilled when you’re away from home, thereby avoiding the purchase of outrageously priced bottled water or worse, soda.
9) Bliss out. Meditate, commune with nature, sing in the shower, write a love letter, re-read a beloved book, laugh with friends, do yoga, volunteer in your community, attend church—the point being to maintain your connection with yourself and others, which in turn, nourishes your mental health and boosts your immune system. Maintaining rituals that help you to decompress and having a support system in place to sustain you when troubles occur are essential to preventing a costly physical and/or psychiatric melt-down in the long-term. The aforementioned activities cannot take the place of professional counseling or medication prescribed to treat a new or ongoing mental health condition. But, they are relatively cheap, sometimes free, ways to engage more deeply with yourself and others, which enhances your ability to cope with life’s stressors instead of turning to drugs, alcoholism, overeating, and other addictive behaviors. Another option is to take advantage of employer-sponsored employee assistance programs that provide free or low-cost counseling services or referrals to mental health providers on your health plan.
10) Keep a well-stocked medicine cabinet and first aid kit. Focus on high quality, over-the-counter generic medications that you use on a fairly regular basis, such as anti-inflammatory agents, anti-bacterial ointment, band-aids, etc. Fund your stash preferably with FSA contributions. The purpose is to avoid getting caught in the unfortunate situation of needing some kind of minor relief, but not having anything on hand, and then having to go to the trouble of purchasing it in a hurry where you risk getting the more expensive, brand name or just plain wrong product all because you feel too rotten to care. Treating common ailments, such as routine headaches or colds with over-the-counter agents that offer symptomatic relief is much cheaper than hauling oneself into the physician’s office at the first sniffle or sign of discomfort. It’s also possibly healthier because by avoiding the physician’s office in these situations, you won’t be given unnecessary antibiotics that an alarming number of physicians feel compelled to prescribe because they believe you deserve something, other than their careful evaluation, for your time and money even when your condition doesn’t warrant it.
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