Budgeting for Healthy Eating, Part One

This first posting in our Budgeting for Healthy Eating series comes from a dear friend and overall amazing gal, Astrid. She is happy to join Team Elevated Fitness to share her years of experience with family finances and budgets. Thanks, Astrid!

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Budgeting for fresh, non-processed foods can sometimes be a challenge, especially for the "newly converted". Here are some tips that will keep you within your grocery budget and eating healthfully.  

Budget and Plan:  For an average family, 15% of your total monthly budget should be going towards food (yes this includes eating out!).  Once you have this guideline, make a list that fits your budget.  Stick to the list and avoid impulse buys.  The most expensive food is ALWAYS the food that gets thrown away!!!  Additionally, have flexibility in your list and weekly menus for sale items.

Shop the perimeter:  Produce, dairy, meat are primarily located on the outside of the store;   processed, convenience foods tend to be located in the inner isles.  When eating a healthful, clean diet, most of your grocery budget will come from the perimeter.  

Coupons are not always your friends:  Coupons are great…when you can cash them in for products you actually use.  Many times, coupons entice a customer to buy a product they normally don’t use.  Check to see if the coupon makes sense to use.  

BOGO and warehouse deals may cost you more:  Make sure you are checking unit prices on items.  Often the larger quantity is the better deal.  However, retailers are getting tricky and upping the price on larger items in the hopes the consumer is not savvy to the price versus quantity difference.

They have an app for that!:  There are several excellent apps that make shopping on a budget easier.  Several I like are:

     Shopping list – a simple to use, straightforward app which allows you to create multiple lists.  Remembers frequent purchases.  Can sync with several users.

     Grocery Genius – This app helps determine which stores have sales on items on your list.  Will plan your shopping trip to maximize savings.

     ShopWell – Created by dieticians, ShopWell has a barcode scanner that allows you to scan foods to determine if the ingredients are a good fit for your personal diet/nutrition guidelines.  This app also makes suggestions based on your scans.

     eMEals.com - (click on the eMeals link on the right hand side of the blog) This site has a variety of dinner-based meal plans to fit your family's dietary needs, all for a few dollars a month. Clean Eating, Paleo, and Slow Cooker, are just a few examples. Meal plans even come with corresponding shopping lists. If you download the free eMeals app, you can take your shopping list(s) with you; deleting recipes that you'd rather not shop for. 

Good health is always worth the investment: An investment today in healthy, clean food, is much cheaper than a lifetime of healthcare related costs.  The question really is:  can you afford NOT to eat healthy?

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Astrid Lutter is an Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC) and holds a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA). 
Her counseling specializes in the unique needs of military members and their families. 

Her favorite form of exercise is Spinning and her healthy food of choice is any kind of roasted green veggie. 

It's not so simple...

Just last week I was contacted by a public affairs journalist at Cannon Air Force Base. She was interested in writing an article about New Years resolutions and wanted to reference a personal trainer on the issue. I was happy to oblige.

The three questions she asked were not out of the ordinary, but for some reason, I had a hard time answering them simply. So I didn’t...but I digress.

The following questions were posed:

What is the most appropriate exercise for men and women to maintain good health long term, how frequently should it be performed, and what is the 12 month realistic expectation? 

What is the most appropriate exercise for men and women to build muscle mass, how frequently should it be performed, and what is the 12 month realistic expectation? 

What is the most appropriate exercise for men and women to lose weight, how frequently should it be performed, and what is the 12 month realistic expectation?

The final question asked if there were any other points that I would like to elaborate on that were not already covered.

---Before I dive in, I want to be explicitly clear on one point: I am not, in any way, badmouthing these questions.---

Unfortunately, the answers to these questions are not so simple. So many factors affect weight-loss or -gain, the building of muscle or endurance and improvement general fitness / wellness. And if it were as simple as a few sentences, I would either be out of business or a millionaire for discovering the holy grail. So, aside from a very brief comment to question #3 regarding diet as the most appropriate exercise for weight loss, I did not respond. Instead, I wrote a few paragraphs regarding these simple questions. see below

Here’s the meat: Everyone is different. It doesn’t matter if we are talking exercise or diet. What may work for one may not work for all. I have learned this not only through nearly a decade of personal training, but 20+ years of living with a chronic disease (remember when I talked about my UC?). Yes, it is frustrating and yes, it takes time, but most of us have to find a special recipe of stress reduction, good nutrition, physical and brain exercise and sleep to truly reach our goals.

Here is my official response:

It is nearly impossible to answer these questions effectively with no knowledge of the client’s history. If I were to say, “If you do one exercise in 2014, it should be deadlifts,” there would be folks that would perform only deadlifts as a mode to build strength. Or, for example, if I were to advise clients that running is the best mode of cardio, I would be doing them a disservice. Both situations encourage not only imbalance but a little bit of craziness. After all, how likely would you be to stick with a program that repeated the same exercises day after day after day? 

