Staying Fit on a Fixed Budget

With respect to the health economists over at Yale University who conducted this study, finding out being jobless could make people with already bad habits exacerbate their problems is like being told smoking is domestic violence against your body.

It’s pretty much a given at this point, no?

Nevertheless, according to their report while lay-offs don’t necessarily guarantee the jobless will instantly remove the phrase “last call” from their vocabulary or start a love affair with the Baconator, results of their study showed the average food and liquor lover are likely to increase their intake of each vice as they wait for new jobs.

Now that the obvious has been confirmed, what are many of you who fall under either category going to do about it? Not to sound like a health nut, but drinking and/or eating too much doesn’t sound all that summer friendly.

Granted, I understand the recession has changed the game for many of you – but it hasn’t changed the seasons. Wouldn’t you like to be as fit as you can be despite your current troubles? Think long and hard before you tell me no and finish your beer.

Before any of you even suggest it, the notion that it’s too expensive to eat healthy is currently being debunked – by writers no less.

Time magazine conducted an interview with a group of three writers (and you know writers are usually such a rich bunch) from different parts of the country who have launched a site called “Eating Well on $50 a Week.”

The premise is true to the site’s title, which means if they can maintain their fruit, veggie, and lean meat intake with a fraction of the cost so can each of us.

I’ve yet to take on the challenge myself, but I can pass along helpful tidbits like these:

1. Ground meat is your friend, the take out menu is not.

2. A little red wine is good for the heart, but too much of it will expand your gut.

3. Lettuce, grapes, and wheat – eat it.

Watch out, fitness gurus. I’m gunning for you.

So how many of you are willing to become a bit more discipline in order to get both your wallet and your waistline in better shape?

Share your shopping and health tips in the comments section or email me at therecessiondiaries@gmail.com.

Michael Arceneaux hails from Houston, lives in Harlem and praises Beyoncé’s name wherever he goes. Follow him on Twitter.