Investing in Your Health: From Daily Habits to Grocery Shopping

There are many ways you can invest in your health and wellness.  In this episode of the Art of Healing Podcast, we explore how you can channel your time, energy, and even your financial resources toward improving your health.   Let's explore how we can all invest in our health without spending any money.

During this episode, we explore how to invest in health using resources such as:

• Devoting time to plan on making healthier choices
• Using time as a resource to devote to shopping
• How planning ahead and shopping in bulk makes healthy eating cost-effective
• Finding free health resources

I share valuable insights into how you can make informed decisions when it comes to grocery shopping, the advantages of buying in bulk, and why you might want to think about consulting an integrative practitioner.
 
Change isn't just about making the decisions, it's also about setting an intention, and we'll explore just how powerful that can be. I encourage you to learn continuously about your health as an act of self-care, and we'll arm you with some great resources. Tune in to this enlightening episode and embark on a journey of health investment with us.

Here is more information on Blue Zones:
Blue Zones-Blue Zones—Live Better, Longer

Here is a list of my favorite podcasts I go to for information and inspiration:

• The Doctor’s Farmacy with Dr. Mark Hyman
• The R Spot with Iyanla
• Reinvent Healthcare
• Dear Gabby

Find Your Public Library here: Library Near Me: Locate your nearest U.S. libraries (libraryfinder.org)

You can find a list of Functional Medicine Providers Here: Find A Practitioner | The Institute for Functional Medicine (ifm.org)

Interested in working with me?  Learn more about my programs here:

Dr. Charlyce – Functional and Integrative Healing with Dr. Charlyce (drcharlyce.com)

Welcome to the Art of Healing Podcast community.  This podcast is devoted to helping you find what works on your journey to health and wellness.  This podcast is devoted to providing information on many healing modalities.  Learn more about:

• Reiki
• Functional Medicine
• Meditation
• Energy Healing

and more!

Learn more about Dr. Charlyce here. 

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Transcript

Charlyce: 0:53

Hello and welcome back to the Art of Healing Podcast. This is Dr Charlize and I hope wherever you are, you are well in. Whatever you're doing, it's going well for you. I'm hoping you're feeling love and blessings and abundance. So for today's episode, we're going to talk about investing in your health. So there are a number of ways to invest in your health. It's a number of ways you can approach it. So I kind of want to take that idea and sort of turn it upside down on its head and during this episode we're just going to talk about the various ways you can invest in your health through time, through research, through nutrition, through habits, as well as through finance. And to get us started, I like to just jump in as to what you invest in and why invest in your health.

Charlyce: 1:49

I practice medicine in the United States and I think most of us listening are aware that although the United States is relatively wealthy in some ways as compared to other countries in the world, one place we're not necessarily wealthy in is health. So there's interesting numbers that have been around for decades as far as how much the average American spends on their health and money and cash as compared to our return on investment, and so I think it's pretty well known that in the United States we spend more than anyone else in the world, yet on most of our major health parameters we don't score the top at all. We score pretty lowly as far as mortality, illness, maternal health, and we definitely don't outpace anyone as far as preventing chronic disease and just living a good life well until your older years. We do know that there's countries called blue zones. These blue zone countries are regions, are regions in the world where people live to be 100 years old and do it well. I'll actually put a link to the book the best selling book and the research that generated this concept of blue zones. So unfortunately, although in the United States you can spend a lot to try to stay healthy, we really don't get our return on investment. The reasons why here in the United States we don't get a return on our investment is really long, so we won't really get into that in this podcast.

Charlyce: 3:34

But one thing I would like to think about, or we're going to discuss today, is when we're thinking about our health, what does it mean to invest in our health? Why do we want to invest in our health? How are the ways we can invest in our health, and does it always require cash? Not really. So let's explore that. So what is one of the ways that you can invest in your health that doesn't directly cost money?