For the general public and professional athletes alike, balance is extremely important. Do you want to run faster or bike farther? Start lifting 2-3 times weekly. Do you want to improve your lifts? Start with some basic yoga. Too often we see people trying to improve their PT run by running more. Sure, there is something to be said about the law of specificity, but there is a also a point of diminishing returns. Logging junk miles or junk lifts get you nowhere. Your workouts must have direction.

Although we all react differently to diet and exercise, one thing is certain: using exercise to reach your goals is a waste of time without proper eating habits to supplement your hard work. I cannot stress this enough. Just as there is not one “best-fit” single exercise or exercise program, there is not one dietary regimen that works for all. However, for most folks, eating “clean” is a wonderful starting point.  Everyone would benefit from eating less processed foods and sugars, more vegetables, a moderate amount of fruit, consuming higher quality proteins and fats and reducing their intake of supplements in the form of drinks, shakes and bars. Eat real food. 

My best general advice to those looking to improve their health in 2014 is to 1) Find an activity that you enjoy. 2) Find balance in your regimen. 3) Eat clean. 4) Find someone that will help keep you accountable. 

Regarding a “realistic 12 month expectation”, it doesn’t exist. Factors affecting weight loss include starting weight and body composition, stress, amount of restful sleep, rotating work schedules, family obligations, commitment to diet, etc. Work hard, eat well and find balance in your fitness pursuits. Rushing the process can often lead to disappointment and, in turn, giving up on your goals. 

After I hit “send”, it occurred to me that I should have answered each question with one simple word: accountability. If you want to succeed, you need to find a friend, family member, coach or other professional that will help keep you accountable to not only your goals, but the process behind achieving those goals. 

So by now, there are many of you that are probably very disappointed because I didn’t reveal to you the magical 30 second workout that will shed fat and build muscle. Or the lemon juice and cayenne cleanse that will solve all of your indigestion while at the same time giving you hours of energy and, oh yeah, did you know that you’ll learn how to speak Greek in less than a week? Give me a break.

So I will throw you a bone. Despite my attempt to be moderately PC and keep most people somewhat happy, I am about to list a few things that might tick you off…

But you’ll have to come back tomorrow to find out.  :)

Clean Eating Challenge Winners

Yes, the title of this blog post is CEC Winners, not Winner. Dozens of you made sustainable changes toward a cleaner lifestyle. And as cheesy as it sounds, that makes you all winners.

Congratulations to all who competed and completed the Elevated Fitness Clean Eating 30 Day Challenge. November was a big month, and so many of you found success in the Challenge. Inches and pounds were lost, bodies toned up, and you found an overwhelming sense of accomplishment from setting a goal and seeing it through. Here's what you are saying about your experiences:

"I am so thankful it came around when it did. Husband deployed so I felt free to try more things...I felt like you did this just for me & that you were e-mailing me personally. I really appreciate the time & effort, I am healthier because of you."

"So glad this came along when it did! I needed this jump start. I feel if I had not been in so much pain because of my shoulder I would have been able to put more exercise in and lost more! I want to do another challenge once I have recovered from surgery! Thank you!!!!"

"I loved it. I thought I knew clean eating, but I learned so much more in the last 30 days."

"Thank you for doing this!!! It was awesome to feel apart of a group while making healthy lifestyle changes!"

"For real beginners, [changing] to a new lifestyle was a really hard challenge. I had a couple slip ups and falls, but kept pressing through. Said if i didn't like it, its only 30 days."

"I work nights at the hospital and I survive on Diet Pepsi. I thank you for getting me off of it."


Quite a few of you were gracious enough to take the time to fill out my lengthy survey. Based off of your responses, here are few changes that I will consider when creating the next CEC:

- supply a shopping list
- offer a more one-on-one interface
- more juicing ideas

I also have a few things up my sleeve that I am working on for the next Challenge, but those will be special surprises. 

But enough about that…

Who won the $100 prize?
A big wa-hoo goes out to ……

TRACIE RENSCHEN

I am laughing a little bit right now…out of the 257 folks that registered for this event, I drew the name of an old friend from St. Louis. We met in 2007-ish(?). Tracie is an exercise physiologist and personal trainer in metro St. Louis. 

To quote Tracie's thoughts on the 30DC, 

"This was a great program. I have been thinking for a long time that I needed to eliminate artificial sweeteners and this was the challenge I needed. I loved the fact that a few of my clients also participated and we could talk about our progress and concerns! Clean eating is a challenge, even for some of us in the fitness industry! Thanks, Amy!"

Even those of us who spend most of our day preaching to others have a hard time cleaning up. Great job, Tracie!


Thanks again to all who participated, and stay tuned for the next Challenge!