Eating healthy on the cheap can be tough, but if you stock your kitchen with the healthy cheap essentials it should save a great deal in the long run.

I buy certain staples like organic cheese and organic butter when they are on sale and keep them in the freezer.

Consider buying your organic meats, eggs, and fish in bulk and store in a larger freezer out in the garage.

Remember we have to pay for our health one way or another. Prevention is key. The food that graces your kitchen table is the best disease prevention money can buy. President Obama thinks that we will never fix the National Deficit until we fix the Health Care Crisis, I think we will never fix the Health Care Crisis until we fix the crisis at our kitchen tables.

Here are my favorite cheap health foods:

Flax seeds
Oatmeal
Brown Rice
Apples
Yams/Sweet potatoes
Broccoli
Spinach
Canned tomatoes
Carrots
Bananas

Tips I have learned from the Whole Foods School of Hard Knocks:

-Avoid buying a bunch of healthy stuff you don’t know how to prepare. Nothing is more wasteful than a bunch of rotting random veggies in your fridge. Instead, commit to making one new healthy recipe per week, experiment with new ingredients and recipes gradually to avoid wasting valuable grocery dollars. Don’t get overwhelmed by all the different grain options, make friends with them one recipe at a time.

-Drink a smoothie in place of one meal each day. You can easily get two servings of fruits out of the way by doing so. Buy frozen fruit when it is on sale, or save money each summer by picking and freezing your own.

-Shop at Farmer’s Markets for produce once weekly when possible. Plan meals around the foods that are in season, rely heavily on fresh herbs, pepper, garlic, and onions to season your food in lieu of organic sea salt.

-Buy frozen chicken breasts and fish on sale.

-Shop organic when possible, buy “The Dirty Dozen” organic, and save your organic dollars on the “Foods Least Likely to Contain Pesticides”.

-Avoid canned foods and opt for frozen. Always keep a little frozen broccoli, spincach, cauliflower, and mixed veggies in the freezer. You can quickly dress up any recipe by adding some steamed frozen veggies. Add one cup of frozen veggies to every frozen meal you prepare, most veggies will mix in nicely with the sauce. The fiber in the vegetables will keep you feeling full longer.

Remember that eating healthy is an investment in your current and long term health.

By Dr. Nicole Sundene

Thanks to MSN Health & Fitness contributor Jean Weiss, a list of the most medically questionable and harmful additives in everyday foods has been compiled to educate the masses. There are several that may be recognizable due to news reports and popular opinion, but others may be new to some and worthy of notation.

1. Sodium nitrite
2. BHA & BHT
3. Propyl gallate
4. Monosodium glutamate
5. Trans fats
6. Aspartame
7. Acesulfame-K
8. Food colorings (Blue & , Red , Green , Yellow )
9. Olestra
10. Potassium bromate
11. White sugar
12. Sodium chloride

There are many reasons that some people choose to shop and eat a completely organic range of foods, but the primary reason seems to center around the additives in various non-organic food items. Those additives have been studied and linked to various diseases, and instead of taking the chance that unhealthy preservatives and flavorings might be integrated into grocery store items, people often opt for the strictly organic route so as to avoid them altogether.

But everyone cannot afford the prices of organic foods or the time it takes to shop at specialty markets for them. Thus, becoming informed about the additives in everyday food items can make for an easier shopping experience and healthier items being ingested by everyone. In addition, a mass boycott of foods that contain such additives could prompt food manufacturers to remove such harmful ingredients from their products in the future.

HealthNews Dozen
Top 12 Food Additives to Remove From Your Diet
By Jennifer Newell
Health News, June 29, 2009
Straight to the Source

OK, first of all I will cut to the most asked question- will your kids and family be receiving either the H1N1 shots or a seasonal flu shot? the answer to both is a confidant no.

We have never had seasonal flu shots and we won’t be starting to do so this year despite the fear tactics employed by so many. The key is in building a very strong immune system and knowing your natural means of fighting bugs should you happen to bring any home.

I have seen many articles come across my e-mail based on this topic so I figured I would offer some of them here for your own educational process. I do admit most everything you read here will support my own views, hey, it’s my blog! If you want to read about opposing views, there are many out there and it isn’t hard to find them. I hope this helps you process of deciding where you will stand…

What I know:

• You don’t want to take the chances of getting Guillain-Barre syndrome, a reaction of the body’s immune system from receiving vaccinations. My husband has had it after multiple vaccinations in his early 20’s,  and I was afraid I would loose my fiance at the time, or best case we would have to find a new first apartment with handicap access. Not a good time! Guillain-Barre rates were out of control after the last H1N1 vaccination fiasco in the early 70’s.
• avoid sugar (kills your immune system), get enough rest (elementary children need 10-11 hours a night!), wash your hands (don’t use anti-microbial soaps),  Have positive thoughts (negativity decreases your immune system), manage your stress (stress lowers your immune system), excercise, take vitamin D, take probiotics, cover your mouth with the hollow of your elbow, not your hands that you will then touch things with and spread germs (teach this to your children!), if you are sick or have sick kids STAY HOME!, avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth as much as possible, avoid artificial colorings and flavorings, eat whole, organic foods, avoid processed, packaged, boxed, canned foods, drink lots of pure, non-tap water
• take a good quality multi vitamin, probiotic, vitamin D and multi mineral to boost your immune system. Costco, walgreens, grocery stores and walmart, will not carry quality products!

Info on the H1N1:

Dr. Mercola on the H1N1

SixWise on H1N1

Jon Barron on H1N1

Is the H1N1 vaccine safe:

H1N1 vaccination for children

Info on flu vaccines:

Dr. Mercola on flu vaccines

Jon Barron on the flu

There are too many article out there to list here, these above sites also have other articles on similar topics.