10 (Free) Ways to Get Healthy

People are so scarily unhealthy these days.  While so many people are protesting about guns and mass shootings (which are horrible events but the number of people killed in mass shootings is in the triple digits each year), you don't hear a peep from anyone about the more than a million people who die each year from lifestyle diseases (heart attack, stroke, diabetics, etc).  Based on this list from the CDC on cause of death, people need to worry less about guns and more about what they eat and how much they exercise and a dozen other things that impact their health.  I mean, if a million people a year were dropping out of the sky on airplanes, airplanes would be banned but I guess people's general health is not something that gets very much publicity even though the numbers have reached crisis proportions. 

More than 70% of Americans are overweight or obese, and don't even get me started on the part about the government subsidizing the very food that makes people sick while at the same time taking millions of dollars from big pharma lobbyists.  Ugh.  The bottom line is that you are responsible for your own health.  No one will legislate healthy food, your doctor will happily write you a prescription for your diabetes but provide no help to cure it, and then when you succumb to disease you (or your family) will be stuck with the giant medical bills to try to extend your life a bit.  This sort of stuff makes me livid with the system we have ended up with.

Here are 10 ways to improve your health...for free!

1. Walk every day.  Hopefully several times per day in a rapid manner that gets your heart rate up.
2. Choose better food.  Whole food plant based diets seem to be popular now and have the studies to back up how healthy this way of eating is for your body.  If you are going to buy food anyway, you might as well buy the most nutritious food possible.  Since we have gone mostly vegan, the amount we spend on food each month has actually gone down.
3. Stretch and move around every hour.  This is simple to do where ever you are--at home, at work--and doesn't take any special equipment.
4. Switch out all of your beverages for water.  This saves on calories big time and drinking water instead of soda will save you money.
5. Look for community health freebies.  In our city we have free health fairs, free blood pressure checks, free radon detector kits, even free women's health services like pap tests and mammograms for women who can't afford them.
6. Use online freebies to get healthier.  There are a lot of free apps--from MapMyRun to MyFitnessPal and a bajillion others--to help you improve your health, you can follow along with free Zumba and other fitness videos online, and there are numerous health bulletin boards where you can share information and ask questions about improving your health.
7. Take advantage of any health deals your employer offers.  Some companies offer free gym memberships, a friend of mine was given a pedometer from her employer who pays employees for the number of steps they take each day, and other employers give extra bonuses to employees who don't smoke.
8. Take care of your mental health as well.  There is a free National Suicide Hotline for people thinking about taking their own life and there are free support groups for nearly everyone (alcoholics, shop-a-holics, recently divorced, etc).
9. Make time to sleep.  I know people brag about being able to function on four or five hours of sleep per night but most people need more sleep than that.  Schedule your sleep times just as you would scheduled any other important event.
10. Find free things that make you happy then go do them.  Whether it is reading or listening to music or playing with the grandkids or volunteering, there are so many free things you can do that will make you relaxed and happy.