Eating healthy is more than buying fresh organic grass feed free range beef.  It's also about making the best of a bad situation.  We can't all afford to shop at Whole Foods, and sometimes the paycheck runs thin.  This series will explore ways to eat well even when you're on a really tight budget.  

There is an interesting intersection between "frugal" and "healthy."  In America, a lot of very poor people are also eating very unhealthy diets.  There are two big reasons for this:

1.    Poor neighborhoods tend to have crappy - or no - grocery stores.  Not that you can get to easily, anyway.  If the only place you can reasonably shop is the convenience store on the corner, you're going to have a really hard time finding healthy foods.

2.    The caloric density per dollar is a lot higher with junk food.  One in eight Americans experiences "food insecurity," which means that they skip meals because they don't have the money.  

"Caloric density per dollar" is a term some sociologists coined to describe the result.  If you walk into a grocery store with only a dollar to spend for the entire day, you're going to gravitate towards foods that offer as many calories as possible for that dollar.  Sad to say, fresh produce doesn't fare well by that measure.

Unfortunately, it is also true that the less money you have, the better you should eat.  "Health food" is a term that's often associated with the well-off, with shiny happy upscale people shopping at upscale supermarkets, buying lots of bizarre and overpriced supplements, and spending way too much time at the gym.

But health food and physical performance are just as relevant on the other end of the pay scale.  Maybe even more so!  If a part time temp job is the only thing keeping you in an apartment, you definitely can't afford to be sick.  Your body needs to be operating at peak levels to get through the day, and to perform well under stress.  

You need to be strong.  Eating well will help keep you strong.

Giant Sack 'O Apples

Here in Washington we have a remarkable array for apples on sale, even at the regular old grocery store.  A bin of apples like Pacific Rose ($2.99/lb) or Pink Lady ($2.49/lb) may be eye-catching, but poke around a little.  

Somewhere in the back, away from the main display areas, you'll find big mesh bags full of apples.  Typically, the Giant Sack 'O Apples will basically give you between 3 and 5 pounds of "regular" apples for the price of 1 pound of the fancier, boutique varieties.  

When I was a kid, these mesh bags held only grainy Red Delicious or Granny Smith.  These days, you can often find sacks of much better apples.  I found a five pound sack of crisp, juicy Gala apples for only $3.99!  They were beautiful, too - I could barely stand to photograph the apple above before chomping into it.

Apples have a lot of dietary fiber - both soluble and insoluble fiber - which is important for blood sugar regulation, preventing colon cancer, and pooping well.  They also contain antioxidants like vitamin C, and flavonoids which can help prevent or reduce asthma.  And they are a nicely sweet treat, with only about 80 calories per apple.

NOTE: be sure to wash an apple before eating it.  (Just run it under cool water while rubbing the skin with your fingers.)  Apples can carry a significant pesticide residue on the outside of the skin.