Cost Effective Health the Nutritarian Way, part 1

I love to eat lots of great tasting food. And this way of eating allows me to do that, without guilt or regrets or weight gain.

In fact, it's really hard to eat too much of the right kind of food, even when you understand what that food is.

How, for example, does one eat a full pound of leafy greens? (drum roll, rim shot....) One bite at a time.

Dr. Fuhrman recommends targeting one pound of fresh leafy greens and one pound of cooked greens per day.

Now just this component alone could potentially break most people's food budget. Not to mention some of the other things that go into a great healthy eating plan, like berries, nuts, seeds and mushrooms.

Then there's the issue of all those specialized ingredients that it takes to make all those other things tasty. Like special spices, fresh, natural ingredients, things that it appears, from most of the recipes you'll find, make it so you should really plan on hundreds of dollars per person eating this way.

This, of course, is self defeating baloney.

If it cost lots, I couldn't do it.

In fact, if it cost even an average amount, I wouldn't do it.

Here's the principles of cost effective healthy eating, according to, well, me. They work, and I'm sure they'd work for others. Plus, there's plenty of ideas floating out there, waiting to be gathered in.

First of all, seek understanding of what healthy eating consists of. The words alone are precious truths. The difference between "nutrient density" and "nutrition" helps me focus on the fact that nutrition which focuses on macro-nutrients such as carbs, proteins, fiber and fat, is old-style eating wisdom, and that micro-nutrients are the keys to what ails our modern-day civilization.

Second, know what high nutrient density foods are. Dr. Fuhrman's "G-Bombs" formula of Greens-Beans-Onions-Mushrooms-Berries-Seeds is probably more precisely stated as Gombbs to best prioritize what we should be eating - not as catchy, but the G-Bombs acronym helps reinforce and remind us that it's only a slight modification to describe real nutrient value relationships.

Third, eat the cheapest highest nutrients possible. The most bang for the buck. As the ratio of nutrients per calorie is the key to health, nutritients per cost is the key to affordability, that makes healthy eating, and therefore health itself, a real, practical possibility for everyone.

So obvious it's stupid, huh?

The obvious is sometimes hidden in plain sight. Understanding what works, and why it works, plus proof that it works - now that's what really works.

Add to that an absolute need, and a sentence of pending death if you don't do it, well, that's my motivation.

Works for me. More specifics coming next time.