Charlyce: 4:08

And for me, one of the ways you can invest in a healthier body and a healthier mind is simply time. So carving out time that's intentional, that you purposely intend won't be used for anything else, just for your health. Hey, if you can do even 10 minutes a day, to me that might be worth thousands of dollars. So how can you invest your time as far as being healthy? So I see it, you can do it a number of ways, but for one thing, you can take time to have time for meditation. So even in my own practice and I advise my own patients that one of the ways that you can invest being healthy is setting time aside to meditate. As you listen to know, I'm a Reiki practitioner, so for me that's also taking time to do Reiki. So, like sometimes in my mornings, or sometimes at bedtime, I might take myself to bed earlier so that I could perform a Reiki session on myself to just, you know, release any energy, release anything I don't want, or sometimes even midday, you know, like around lunch period you might even have five minutes just to do some breath work. You can also invest in your health with time for healthy movement.

Charlyce: 5:34

I used to say exercise, but I don't like that term because it well, I mean, you know, we know we need to exercise, but sometimes it just takes on that connotation of punishment. So I've really like the I think, is the American cat, like Academy of Lifestyle Medicine is why I started to hear this term healthy movement being used a lot more. So taking time to invest in healthy movement and I like to when I talk to my patients I'll reframe it that way, because when we we take away just the exercise, we say healthy movement. We've opened up things like taking a stroll, doing yoga, playing with your kids, just dancing around your living room to a song you like, we've just, we've kind of opened up a world where we can get that movement in but it's not so restricted to. It, can only be energetic, it only be this way, can you know it's we say healthy movement. It might be decluttering or healthy movement might be, you know, gardening, but that's an investment.

Charlyce: 6:43

Is, you know, healthy movement also investing in time that you will devote to creating health. So making sure that you make the time that you can have your nutrition, support your health, which could look a number ways. Make sure you have the time that you can have the healthy movement. Just rearranging your schedule, which means that you sometimes have to say to know some things. Making sure that you invest the time to be around friends and family, which helps their health and your health. So Investing your time doesn't necessarily have to cause you money.

Charlyce: 7:33

Now, of course, we all have to earn a living or have a vocation. So you know and I work full time as well. So when you're having to work full time and juggle multiple responsibilities, to some people they think it's a sacrifice, but if you see it as an investment, sometimes you just need to sit down and look at your schedule, rearrange your priorities For my busy patients busy patients especially struggling families. Sometimes I'll ask them to write down a list of things that that they need to do during a day, a task list. Then go back over that task list and ask which those actually requires you to do. And I even do this for myself on a regular basis and it turns out a lot of those tasks don't necessarily require you to do them or don't require you to do them that day, and so it might be possible to reprioritize, move that task list to somewhere else. Or does it even need to be done if it buys you back five minutes or ten minutes or maybe even an hour of your day to invest in your health?

Charlyce: 8:43

The next way you can invest in your health that doesn't necessarily require money but you can't spend money, is research and learning. The task of learning and learning to be healthier is a worthy task. It's worth doing and, depending on how you approach it, it can pay you back in thousands and thousands of dollars. So what's a good way to invest with research in order to invest in your health? Well, honestly, one of those you're doing right now.

Charlyce: 9:21

So I frequently will recommend to my home patients podcast listening, to podcast about health. So you know this is a nice medium. Most of them are free, although some of them are maybe like, require a subscription, but most are going to be free. They're everywhere, they're easily accessible and there's a lot of reputable podcast creators whose information they stand behind and they trust. So, for instance, you know I'm a practicing physician, I'm an internal medicine doctor, I'm a Reiki master. I treat patients. I treat Reiki clients, so the information I share with you is from my heart, from my soul. It's also science-driven and evidence-based medicine, and in this show notes I'll actually include a list of podcasts that I like.

Charlyce: 10:10

But when I'm working with some of my patients that we talk about how they can begin to educate themselves, because you know, if we're not healthy, we're not feeling well. You have to learn how you got there. And learning how you got there it's not so easy, especially if the nature of your life and the just the rhythm of your life just hasn't allowed you to do it. Or maybe you have a background where you came from abuse so you don't necessarily feel privileged enough to love your body and engage in your health. So actually learning about your health can be a major undertaking. So podcast is a great way to get started with learning about your health, and I'll put in the show notes Some of my favorite podcasts that I like to learn from.

