Health Shouldn’t Dependent on Disposable Income

Health is something that we need no matter what we do in life. Without health, life is not what it should be and in many cases, it ceases to exist all together. Health is important whether you are rich, poor or anywhere in between.

While health is important to the rich and to the poor alike, it shouldn’t depend on which category you fall into. There is no real connection between the amount of money you have and your health. At least there shouldn’t be. Unfortunately, many have let this factor become a reason for their health to take a back seat. Others have simply missed opportunities or simply didn’t have them in the first place due to their economic situation.

I’m not talking about those people. There is a problem in our country, and throughout the world for that matter, that has created more health issues for those with less. That is not something I am going to deny or even argue. What I will argue is that being healthy doesn’t have to cost more money.

I recently had a conversation with someone that was planning to change their health in the near future. Their plan was not to start exercising more or eating different foods. Their plan was to increase their financial standing by selling more of the products that they were paid to sell. The theory was that when they earned more, their diet and exercise would improve too.

The plan was as follows: once they earned enough, they could purchase a gym membership or even home equipment so that they could start exercising. They also said that once their budget was bigger, they would purchase healthier foods and stop eating fast food.

The theory was that they were not doing healthy things because they cost too much. The eating choices they made were based on price and their exercise was not regular because of the lack of resources they could afford. It makes sense, in theory, that they would be able to do these things if they had a budget for them. I get that, but I also get the fact that there are many options for many budgets.

Exercise

It doesn’t cost anything to go for a walk. It is free to walk down the sidewalk. You can even run if you want to. You can do push-ups, sit-ups and any number of exercises in your home or in your office as many of my clients have discovered.
Even if you have no money, there are exercises that can help you live healthy and feel better.

Nutrition

This is the tricky one. I constantly hear about how expensive it is to eat healthy. I also hear about how everyone would eat better if it didn’t costs so much. Honestly, this is one of the most frustrating conversations for me to have.

Food comes in many forms and is available in many places. Is it more expensive to have a private chef preparing natural meals for you every day than it is to eat fast food? Of course it is, but it is NOT cheaper to eat at a restaurant (fast-food or otherwise) than it is to prepare food at home. Grocery stores offer great deals on healthy foods and purchasing wisely can help you take your food dollar further and further the more you plan your meals.

You can buy food and prepare it for you and your family and spend less than you would by going to fast food restaurants every day.

Again, when it comes to global access and local availability, I see that economics does become a factor. If you live in a neighborhood that only has fast food and convenience stores it is more difficult and thus more expensive to get fruits and vegetables regularly. I also understand that if you can’t afford a membership, you can’t go to a gym. They won’t let you work out there without a membership and in many cases, there may not be an option near you if you live in a certain part of town.

These are all valid reasons for some of our health problems. These issues are being addressed by many at government, corporate and community levels. Hopefully we are on the right track to improving them with programs, education and awareness. These issues, while causing many problems are not causing all of the damage.

The damage of poor health habits is being caused more by excuses than by economics. Above we talked about ways you can exercise and eat better no matter what your financial situation looks like. Keep this in mind when you are thinking that eating healthy is expensive:

A bag of chips: $3.00 for a large bag of your average chip. This bag is going to provide you with enough calories to feed an elephant, but will barely provide you with any actual nutrition.

A loaf of whole-grain bread can cost you as little as $2.00. You can purchase lean meat for a few dollars a pound. Lettuce, a tomato and even some peppers can be purchased for a few dollars. How many sandwiches can you make for the cost of that $3.00 bag of chips? When you break it down, it is quite a few and each of these sandwiches provides you with real nourishment that takes you further than an entire bag of chips can…without the empty, excess calories.

When it comes to exercise, it is easy to say that if you had more money, you would work out more. That is the excuse I hear most, second only to “more time”. Sure, if we all had a live-in personal trainer, it would be easier to exercise. The point is, we don’t need that. The best exercise can come from the simplest and cheapest methods. Walking, running, playing with kids or doing calisthenics is all you need.

The problem in today’s society is not money. The problem is priority. The priority is not on health. We want to be healthy, but we are not making it a priority. A raise or a bonus will not help you make health a priority. On that same note, your current salary or title is not making you unhealthy. You are doing that on your own now and you will continue to do it no matter how much money you make.

It doesn’t have to be this way. If we can trade the excuses for actions, we can finally see that it is the excuses that cause health issues, not the economics. In fact, the lack of priority on health is actually causing economic issues, not the other way around.

If you think that your health routine is suffering because of money, do something that doesn’t cost anything. If you think it’s too expensive to change, ask yourself what it will cost you if you don’t change.