You’re reading 13 Foods That Are as Inexpensive as They Are Healthy, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Eating a quality, nutritious diet is critical to health and wellbeing. Without the right foods, your body and mind cannot function as nature intended them to. Unfortunately, a small budget can make eating well seem impossible. Nutritious but expensive foods are not an option for those with limited resources. Thankfully, there are plenty of foods that are as inexpensive as they are healthy. Here are thirteen of the foods that best combine together these two qualities.
An affordable staple in many parts of the world, rice is more filling and much healthier in its brown (unprocessed) form. Brown rice is an excellent source for fiber and contains such nutrients as selenium and iron. What’s even better is how versatile brown rice is. While it can be eaten on its own, brown rice can also serve as an ingredient in many delicious recipes, from soups to stews to casseroles.
Dirt cheap, filling, and packed with nutrients, oatmeal is an almost perfect food for folks without much cash to spare. Oatmeal is an especially good source for fiber, which is necessary for the digestive system to function properly, and can help lower cholesterol. Oats also contain omega-3 fatty acids, potassium, and folate. When buying oatmeal, consumers should avoid flavored varieties, which contain added sugar.
Bananas maintain a low price year round, and are extremely healthy to boot. This natural snack food is notably high in potassium, B vitamins, and fiber, and has smaller quantities of vitamin A and healthy carbohydrates. Bananas are especially helpful to the budget consumer since most fruits are not particularly cheap.
Since they provide lots of protein, beans are as filling and satisfying as they are cheap. Enjoyable on their own, beans are a great way to boost a meal’s nutritional content, since they can be used as an ingredient in many different recipes. Beans are also a valuable source for such nutrients as potassium, an excellent way to consume enough fiber, and often contain antioxidants. Plus, beans can be bought in bulk for greater savings.
Though most nuts are expensive, almonds are a happy exception. Almonds are the ideal snack since they provide a quick burst of energy and are much healthier than most other snack foods. Healthy (monounsaturated) fats, magnesium, vitamin E, and vitamin B are the most significant of the important vitamin and minerals found in almonds. Almonds are a valuable source for protein and fiber as well. Studies have found that almonds contribute to heart health and help lower cholesterol.
Sandwiches, one of the cheapest and most convenient meals there is, are too often created with nutrient-poor white bread. A far better choice is fiber-rich whole-wheat bread, which is just as inexpensive, but much healthier. A grain’s nutritional value is almost entirely contained in its germ and bran, which are generally removed except in products like whole-wheat bread.
Vegetables are crucial to any diet, and spinach is one of the most nutrient-dense veggies there is, making it an excellent choice for those on a budget. Spinach is packed with vitamins and minerals such as folate, magnesium, vitamin A, vitamin K, and vitamin E. Though spinach on its own may be unpalatable to some, it can also be used as an ingredient in salads, soups, and many other dishes.
As convenient as a food can be, canned tuna is an economical way to get a significant amount of the protein and calories the body needs every day. Even better, canned tuna is a great source for omega-3 fatty acids, which are necessary for many basic bodily functions and are crucial to brain health. Vitamin B12 (crucial for processing food into energy) and niacin (which helps the skin and digestive system stay healthy) are found in tuna as well.
Although high in fat, milk’s nutritional value to cost ratio simply can’t be ignored. Since it is high in protein, milk will help drinkers feel full and satiated for longer. Milk is a great source for calcium (crucial to bone integrity), vitamin D, and potassium. Also found in milk are such minerals and vitamins as phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, and vitamin B12. Bottom line: milk provides a fantastic nutritional bang for its buck.
High in protein, peanut butter will provide a big energy boost and stave off hunger for hours — two qualities important to people needing to save on food. Though peanut butter is rich in fat, this fat is mostly healthy, heart-friendly monounsaturated fat. Magnesium, vitamin E, and potassium are also found in peanut butter.
Besides the specific veggies mentioned above, frozen vegetables of almost any type are a great deal for consumers. Surprisingly, frozen vegetables are also generally at least as healthy as the fresh stuff. As soon as they are harvested, frozen vegetables are flash frozen, locking in almost all available nutrients. In contrast, fresh vegetables start losing their nutritional value immediately after being picked. Cheaper and healthier — frozen vegetables are a fantastic buy.