Charlyce: 10:58

Another way you can invest in your health this one actually doesn't require money and often just gets forgotten, probably because it's not so glamorous is the public library. The public library Most of us have access to some kind of public library. He has a wealth, just a bank of health knowledge, wellness knowledge, well-published authors, best-selling authors all kinds of forms audio books, regular books, cookbooks. A lot of my patients, when we're sitting down and we're figuring out how are we gonna get you healthier, how are we gonna get you feeling better, just completely forget that the public library is available to them. So one place to start if you haven't done this, is just make sure you have your library card. And if you don't have your library card, don't forget that likely you have access to it. You probably just need to walk into the local library branch, ask them about getting a card and start browsing their shelves.

Charlyce: 12:02

I actually use the public library. I love libraries. I'm a library junkie. So when there's time in my own city I have my favorite libraries and some libraries I go for this or for that. But one of the things I like about library research in my own health is when I wanna try recipe books. So it's a great place to look at various recipe books, check them out, try them, and I've ended up purchasing recipe books because I tried them for a week or two after I checked them out at the library. So don't forget free doesn't cost you anything you can invest in investing your health by making sure you've got your library card ready and you can get in there and get some books. I did almost forget to mention that many libraries now offer online services. It's not unusual for libraries to offer e-books that you can download to your favorite device and, again, maybe just not so glamorous, I'm not sure and we have so many of the popular apps that have kind of taken over that space. But your public library probably has it too.

Charlyce: 13:15

These next couple of recommendations investments in your health. I can't quite say don't cost money, cause now we are getting into the money part of it. But I wanna just reframe and discuss a way to approach it so that it's accessible to all of us, just a way to see it a little bit differently. So when I'm working with a lot of my diabetic patients, some of them working two or three jobs and a side gig, working two or three jobs with children or grandchildren to support or parents to support, so they're maxed on every front you know they're working a lot, don't get enough time to sleep, and then, on top of that, they have to figure out how to eat and when we get down to the part about eating healthy this is from their perception then just feels overwhelming and impossible. How can I eat healthy? It costs too much. So our next way to invest in your health is thinking about where you invest your money, as far as where you get your food. So the most common statement that I hear is I can't afford to eat healthy. Organic cost too much, healthy foods cost too much and I can't afford that. So this is a completely understandable statement. I definitely understand, and particularly for someone who might be at a point where they're very, very busy.

Charlyce: 14:45

In my medical practice, people that are initially diagnosed with diabetes. A lot of times that's not the only thing going on in their lives. For a person that's only diagnosed with diabetes, we have medical science that tells us that the diabetic diagnosis often is coinciding with a diagnosis of depression. It's often occurring after trauma, grief or loss, so they usually have a lot on their plate and then the health thing also gets rolled into there. So when we start to discuss where are you eating, what are you eating? And if the diet is mostly centered around processed foods, fast foods and so immediately I can pin down this person's drinking five or six sodas a day. All of that sugar is what's making them diabetic. And then, when we start to discuss alternatives, I do feel the resistance. Because the soda is cheap, it's caffeinated, it's everywhere, it's easy to access, it stores easy. So understand all of that.

Charlyce: 15:48

But when it's time to think about investing in our health, you know something that's fast, like a soda does give you that quick energy burst. It will, because it's got sugar. Our brains love sugar. Depending on the soda, it has caffeine in it, so of course you get that quick energy burst. But then what is it giving you the next 12 hours, or the next three days, even the next week? That's where it gets challenging. So how can you invest in nutrition and see it in a way that it's not breaking the bank? So my first recommendation on how to invest in nutrition, I'm actually going to reference back to the time investment.

Charlyce: 16:35

So one of the first things you can do to invest in making better health choices is just making sure you have the time for it and, depending on where you are in life, that may not be possible to do that all at once. So it's not unreasonable to think about your schedule. Have a look and, rather than see the blocks like, see the times that you're so busy you don't have time. You're at work or you're on your way to get your kids or you know all these things that might block it. Start to look for the spaces. Look for spaces where there may be, you know, time to select a different grocery store. Look for spaces where you could pre-prepare or meal prep, because you know, living in modern times, we do have the advantage that we can preserve things in our home to make for healthier meals later. Look for those kind of advantages and you might find out that there actually can be time to make healthy meals, healthy meal choices. It just may not be apparent if you've been real busy and kind of doing the same thing all the time, but just see if that time investment is there.

