Is Eating Healthy and Supplementing Expensive?

One of the big concerns about getting healthier, eating a more vibrant selection of foods, and investing in your own physical transformation is the cost involved. Everybody knows that organic, high-quality ingredients cost more than their conventional counterparts, and people are worried that they will be priced out of this lifestyle, and that this is something that is reserved for an elite upper class, while the peasants eat bread and gruel, like in the olden days.

I would like to address some of these points, validate some of the accurate concerns, and demystify some of the myths about the expense of a healthful lifestyle. Also I will share with you some strategies to keep your costs down — even around the same level or potentially lower than a standard diet — if so desired.

It is true that organic ingredients are at a higher cost than conventional ones. And I do insist on the organic varieties of some raw foods, where you are eating the outer skin of it, because those same conventional foods are heavily sprayed by the Agri industry with harmful chemical pesticides — things like berries, grapes, peaches, apples, plums or pears (if you’re eating the skin), leafy greens, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, and so forth. I suppose you could still buy them conventional and wash them thoroughly with a natural produce wash, which would be better than nothing, but I would still be concerned about exposure to harmful conventional chemicals. In this case, it is worth the 50% or more premium to get the organic ingredients and not poison yourself.

If this is unaffordable, then may I suggest eating raw foods which are conventional, but have a protective outer layer, so if they get sprayed with chemical pesticides, it is coating the outer skin or rind, but you’re eating the inner ‘meat’ of the fruit. This would include things like melons, oranges and citruses, avocado, banana, pineapple, or let’s say apple or cucumber type foods if you were to peel the skin before eating. Now you can buy the regular-priced ingredients, still fill up your cart with amazing, healthful foods, but pay the lower costs for the pesticide-sprayed foods which are cheaper to produce.

With regard to nuts and seeds, it is true that these are relatively pricier foods on a per-pound basis, compared with things that are much cheaper to grow and harvest like grains and beans — a big difference though is that nuts/seeds are also extremely calorie-dense and nutrient-dense foods. I would suggest if there is a certain nut or seed that you enjoy, to purchase it online in a bulk-size bag of 2 pounds or more, and you can save significantly on a per-ounce basis compared with buying that same item in a store. And you really don’t need to eat nearly as much nuts/seeds to feel full, compared with something like grains and beans.

You can see some recommendations of specific products at:
RapidRegeneration.com/Food

Also consider that if you are eating animal products currently, and part of this journey for you involves cutting back or eliminating these types of foods, and you start eating more vibrant, living, electrical foods, then the higher expense of eating certain organic superfoods is going to be offset by your saving money from not buying animal products, which are quite expensive — it becomes a bit of a wash.

As a matter of fact, if you are judicious about which raw foods you buy, and are just very prudent through this process with your funds — by sticking to the conventional, lower-cost type raw foods — you can actually end up spending less money on food overall than a typical person eating cooked, animal-based foods.

Animal products are much more expensive to cultivate and sell than plant-based foods, generally. Look at the price of meat, eggs, milk and cheese. Things like chicken, beef and fish experience price increases every year that are much higher statistically on average than prices of fruits and vegetables. These livestock are more labor-intensive foods to produce than plants. If you can reduce your reliance on these products, your wallet will actually get some relief compared with the Standard American Diet.

That is why I believe this stigma about eating a healthful intake of foods being so expensive is mostly mythical and not entirely justified. Personally, if I was still eating meat the way I used to, my expenses would be much higher. Now that I am a little more comfortable financially than in my younger years, I do enjoy things like organic berries or grapes, and if I see something exotic that I want to try, the price tag doesn’t stop me from putting it in my shopping cart. But overall, my food costs are quite reasonable to fill up my pantry and refrigerator with an assortment of delicious, raw foods that will keep me vibrant, energetic, young and healthy.

The other thing you might find is that you may eat less overall, as a result of getting healthier. The less you eat, the less money it costs to sustain your energy and lifestyle. Just imagine if you no longer experienced evening cravings for another snack before ending the day — it would improve things from a health standpoint to abstain from eating at that time, but it will also lower your overall food costs every time you do abstain. If you are overweight now, and you can lose 10 or 20 or even more pounds of excess fat by embracing a healthier lifestyle, you have not only shed harmful excess weight but also have reduced your operating expenses significantly by now maintaining an overall lower operating baseline of energy — less calories needed.

It is true that certain grains and processed foods enjoy a special privileged status from the US Government, who give our money to farmers of things like corn, soy, rice and wheat in the form of special subsidies which effectively causes all Americans to partially pay for these foods to be grown— in the form of federal income taxation and Dollar inflation via government deficit spending. This results in overall lower cost in the grocery aisle for items containing these processed food products. By contrast, fruits and vegetables are not subsidized and must be produced at their actual market cost.

So, in terms of plant-based foods, these subsidized products are some of the cheapest foods you can eat — rice and beans, bread, crackers, chips, and pasta. But that doesn’t mean you should eat them! These are not health foods by a long stretch. For more details please see the segment entitled: ‘Beans, Grains & Starches — Healthy Vegan Foods or No?’ They are not only cheap to grow in the first place, but tax dollars make these foods even cheaper to produce and therefore to buy. But, they are expensive to your wellness in the sense that they are very acidic-forming, can lead to all kinds of digestive and tissue damage problems, may contain harmful GMOs (particularly soy and corn), and the price you pay with your own health is very high.

This brings up another point about price of food versus cost and valuation of everything from a relative basis. If you eat cheap but unhealthy foods, like fast food for example and many processed snack-type foods, you could make yourself ill, lethargic, and lacking in energy. This is why price is only important relative to value. And what is the value of food? It’s the energy that it gives you. These inexpensive junk foods are robbing of energy. And what is energy useful for? Well, you could use more energy to earn more money. So ultimately, eating unhealthy junk foods can cause somebody to suffer low levels of energy, and as a result display low levels of productivity in his or her work, earning less money than his/her full potential.