Eggs are so rich in protein they could be described as nature’s answer to protein powder, which means that consuming a hard boiled egg will promote feelings of fullness and provide a big energy boost, making them an excellent value purchase. Plus, B vitamins, vitamin D, iron, and carotenoids are found in eggs.
A classic budget-friendly meal, normal pasta is, however, not especially healthy. A much better choice is the whole-grain variant of pasta, which is still extremely cheap. Whole-grain pasta is more nutritious than regular pasta because it contains three times as much fiber, double the calcium, extra protein, and higher amounts of substances such as selenium, phosphorus, B vitamins, magnesium, manganese, and copper.
As the above list clearly shows, the idea that eating nutritiously and saving money are mutually exclusive is wrong. Neither a limited budget nor a desire to cut expenses is a serious barrier to eating a good diet. The key is simply to prioritize consumption of foods that are both cheap and highly nutritious — such as those listed in this article.
You’ve read 13 Foods That Are as Inexpensive as They Are Healthy, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
You’re reading Why Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
It’s time to take control of your creative career.
We live in a judgmental society. People judge us by our looks, our clothes, our pedigrees, our homes, even our pets. There’s no end to keeping up with the Joneses. Whether you’re looking for a job, submitting art to a gallery, trying to get a poem published, auditioning for a play, or seeking a business deal, you have to get by the gatekeepers.
Gatekeepers are just normal people, but they have been assigned to protect a turf. You may have the greatest novel in the world, but if it doesn’t fit into some kind of marketing plan that can raise lots of profits, it’s toast. You may feel so frustrated you want to give up.
With the Internet, it’s now possible for you to choose yourself and your audience. You may have thought about this, but aren’t sure it’s any easier than getting past the gatekeepers. Rather than one fell swoop, think of it as as series of small steps. Sure, it’s not easy to self-publish and sell a lot of books, or upload fine art prints and sell a lot of those. And some unsavory characters have gamed the systems, making it even harder for honest, hardworking creatives.
But the fact is, the opportunities are out there. And the Internet has merely brought back the way things once were—in the 19th and earlier part of the 20th century, it was common to self-publish or partner with a publisher. Dostoyevsky, Twain, Hemingway and Lewis Carroll all had to finance some of their own works.
Perhaps you’ve taken a stab at doing it on your own, and it hasn’t worked out. What’s great is you can reinvent yourself and keep going. You can test what works and what doesn’t. You can aim your work at the whole world or at your immediate groups.
Study what has done well. You’ll probably find it’s not the most intellectual, not the most creative, and certainly not the most obscure works. It’s those that reach out emotionally to an audience that’s well understood by the author. Did you know that Julia Cameron’s landmark book The Artist’s Way started out as a self-published book? It was called Healing the Artist Within. It didn’t get past the gatekeepers. But once it was out there in the world, the gatekeepers took notice and turned it into a best-seller.
Could it have done just as well without gatekeepers? Well, gatekeepers do have their advantages. They do marketing and distribution—but ask any author and you’ll realize that author is responsible for a lot of her own marketing, even with traditional publishers.
Some best-selling authors are doing it entirely on their own. You can make digital products or paper ones. You can free yourself of all printing and fulfillment duties, or, have your work printed and sell it yourself. You have a greater chance of climbing the success ladder by approaching smaller gatekeepers, such as libraries and bookstores.
The main thing to stick to it regularly, and keep up your confidence. You’re now writer, artist, publisher, gallery, and bookstore (or some of those, anyway). Keep a sense of humor and be patient. Reach out to others, but don’t spend all your time on social media. There’s no substitute for pounding the pavement. One vital thing that all publishers know is to know and understand your target market. Choose your audience.
Give back to your community
One artist just painted dozens of portraits of people in his Brooklyn, NY community. The portraits culminated in a parade, a museum show, and a ton of free publicity. Not only did he bring the community together, he gave them the gift of being immortalized in art, and did his career an enormous favor. That’s classic choosing yourself. Did he sit around and scheme? No, he truly wanted to give back to his neighborhood.
In many non-Western cultures, art is woven into the fabric of life. It’s not stuck in museums, it’s lived, in textiles, dance, language, food, and ritual. When you think about it, that way of living is truly giving back, rather than being fixated on impressing the suits. It’s joyful. It’s what art’s about.
Choosing yourself will increase your gutsiness in all areas. You might just take to it like a bird to flight.