Charlyce: 17:46

The next way that you can invest in healthier nutrition is by not only examining where you shop, but don't forget about bulk foods. So many grocery stores have a section in the store where there are certain staples that will be in a stable, that could be in a healthier diet, but they're not pre-packaged for you, they're just in a big bulk bin. But sometimes, if you go in that now, you can find things like gluten-free flowers, healthier cereals. You can find some nut mixes in the bulk food outlets. That sometimes costs and you know, I don't know the exact numbers, but it can cost half of what you would pay if you wouldn't bought the packaged part of it. So whatever your favorite grocery store is, make sure there's not a bulk foods out that you may have been rushing past going to get the usual staples in your diet or wherever you live. Just start to shop at a different grocery store and see if there's a part of the store that has bulk foods and by buying some of your staples there you can actually save quite a bit of money.

Charlyce: 18:57

Another recommendation I frequently give to my patients is that there was I don't know if that information, where it exactly came from, but as far as fruits and vegetables and I prefer organic, but sometimes they're just they're not available or sometimes the cost is prohibitive. But frozen versions of fruits and vegetables work and getting the frozen versions in can save quite a bit of money and they give you the option of having that frozen staple later to make. The advice I'll often get my patients is when you start to shop for your food, start in the produce aisle, go by what looks appealing, try to find organic and then, if you're not finding what you're looking for there, then proceed to the frozen food aisle and most frozen food sections in the grocery store will have organic versions of your favorite fruits and vegetables and they are nutritionally sound. When they're frozen it actually still works and a lot of times they're frozen produced costless.

Charlyce: 20:05

And finally, way to invest in your health that does cost money but is worth considering is working with an integrative practitioner or a functional medicine practitioner. So these services generally aren't covered by insurance in the United States. In some parts and places there may be some coverage or some reimbursement, but for the most part, on the patient side, it is a cash investment as well as a time investment and an emotional investment. To sign up with a practitioner where you have to pay upfront. However, this investment is the biggest statement you can make to feeling better, a big investment you can make into your bank of health so that you start thinking about how you're living now, so that hopefully you reap the benefits 10 years from now or 20 years from now. But of course, it is a significant cost. It does cost money.

Charlyce: 21:07

So ways to do it, of course, is you know you can save or maybe divert from somewhere else, but I will refer back to my first three pieces of recommendation that if you're thinking of working with a functional medicine doctor but you're thinking I don't have the money for that, well, start with making sure you have the time. Start with doing your research. So, whoever you're considering working with, they probably have a website, they maybe probably have a book. They probably have something that they've produced that you can read or follow. A lot of health care practitioners doctors, nurse practitioners, functional medicine doctors have created an online course and by completing the course, you can still glean that knowledge. So you're still getting the the investment, but it might actually be something that's more affordable. So if there's someone you're wanting to work with, don't rule it out at all. Just reconsider how you'll do it. Sort of turn that upside down.

Charlyce: 22:07

And one of the things that you can consider if it's something you're investing or you're thinking about investing and working with a functional medicine provider such as myself is, you know, spend the time getting to know them. So, for me, I have a podcast, so you know you could definitely listen to my podcast episodes and get to know me through there. Many have books, websites. Again, you know, just spend that time, but even as you're doing it, the way to see that it's definitely not a waste, even if you decide not to work with a person at that point, probably you've learned something. Probably you've learned some kind of habit, some kind of piece of knowledge that you can take that can help you to start feeling better. So nothing's wasted Nothing's wasted at all.

Charlyce: 22:51

So, however you choose to invest in your health, I hope that it ends up being more than worth your time. I know it will be. So, no matter if the investment is with time, with research, with reading, with listening, with learning however you do it or actually investing, just know that just by setting that intention, you're setting out to the universe that you want to feel better. So you're going to get your return on investment one way or the other. So in any case, it's absolutely worth it. So thank you so much for joining me for this episode. As always, I am Dr Charlize. It's so good to connect with you. Check your show notes for information, for details, for ways that we can stay connected, in ways that you can work with me. Talk to you soon. Thank you, bye, bye.