Save On Health Insurance Premiums

Living healthier could mean you qualify for lower health insurance premiums. For example, if you have a high-deductible health plan (or HDHP) then you may qualify for a Health Savings Plan (or HSA) and can end up saving more money on health-related expenses because it will be tax-free.

Dine-In Instead Of Eating-Out

Suppose you’ve become more accustomed to dining out than eating in. But you’ve now decided that the only way to reach your health and wellness goals is by following a customized eating plan, and eating out just won’t help you reach your diet goals any longer. You could opt to eat at home instead. This way could create a personalized meal plan for yourself as well as save on money too by not splurging on food that comes at restaurant prices.

Choosing to go vegetarian can also cut down on your food costs. Most of the money we spend at the grocery store is attributed to meat and dairy products. Nancy Addison of Organic Healthy Life has plenty of tips and resources for helping you to cut out meat and increase your consumption of organic goods. This is one choice that can be great for your body and your budget.

Walk Instead Of Driving

Another way you can save a pretty penny while enjoying a healthier lifestyle is by saving on transportation costs if you could walk, jog, or cycle to work, especially if the commute is short and you do so on a regular basis. Plus, you’ll no doubt be getting fitter and your actions will be beneficial for the environment too.

Hire Professionals To Spring-Clean Your Home

Perhaps, you need some help on the home front when it comes to giving your home a deep non-toxic cleaning once a month. While this may seem like an extra expense, this could end up saving you money. Plus, it may free up time so that you can focus on your health journey more.

Check Your Home For Health Hazards

Even with a great monthly professional deep clean, there are some health issues that can sneak through. For example, pests can become an issue that you need to contract with a professional to eliminate. But an even more overlooked issue is mold. Even a small plumbing leak can lead to dangerous levels of mold in your home. And if it turns out to be black mold, that is a major problem. To prevent these issues, look online for “plumbers in my area” and read through the reviews to find a few potential options. Then, have them come out for written estimates before committing to one choice. That way, you’ll find someone with reasonable prices and good customer service who can help eliminate the leak – and mold threat – quickly and safely.

Buy Food In-Season

Suppose you’ve decided to cut out meat to consume a plant-based diet instead, then it may be better to buy fruits and veggies in bulk and in-season to take advantage of any savings or discounts. Better yet, you could even grow your own produce. That way, you’ll have access to the freshest of ingredients, and you’ll save on grocery experiences by not having to purchase these items at a cost plus markup price.

Do Free Outdoor Activities

If you haven’t been noticing outdoor gyms popping up everywhere, then you have been missing out on a fun (free) outdoor activity to get fit and make new friends in the process. You can also choose to run, cycle, walk, or rollerblade around your neighborhood or local park.

You can also spend about $20 to invest in a few disc golf sets. It’s a fun activity that you can do alone, with friends, or with your family almost anywhere. There are disc golf courses across the country, and they are usually free or a few dollars for general park admission.

Make Money By Leading A Healthier Lifestyle

You can do more than save money by getting healthy. You may also be able to make money! For example, you can share how you managed to save money while getting healthy, and potentially make some serious passive income through affiliate marketing. Or you could choose to start a business selling athletic equipment or personal training. If you decide to go the business route, then it’s important to market your business adequately. You can create business cards with an online template maker and customize them to reflect your branding. If you have a logo, be sure to include it along with a font and color schemes that reflect your business.

In summary, living healthily will probably mean having to make short-term sacrifices in order to see long-term results. Furthermore, you may have to be more creative in how you approach this lifestyle so that you can save money whilst taking advantage of the many benefits that leading a healthier lifestyle offers. Be aware of your surroundings, keep your home free of germs and mold, fill your fridge with organic veggies, and find other creative ways to save money while you get healthier. Nonetheless, you are sure to reap the rewards soon enough and be happier for it because you decided to take positive steps forward.

Medical Disclaimer: Information provided in this podcast, blog, article, video is for informational purposes only. The information is a result of years of practice and experience by Nancy Addison CHC and Katherine Williams. However, this information is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional, or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging.

Do not use the information provided in this blog, audio podcast, article, video  for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing medication or other treatment. Always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before taking any medication or nutritional, herbal or homeopathic supplement, or using any treatment for a health problem. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking professional advice because of something you have read in this email.

