Healing on a Budget

As the cost of living has gone up, are you feeling the pinch? It can be tough if you are trying to heal from or manage chronic illness. However, marketing by people selling products can be unduly influential. Many healing resources are available at low cost and free. 

Here are a few ideas for healing on a low budget.

1. Focus on food rather than supplements. Since 95% of people don't eat enough vegetables (according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics), that's an excellent place to start. Fruit and vegetables are foundational for obtaining the nutrition we need. Adding in more fruit and veg will crowd out less desirable foods. Orange juice is an inexpensive nutrient-loaded drink with so many health benefits- get the best quality one you can afford.

2. Free food and medicine. We often find free food in our neighbourhood and enjoy looking for it. Citrus is in abundance now- you can ask a neighbour if you can harvest a bucket of fruit from their tree. We found a lemon tree on a vacant lot nearby last week (our tree has produced only 1 lemon so far!). A glass of warm water with a spoonful of lemon juice is a great, healthy morning habit. Mulberry trees can often be found in the suburbs and they fruit in October. Figs and grapes in February.  

3. Are you eating enough quality protein? We don’t need huge amounts, but we do need some. High-protein foods include all animal products, including dairy, seafood, beans, legumes, and nuts. However, a plant-based diet high in fruit and vegetables will also contain significant protein. Even potatoes contain quality protein. If the price of meat/seafood is stretching your budget a bit far, add in more beans, lentils, fruit and vegetables...to stretch it out. You can make a lamb stew with just a little lamb, and lots of vegetables, and also beans or chickpeas. Canned sardines are fantastic value.

4. Superfoods can help buffer nutritional deficits in the diet, and they don't have to be expensive ones from Peru. A superfood is just a nutrient-dense food. Fruits, vegetables and particularly leafy greens are all nutrient-dense (and underrated). Other examples are berries, olive oil, apples, tropical fruit, honey, potatoes, and seaweed. These are all superfoods minus the marketing hype. My favourite green superfood is spirulina, which is high in protein, and a little goes a long way. It is less expensive to buy something like spirulina than a "green" product with multiple items, diluted with cheap filler products.

5. Rotate your supplements. If you have half a dozen you want to take, rotate them, or take them at half the dosage or at whatever rate you can afford. There are some nutrients, like zinc and magnesium, that most people are short on because they are poor in our soils, and they are worth taking. However, buying a cheap supermarket/pharmacy version may be less cost-effective than you think, because they often contain less absorbable forms of the mineral. 

6. Sunshine is free medicine. It is also vital for our mental health, not just for Vitamin D. While we do not want to burn, a moderate amount of sunshine regularly is essential.

7. Juices and smoothies are far cheaper to make yourself than buy at a juice bar. A simple green smoothie can be made from a banana, a large handful of leafy greens (eg spinach, kale, dark lettuce), and water. This is a good way to get plenty of raw leafy greens in, which are excellent for healing.

8. Broths- while bone and meat broths are very popular lately, a decent vegetable broth with added herbs and seaweed is a huge nutritional asset, with many minerals.

9. Grow some herbs such as parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, coriander, lemon balm, and some leafy greens like kale. You can pick up punnets at Bunnings for $2-$3 and easily grow in pots or in the garden. 

10. Herbs are meant to be the peoples' medicine, but they have become an expensive international trade. So, focus on the cheaper and local ones. For your nervous system, oat straw and nettle infusions are inexpensive. An infusion is just a strong tea, left to steep for at least 10 minutes to get the full benefit. Lavender is beneficial for relaxation - pick fresh flowers for free and add to a chamomile tea. Ashwagandha is a good adrenal and nervous system tonic available inexpensively in powder form at Indian food stores. So is triphala, a bowel tonic and systemic detoxifier. Dandelion root coffee is a great liver detoxifier. Using herbs in more basic forms- powders, teas, or fresh if available- is usually much cheaper than extracts in tablets or bottles.

11. If you have a bottle of herbal extract made up for you, ask if you can do drop dosing instead of the normal high doses. It is very effective for many people and the bottle then lasts for ages. I mostly use drop dosing nowadays and sell smaller bottles - lighter on the wallet, better for the environment, and very effective. Especially for chronic conditions.  

12. Dive into meditation as a daily practice. It has so many proven healing benefits that I consider it an essential life skill. Learning to watch thoughts pass by and not get as caught up in catastrophising or chronic anxiety. There are free apps like Insight Timer where you can learn or plenty of you tubes. I recommend Tara Brach as a starting point.

13. Self care and nurturing don't need trips to Bali, retreats, massages, or expensive therapies. We can find healing in ordinary day-to-day life with some resourcefulness. Cold showers or ocean dips can revitalise and tone. Warm baths and showers relax. Self-massage (abhyanga) is an excellent self-nurturing tool that calms our nervous system. Getting enough rest and sleep can heal many ailments. Just being kind to oneself and learning to have healthy boundaries, being ok with saying no, can be very healing. 

14. Inexpensive lavender, peppermint, tea tree, eucalyptus and lemon essential oils can cover most basic uses and all are uplifting- you don't need a whole huge kit from a multilevel marketing company.

15. If you cannot afford to see a Naturopath or other therapist, you can go a long way by using YouTube and other free information sources available. We live in extraordinary times. Be aware these have their limitations but used appropriately, they can be beneficial.

16. Check out your local Shire and community centres for free and low-cost exercise classes. Check out your local massage school for low-cost massages by students. Check out people in your community who may be learning a new healing modality and looking for guinea pigs to practice on to get their hours up.

17. Walking is such good medicine. Walking at the beach, in the park, through the suburbs, or around the block. Take your shoes off sometimes, connect with the earth and Mother Nature, the source of all healing.

18. Work on your daily habits. If you want to develop better daily habits, such as an intentionally mindful morning routine, pick one habit change at a time and give yourself 30 days to embed that habit. For example, having lemon water first thing in the morning, or a daily walk, having breakfast, or eating 5 servings of vegetables. Or, you might want to break a bad habit such as over-dwelling on anxious thoughts, or being on the computer until bedtime. Start small, something achievable, to build your habit muscle.

19. Attitude and intention are powerful, so make the most of your superpower- your own mind. There are many free resources for hacking your mental processes to gain momentum in your healing. Tapping and affirmations are a couple. Check out Brad Yates on YouTube to learn tapping. 

20. Take your time to rest and convalesce as an overlooked but essential part of any healing program. 

I don't mean to dismiss the hardship of living with chronic health conditions and limited funds because it really can be challenging. However, we can also get in a bit of a rut with our thinking, and many resources are available. I hope these ideas can inspire someone.