Vicky Young is a writer and and illustrator. She works in traditional and digital art, and has a masters in art education. She blogs at Tablets for Artists.
You’ve read Why Choosing Yourself Is The Best Choice Of All, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
You’re reading STOP Saying These 7 Phrases: To Be More Successful, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
There’s a lot you want to do with your one and only life. But in wanting to be successful, it’s easy to get lost in the idea of doing more. More trips, more money, experiences, books, relationships and so on.
You focus so much on these externals, that perhaps you pay little attention to the habits that count the most. What you say and think is, in fact, more important than what you do. The words you utter on a daily basis have a huge impact on the decisions you end up taking.
Note: Today I’m going to show you the 7 phrases you need to STOP saying if you want to set yourself up for greater success. Also, I have a special FREE Bonus to help you even further. Make sure you read all the way to the end to get it.
1) “I need to fix this problem”
Think about how saying that phrase makes you feel. First, you feel obligated because you’ve told yourself you NEED to do something – which makes it more likely you’ll rebel and won’t do anything.
Secondly, you’ve called your situation a problem, and so you’ve compartmentalized a part of your life into a box. Tucked it away. So that it’s something you need to fight.
A problem is never a “problem” – it’s a challenge. Think about just how much more empowering that word is. With a problem, your chest tightens, and you’re likelier to want to hide away.With a challenge, you instantly feel a surge of energy to take some action to move forward – to be successful.
Takeaway: Start seeing every “problem” as a “challenge”.
2) “I can’t wait”
This statement seems like the kind of thing that will make you feel EXCITED. But can’t you see that by looking forward to another point, you’re telling yourself this current moment isn’t as good as it could be? So you’re sacrificing your life, for an imaginary scenario that has no reality of its own.
You can let a vision of the future inspire you, so long as it doesn’t devalue the current moment. Tread carefully with “I can’t wait.”
Takeaway: Start seeing this moment as the moment you’ve been waiting for your whole life. In a way, it is.
3) “I’m tired”
We often say this when we’re trying to do something that we don’t actually want to do. What does saying this statement to anyone achieve? Nothing really. In fact, it makes you more tired just through the act of saying it. A better way to think about the situation when you do feel tired is to accept it, and then proceed to do something that fits in better with your energy levels.
Takeaway: Don’t complain, just accept the feeling and move forward.
4) “Why did I do that?”
After making a mistake, this question can be constructive. It can allow us to discern the intentions behind our actions. If we stay stuck on this question, however, we can fall into a loop of self-hatred and guilt. The better question worth asking is: “How can I make sure I don’t make the same mistake again?”
Takeaway: Avoid falling into a cycle of guilt – it doesn’t achieve anything.
5) “I wish I didn’t feel the way I’m feeling”
In his book, The Subtle Art of not giving a Fuck – Mark Manson suggests that: “The acceptance of a negative situation is a positive experience. The desire for a positive experience is in itself a negative experience.”
The moment you resist the way you feel is the moment you intensify those feelings.
Takeaway: Start embracing the way you feel, all the time.
6) “It’s not my fault”
Whenever you blame someone or something for your present circumstances, you give your power away. You reject the present and throw yourself into victim-hood. While the cards you’ve been dealt are not your fault, the way you play those cards is entirely your full responsibility.
“What you resist persists, what you look at, disappears.” – Conversations with God.
Takeaway: Embed the idea that everything you experience, is your fault.
7) “I wonder what they’ll think”
It’s not your job to worry about what others will think. The only thing you can ever do is be authentic, and leave the rest to them. You only have yourself to hold yourself to when you’re planning to share something with someone.
Takeaway: If it’s something you feel you want to share, you probably need to.
Quick Summary: If you grow your awareness to the point where you catch yourself saying these 7 statements, I promise you, a change will happen. We’ve been so caught up with doing more, that we’ve forgotten that it’s the little patterns of speech, that in large part, have taken us where we are today.
In creating a happy, awesome life, change doesn’t just happen with outside measurements of success.
It starts with what we say and think.
Call to action: If you’re interested in paying more attention to the little things, so that you can be more successful, download my free book (9 mins read) at createyourweek.com. Here’s 3 reasons why:
About the Author: Samy Felice is a writer who is passionate about ideas related to living a meaningful life. His free book explores ways people can make success easier.
You’ve read STOP Saying These 7 Phrases: To Be More Successful, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Sig Nordal 