The post Tips For Being Healthier Without Putting A Huge Dent In Your Budget appeared first on Organic Healthy Life - Nancy Addison - Nutrition.

Don’t try to buy produce to last for a week. It may not last that long. Some root veggies can last a month, if stored properly, but fresher, more fragile fruits and veggies will only last about 2 -5 days. If you do buy too much, you can think about making a pie, or doing some canning, or freezing some of your more fragile fruits and veggies before they spoil.

Always store your food in its complete wholeness. Never place fruits and veggies in airtight bags. That actually will speed up the decay. You do want to be mindful that mold will proliferate quickly and can spoil the whole group of fruits or veggies. So, toss out any spoiled produce immediately, or put it into your compost bin.

Next, make sure you are storing the various types of fruits and veggies with the right partners. Some give off high levels of ethylene gas (a ripening agent), which makes them and everything around them ripen or decay quickly. You want to keep these types of foods separate from each other. Put things like kale and spinach in the same bin, and peaches and apples in another. If you put fruit with greens, it will cause the greens to rot or turn yellow in a few days.

Greens are very sensitive to the ethylene gas. There are a product called the Bluapple  and it absorbs the ethylene gas. I just put it in my bin with the fruits and/or greens. Of course, if you need something to ripen faster, then you can use this knowledge to your advantage.

You can put the one you need to ripen with a fruit that gives off the high level of ethylene gas. I also use produce bags by Evert-Fresh. They will absorb ethylene gas and help your produce stay fresher longer.

Keep root veggies (including all kinds of potatoes) in a cool, dark, dry place. They can last up to a month if kept properly. Never store potatoes in the refrigerator, because they will develop much higher sugar content.

Here is a list of fruits and veggies, showing the best way to store them. These are high ethylene producers, and you can refrigerate them: apples, apricots, avocados, blueberries, cantaloupe, cherimoyas, cranberries, figs, green onions, guavas, grapes, honeydew, kiwifruit, mangoes, nectarines, papayas, passion fruit, peaches, pears, persimmons, plums, prunes, quince, and tomatoes.

This is a high releaser, but should be stored in a cool dark place outside of the refrigerator: banana.

There are very sensitive to ethylene gas: asparagus, bananas (unripe), blackberries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, cucumbers, eggplant, endive, garlic, green beans, kale, leafy greens, leeks, lettuce, okra, onions, parsley, peas, peppers, raspberries, spinach, squash, strawberries, watercress, and watermelon. Keep them separate from the high ethylene gas producing foods.

Try to purchase fresh fruits and veggies that have been ripened on the vine or on the tree. Tree or vine-ripened foods contain salvestrols, which are compounds that have natural anti-cancer properties.(1)In fact, the word salvestrol comes from the Latin word “save.” So, growing your own food or buying from a local farmer is one way of getting food that is vine or tree-ripened. Food that is picked green and then ripened on the way to market does not contain these salvestrols.

Organic food is best, because it is more nutrient dense. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides can destroy nutrients in the soil, like sulfur and chromium, which are vital for our health. “The Organic Center study found that organic foods were more nutritionally dense in 61% of the cases” and they “found conventional foods to contain higher nitrates, which are widely considered a potential health hazard. (2)

With all the fresh fruits and vegetables enticing us from their bins at the farmer’s market or grocery store, now we can make those delicious meals with our properly stored produce!

Bon Appétit!

Copyright@nancyaddison2015

The post Fresh Produce Storage Tips appeared first on Organic Healthy Life - Nancy Addison - Nutrition.

Monday,  I found out we lost a very dear person, Tom Spicer.

We all knew Tom. He was not known as a big man in terms of physical stature, but he was a big man in that he was extremely smart and talented, had a wonderful sense of humor, a big heart, was a good father, a great brother, a great friend, and I’m sure much, much more that I’m not even aware of.

It took me some time to write this, I was so incredibly heart sad. But I’m writing this as a tribute to my friend, who will be greatly missed.

He left a big impact on Dallas and on those who knew him. He knew something about everything, and a lot about a lot of things.  You couldn’t help but respect him. He quite literally led a movement in Dallas for living healthier lives and eating a healthier, fresher, more plant-based diet. He had a passion for gardening, food and life. He was incredibly genuine, generous and kind.

