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How are you going to let this current recession effect your health?  This economic disaster that we find ourselves in has a lot of us stressed out to the max, which is a health threatening situation to say the least. Everyone knows of someone that has lost their job, or everybody is fearful of losing their own employment with the daily bad news of cutbacks and downsizing

I personally know of people who are forced by the recession to cut back on essentials such as their medications and health care needs.  And, of course, this just adds insult to injury by making an already stressful situation more harmful to their overall health.  Foregoing a visit to the doctor or not being able to afford prescription medicines is a dangerous consequence of our present economic situation.

What are some of the other harmful consequences of this recession with regards to our health?  First off, the place people cut down in spending during hard times is in our daily food costs.  We stop eating out on a regular basis, start cooking more at home, and unfortunately today’s society is less skilled in culinary arts as our parents generation were so it is really easy to choose pre-prepared processed food items to comprise our meals. This can have a dangerous impact on our health and weight because as we all know, processed foods with high calories and that lack nutrition can be way cheaper and easier to prepare than even fruits and vegetables.

Secondly, with everyone caught in this quagmire of doom that I believe we talked ourselves right in to, the upbeat or positive mood necessary for exercising is just not present.  So we don’t go for our walk, we stop going to the gym, we just sit and watch the gloom on the television and we get even more depressed.

So what are we going to do about it?  Numero Uno, as i said the media and us talked ourselves right into a recession.  We can also talk ourselves right out of it.  Turn off the terrible news, stop reading the daily gloom and doom in the paper, and avoid like the plague all negative influences in our everyday life.  Adopt and force a positive outlook. Taking a walk will get you off the couch, let you enjoy this wonderful spring season, and actually relieve some of your stress.

Second, if you simply cannot boil water by yourself, buy an easy and inexpensive basic cookbook.  Cooking at home can be fun and extremely nutritional.  If you have a family then make meal preparation a fun family project.  Get back to the basics of meal planning, vegetables are really easy to cook and are great for your body, cheaper cuts of meat can be prepared in delicious recipes that rival  your favorite eating establishment.  Add a shot of grains, cheap dried beans and some fruit for dessert and you have the makings of an affordable healthier diet.

Third and last, even if you don’t have a lot of room, grow some of your own food.  Gardening is theraputic and not really hard to do.  Planting a garden and watching it grow is one of the most enjoyable activities in my life.  It may seem like a lot of work if you grow a big garden such as I do, but I am going to save a s-load of money on my grocery bill this year.  Even if you are limited on space, such as living in an apartment, you can still plant a tomato plant on the balcony and save some bucks.

Unfortunately, we became accustom to being to frivolous with our food dollar in the pre-recession era and our waist line shows the fruits of that orgy.  We can grow out of this current situation both wiser and healthier.  But in order to do so we have to take the first step towards a positive outlook on life and use this temporary inconvience to our healthier advantage.  Remember, we are the nation that was build on positive attributes and strength, not drudgery.

To your health.

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