Help Yourself!
“So much food, so little time!” That can be a dangerous attitude about food. And too many of us have those moments, especially at potlucks and buffets!
The bigger concern is what to eat, not how much. I know that our metabolism can vary and aging just adds to the caution about what we eat. Too many of us grow bigger around the waist over time due to ignoring our food intake versus how our bodies will process that food.
How you approach your dinner plate can affect your health and your wealth. That is why I include health as a topic for you to build a better mindset for money.
With a little caution, you can find other ways to “Help Yourself!”
A Lot of Money Is Made Processing Food
Most nutritionists will tell you to shop for food along the outer walls of the grocery store. That is because the middle rows are filled with processed foods.
Those processed foods are known to contain salt, sugar, and fat with higher than recommended portions by weight. And then there are the added elements of chemicals used for preserving.
If you have not done so, read the list of ingredients and the “Best if used by” date on the containers. You will read some unfamiliar terms. Ask Siri or Google about them.
Since the risk lies in eating too much of the processed foods, some can be used to flavor or complement some of the foods found along the outer store walls. You will be able to make better food choices if you make yourself aware of the risks and the reasons these foods exist.
Prepackaged, precooked and dehydrated foods are processed for convenience to help save time for meal preparation. That makes them appealing. They include flavorings, sauces, gravies, condiments, and spices to make food taste good.
This group of food products will store longer and will cost more. Compare their cost per ounce to the cost on fresh or frozen food items displayed along the outer walls of the store. Money can be made with processed food!
The True Cost—Be Prepared
It is called disease (“dis-ease”), meaning anything that makes you feel less than normal. Have you ever felt bloated, indigestion, or aching in your joints?
These and many other ailments can be affected by, if not generated by too much fat, sugar, and salt, which are found in high amounts in processed foods. To clarify, those are referred to as “ultra-processed foods”, which are high in calories, saturated fat, salt or sugar.
Most of the books you choose to read on processed foods will refer to studies proving my point. Will you choose to read them?
If you ignore warnings related to your diet, which is what you choose to eat, then, you open yourself up to more “dis-ease”. That, in turn, will cause you to seek medical advice and medications to help relieve the “symptoms”.
Are you getting the picture? Be prepared to budget for those costs if you do choose to ignore those warnings.
I Am Talking to Myself
Even if you choose to ignore this post, I am talking to myself. I know that I need to listen.
I suppose playing football in high school did not help. But, while in college, I started my weight gain journey with too many candy bars and sweet tea. Then, there were the buffets and potlucks.
I flavored food by using sauces, gravies, and adding starches. Salt makes a great flavor enhancer.
The accumulation of those choices put more weight on me than my joints were meant to carry. Little wonder that arthritis set in my knee joints leading to replacement surgeries early into my retirement.
The good news is that I still have my teeth, although there are a few crowns where fillings no longer worked.
Hope You Are Listening
My mom had gained a lot of weight in her late fifties but managed to lose the excess weight in her sixties. She used to advise me while I was eating my second plate of food in front of her, “You know that push-aways are better than push-ups!”
I was slow to listen. Are you?
Ignoring simple and hard truths can be dangerous.
I knew a guy who was in the habit of eating peanut butter right out of the jar as he watched TV. That was a lot of fat and added salt and sugar. Read the label. I was not surprised to hear that he had died of a heart attack on his way home from work before he had reached 50 years old!
Maybe you don’t eat that much fatty food. But what about the rest of your diet?
Are you listening?
My desire is to help you gain a better mindset for money. That includes finding other uses of your income besides setting up visits to doctors and pharmacies.
I really do hope you are listening.
Longer Life on Purpose
There are many factors that allow for your potential for health and wealth.
Saving money with spending controls is a primary factor.
Investing steadily over an extended period is essential to experience compounded earnings, which will multiply your savings. That is a key factor.
You must do what you can to maintain your health over a long life to be able to reap the benefits of compounded earnings in your later years. Patience and good habits can make that possible.
Good habits must be worked on. Otherwise, conflicting and selfish interests of others will distract you from building consistent good habits.
In summary, you must learn what you can and do what you can on purpose to develop good habits that can support good health which can lead to financial wealth.
Longer Life with Purpose
None of us come into this world full of understanding and knowledge of how we can make good choices and live a good life.
Experience becomes our greatest teacher. Unless we are willing to avoid some of our personal pain by reading the advice of others trying to help you avoid their painful experiences.
Build a reading habit. For many this will be hard. But work at it. Over time the rewards will begin to accumulate as you recall the mistakes others made that you now know how to avoid!
Consider reading to be “food for the soul”. It will help you make better decisions for your physical wellbeing, your mental wellbeing, and your spiritual wellbeing.
Start by reading about what to eat. Your good choices about food will help you feel better and have a better outlook for each day. You may not make money by eating the right foods, but you could save a lot by processing your own meals!
And you thought this post was just going to be about “what’s for dinner?”.