Five (Very) Simple Healthy, Environment- and Cost-Saving Diet Tips

See Katherine’s interview on Fox TV

Here are five simple tips for making you and your family healthier, happier, and more energetic, saving on food costs, helping the planet, reducing your medical costs and the stresses and burdens on our nation’s health care system:

* Move toward a more plant-based, vegetarian lifestyle. Experiment with new bean and soybean recipes. Try just one new vegetarian dish per week – or per day – depending on your goals. Cutting back on meats keeps you healthier, reduces your carbon footprint and saves money.

* Eat more locally and seasonally. Produce and other foods produced locally are cheaper, tastier, more nutritious and help save the environment.

* Eat more meals from home. Make “batches” you can use for several meals. This saves money on labor costs in restaurants. But also, studies show people who eat more from home are more likely to maintain healthy weights and eat healthier. Having more family meals at home also keeps children healthier and at ideal weights.

Great recipes!

* Work toward eating five cups of fruits and/or vegetables per day. This reduces you and your family’s risk for cancer, heart disease, obesity and inflammatory diseases. It’s also cheap if you consider fruits and vegetables’ cost on a “per serving” basis.

* Increase physical activity: and keep it simple! Buy a pedometer… My favorite is the Omron HJ 112 or 113. Increase your steps by 2,000 per day until you get to 10,000 steps (minimum!). You’ll lose weight, get healthier, save money on medical costs and drugs. Studies show being overweight doubles medical costs, so being more physically active will save you and our country money on your medical problems.

For more on cost-saving…

For more on environment-saving…