The choices you make in your everyday life can affect everything from your health to your bank account. Many people figure that healthy living costs more, which in some cases may be true, but in the long run it saves you money.
Medical Expenses When you choose healthy foods over junk food you are choosing to take care of your body. That old saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” is true. People who choose healthy living, save money yearly on medical bills. The reason they save so much money is they spend less time in a doctor’s office, less money on prescriptions and less for chronic illness treatments. Because healthy people spend less time at the doctors insurance companies tend to charge lower premiums on individual insurance plans. Insurance companies base the premiums of their individual plans on the health of the person seeking coverage and will deny someone they think will cost them too much money.
Lower Life Insurance Premiums Most life insurance companies require a health screening to determine your premium and eligibility. The reason they do this is to insure you are not a liability to cover. Unhealthy people are more likely to die early, costing insurance companies more money than the insured has paid in. These health screenings check blood pressure, heart rate, breathing and sometimes a swab to see if the potential customer is a smoker. Smoking has adverse effects on your health such as COPD, lung cancer and other deadly effects. Those who pay the lowest premiums are non-smokers that live a healthy lifestyle.
Less Missed Time at Work Being frugal doesn’t always apply only to money saved. It can also apply to money earned. People who live a healthy lifestyle miss less time at work due to illness. This means that at the same time they are saving money on copay’s, they are also earning their hourly wage without interruption. Companies tend to promote workers that are present daily and a healthy lifestyle can help you do that.
Shopping Outside of Chain Stores When you decide to eat natural foods such as fruits and vegetables, you open a whole new opportunity of places to shop. You are no longer forced to buy food at expensive chain stores and are able to make purchases from local farmer’s markets. Local produce is always less expensive than imported produce. Another benefit to buying locally grown foods is freshness. Foods that are shipped from across the globe will not stay fresh for long after they are bought whereas fresh local produce will remain fresh for almost a week.
Less Wasted on Food Those who do not stick to a healthy balanced diet will still tend to purchase healthy foods, but they will also purchase unhealthy foods. This is almost the equivalent of buying two sets of groceries. Many people will buy chips, snacks and quick meals as well as fruits, vegetables and meats. People leading a healthy lifestyle only purchase foods that are healthy thus saving money by avoiding junk food. Quick foods tend to cost more than healthy uncooked foods, buying only healthy foods will allow them to save even more money.