If you had more energy, let’s say twice or three times the level of energy that you are used to, how might you use it to earn more money? You could increase your productivity in your current vocation, creating more value to your current job role, and therefore earning more if you are paid a bonus for production, or by going to the person who sets your compensation and demonstrating to them how much more value you are adding and getting a raise. You could increase your level of competence and skills and therefore you could take a different position higher-up in terms of pay within the same work setting you’re in now. You could increase your skillset and marketplace value to the point where you sell your skills to another job or opportunity and start earning more money going and working somewhere else. You could take a 2nd job with all your extra energy, or you could start a side business or a passion project, like I did with Rapid Regeneration.

When you become healthy, vibrant, and energetic, trust me, people notice it. People pay more money, including customers and employers, for a better attitude, a high level of confidence and competence at what you’re doing, and abundant levels of energy to get the job done. When you are ill and lethargic, sluggish like a sloth, and in a zombie-like food trance, your productivity suffers so bad and people notice that too. Just look around at people in the workplace, and you’ll see we are suffering by epidemic proportions in terms of low productivity due to junk-food-induced low energy. The US economy loses over $500 billion per year, by one report, due to workers unable to work due to how ill they are feeling. This figure reportedly just covers productivity loss due to sick days, and I would think the number is grossly higher for total productivity loss due to less than optimal energy.

Make yourself vibrant and well, and you will run circles around the average worker. As you increase your income, you’ll find that eating this way and using herbal supplements isn’t expensive at all — on the contrary, eating unhealthily is what costs you the most financially.

Also consider the cost of developing health issues. Perhaps you have insurance and you have to undergo major surgery, medicine consumption or treatments (in which case insurance normally covers part of the cost) or let’s say if you go with non-medical approaches and pay thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on the different therapies out there (in which case insurance typically does not cover the cost). Even if the expense of dealing with getting chronically ill is covered mostly by somebody else, what is the cost of you becoming debilitated, unproductive, and unable to contribute to your full potential?

This goes back to the question of lost productivity and less than optimal earnings for somebody who has sabotaged their own levels of energy, clarity, focus, and stamina — these are all things that are valuable in the marketplace, and for which you can earn a greater income to the degree that you can consistently demonstrate more of these qualities. These are all things which result from a robust lifestyle benefitting from eating pure, raw, electrical ingredients.

Some people ask me if I’m trying to live to be 100 or more years of age. My answer is typically that my goal is really to have my years here on Planet Earth free of illness, doctors, and treatments. I wish to have a high degree of energy and vibrance during my years here. This is a critical question about quality of life and standard of living — which is ultimately closely related to expenses and cost of living. What good is a cheap cost of living if your quality of life is circling the drain? And think of all the people on this planet who would give up all the money they had, if only they could get their health and faculties and energy back.

At one point during my detoxification journey, I worked a second job. I really wanted the benefits of supplements and so I would do the math. I could get a month’s worth of high-quality supplements, in significant amounts with about 3 or 4 different varieties, for about $100. So I would do a trade-off analysis. I could work for an afternoon and evening on a Saturday or Sunday doing deliveries as a side job and earn that $100 easy, and then I would allow myself to make that investment. Then, for the next month I would be enjoying the benefits of the power of the herbs.

So you can figure it out or justify it however you need to make it work. If you need to wait until you’re earning more money to try some of these supplements, then so be it. If you’re so desperate to get healthy and well that you don’t want to wait, and that means you have to give up spending money on something else, then go for it. I even was in debt in the early days and continue to double-down on buying herbal supplements because of how much they were helping me and I couldn’t justify waiting to heal myself. Eventually I got that second job and it all worked out.

So ultimately, eating very healthily and investing in supplemental products can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. There are ways to do it where you can keep your costs around the same as before. If you are extremely crafty and frugal, you could even potentially lower your costs.

Supplements are more expensive than food, because supplements are more or less optional, whereas you have to eat. It’s up to you to figure out your own financial balance of when is the right time to invest in your health via the use of herbal supplements depending on your situation (for more on that please see the section called: ‘How to Maintain Balance’).

There are even things beyond what have been discussed, with regard to investing money to get better health, like massage, chiropractors, acupuncture, a personal trainer, a gym or yoga studio membership, a personal wellness coach, or going on a retreat of some kind.

Personally I am pretty considerate with money, and typically I don’t buy a lot of consumer goods with discretionary income or go on elaborate trips. But I am willing to invest into my own health and well-being, and have gone all-in on myself multiple times. There are few investments with a better return than my own energetic abilities and vitality. My thought has always been, if I am overflowing with confidence, energy, and livelihood, then I will figure out how to achieve what I set out to achieve. So, bring on the supplements, the best food ingredients, and I will get my money back and then some, just as though you would feed a prize racehorse the top-quality alfalfa grass — you wouldn’t feed him Kibbles.

If achieving optimum health were easy, everybody would be doing it. I am explaining here an aspect of this game, which is that you either have to be clever in how you figure out picking your ingredients to control your costs, or figure out how to earn more money either with a 2nd job or being more productive. You also have to figure out if and when you should justify investing additional capital into your health via herbal supplements and other advanced modalities.

So mostly this concern that often gets expressed is not really valid, considering the food aspect, although herbal products and other therapies can be an added cost. Follow your intuition and hold fast to the notion of abundance. If you can create abundant energy and positivity within yourself from achieving radiant health, then you too can create flows of income to support your vision of your ideal scene. I don’t pretend to be an expert in that category but I will attest that investing in my health has paid off for me, every time, a thousand-fold!

My wish is that it will for you too!