Eating Well on a Tight Budget During Scarcity and Pandemic

As basic items run low, and people hunker down during Quarantine, it’s so important to do what you can to keep up your health.

At our local grocery store, I’ve seen, twice now, dry foods run completely out and canned goods🥫run low. Beans are a staple in this house, and fortunately, we’ve been able to get what we need and were already stocked with dry rice. 🍚 Paper products have been empty since the panic buying started, and we were fortunate to already have a pack of TP before the panic.
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Like so many other people in this country 🇺🇸 and around the world 🌎, we have felt the impacts of life around us pausing. With the loss of income, eating well on a tight budget needs to remain a focus, as well as supporting a healthy outlook to keep anxiety at bay. Practicing deep breathing 🧘‍♀️ and taking breaks 🧎🏻‍♂️to unplug 🔌📺📱💻 and get fresh air 🏞🛤🌤 can help stimulate calm and help you process the situation. If you have access to a trail where it isn’t crowded, sit near a babbling stream and breathe deep the open air. A backyard 🏡, a balcony🌇, or an open window can serve to keep you safe as you listen to the singing birds and feel the breeze.

Practicing social distancing by spending time in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Strolling through the quiet streets of our neighborhood to see the Spring blooms.

I’m focusing on immunity supporting foods full of vitamins, protein with aminos to support mental health and function, fiber to feed the microbiome, and food sourced probiotics to keep my digestive tract healthy. Stress triggers my autoimmune response, so it’s vital to give my body everything it needs to make it through a tough time. Life can cause flare-ups, but don’t give up. 🙏🏻💛 Let a loved one know you’re struggling and practice the things that help pull you through. Remember, you are doing every thing you can, one day at a time. Pause and breathe. And know, we are all in this together. 🌎🌍🌏

Trying to avoid the “Quarantine 15” with salad! 🥗
Mixed greens 🥬 are full of beneficial fiber and immune supporting vitamins. Lentils not only keep but are also cheap! 💵
Supporting health with lentils cooked with walnuts in chili spice, cumin, cayenne, paprika, salt and pepper, rice 🍚 cooked in seaweed broth, organic quinoa-corn-chia chips, greens including spinach, chard, and baby kale 🥬, sweet potato 🍠, jalapeños 🌶, garlic 🧄, tomato 🍅, avocado 🥑, salsa, and probiotics—choose nut-based alternatives to avoid lactose inflammation).
Supporting liver, digestion, and a light wallet with this simple and hearty dish!
Broccoli 🥦 supports the liver which may be weighed down with stress. Mushrooms 🍄 help alleviate the stress response. Red or gold potatoes 🥔 with skin on are full of minerals and are cost efficient! 💵
Baked red potatoes 🥔 loaded with cultured vegan butter 🧈 , cultured sour scallion-cashew & coconut cream cheese, mushrooms 🍄 and crunchy pecans sautéed with garlic 🧄, and steamed broccoli 🥦 with salt and pepper with sourdough toast 🍞.
Creamy curry over brown rice full of anti inflammatory spice!
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Keeping things light with canned chickpeas, sweet potato 🍠 and brown rice 🍚, which not only support a tight budget 💵, but provide vitamins and minerals that help reduce the wear and tear of stress build up.
Aiding my digestion with curry spices of coriander, cardamom, cumin, turmeric, garam masala, nutmeg, cloves, chili pepper flakes, and ginger, stewed with onion 🧅, garlic 🧄, tomato 🍅, carrots 🥕, jalapeño, sweet potato 🍠, chickpeas, cashew butter, ground flax, and coconut cream 🥥, served over brown rice cooked in sea weed broth. 🌱

Drinking celery juice with lemon, apple, greens, and ginger help support the liver and detox.

Drink your greens! 🥬🥒🥦

A smoothie every morning with essential protein and vitamins with addition of nut butter, avocado, banana, and probiotics blended in to support mental health and hormone balance while also being easier on the digestion. Living with autoimmune disease makes digestion difficult at times.

The mean green protein smoothie.
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Protein power! 💪
Vitamins and supplements to help me reach optimal levels of nutrition, especially when digestion is struggling to absorb nutrients and needs a little help with severe inflammation.
*As always, do your own research and make the most informed decisions you can. Vitamins and supplements can be a contentious topic. Be your own health advocate and partner with a nutritionist and health expert.*
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A little aid for mental clarity and processing stress.
*See above disclaimer.*
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Don’t forget that one of the most important things we can do for our health is to be kind and support one another. We may have to keep our physical distance, but we don’t need to keep our emotional distance, especially during a time like now—it may be more important than ever to reach out to those you love and share some kind words with someone you know is struggling. Spread love during a time of fear. 🙏🏻❤️ Love may be the most beautiful creation of all. Live your art!

Enjoy your art and may you live well! 💛

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