He was a self-made man who’d risen to a very impressive level in life in many ways, in the mere years he had with us.

I hadn’t known Tom that long, but I worked on some projects with him, and we had joined forces in our love of growing and consuming beautiful, healthy plants. He was an enormous force in Dallas, providing healthy fresh food for all of us to enjoy and thrive from. He had a gift for fun, laughter, making plants grow and creating exceptional gourmet food.

When I was Larry Hagman’s chef and nutritionist, I’d go to Tom’s to get the freshest organic foods I could. It was always such a delight to go back into his garden and see what he was growing at the time. It was a magical garden. I just felt better every time I went there.

At special times he’d be… on his hand-made musical instrument, playing the most beautiful music and sweeping everyone away into another world.

He was such a dear person, and I enjoyed his company so much. He was unique and rare. His place (one being – FM 1410) was always filled with conversation, music, and laughter.  It made me think that this must be what it was like in France, when the Impressionist artists and writers were together. Tom was magical in creating a space for everyone to feel relaxed, accepted and free to share their thoughts, dreams, art and aspirations. He was like the Gertrude Stein of Dallas. A rare and cherished person.

The picture I added above was one taken when he gave me a book signing (my book is: How To Be A Healthy Vegetarian)  party at his place FM1410. ( Thai’s Tom in the middle. I’m in the blue dress on the right with my mother next to me.) It was a joyous event and he was so dear to make food using recipes from my book. He had also contributed some recipes to my book. He was a such a dear friend.

He was the leader of a movement.

He will be greatly missed.

He has my respect and admiration.

I will miss my dear friend immensely.

I was working on a book with him and I happen to have a biography of his that we were putting in our book. I don’t think he would mind if I shared this with you.

Tom “Spiceman” Spicer’s food and music have always been intertwined. They are ripe, delicious, and sexy like homegrown, Creole tomatoes.

The Spiceman grew up in the Crescent City ,New Orleans, Louisiana into a family of five sisters, Doris, Diana, Bettina, Alice and Susan, and one, macho brother, Hank. Tom was raised by his right-brained mother, Alice, and his left-brained father, Captain Henry C. Spicer, Jr. Somehow his Danish mother managed to meet and marry his Dad, from Waycross, Georgia in Venezuela. Now that’s a spicy melting pot!

Tom entered at the tail end of the family and of his father’s naval tour of duty. Born in New Port, RI in 1956, he traveled with his family to Holland where they resided for 3 years. When Tom was 4 years old, Capt. Spicer and family were transferred to New Orleans where the Captain became Commandant of the 8th Naval District in 1960.

The two major influences and loves in Tom’s life are music and the land. The love of music comes via his dad. The love of the land comes via his mom. They are uniquely combined in The Spiceman.

As a young man Tom’s dad was a Jazz violinist and played gigs on the east coast that helped feed his family during the depression. One of the bands he was part of was called “The Georgia Jazz Babies”. His dad also entertained his large family by playing the piano at home.

Tom Spicer formalized his love of music by studying and playing bass at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. He then worked for many great musicians such as Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Robert Ely, Tracy Nelson, and Zachary Richard. He toured with Zachary Richard through France and Canada where he was introduced to the best food and freshest markets he’d ever experienced.

As a child Tom gardened with his mother in the lush, fertile soil near the Mississippi River. He frequented the French Market near Jackson Square as a child with his parents and later as a produce merchant. At the French Market he procured fresh Creole tomatoes, bay leaves, peppers and satsumas to sell to his Crescent City clients. One special client was his sister, Susan Spicer, chef/owner of Bayona restaurant in New Orleans.

Arthur Griffin, Tom’s great-grandfather, was a horticulturalist extraordinaire imported from England to New England in the early 1900’s by the Vanderbilts. Arthur grew hothouse melons and strawberries in the dead of winter for the Vanderbilts. However, he was more noted for his flowers winning trophies like the “Gardeners Chronicle” for his breed of “Gloriossa Rothchildsianna”.

In 1979 Tom’s connection to the land was enhanced when he was recruited by an oil and gas lease acquisition firm in Lafayette, LA. He trained to become a Louisiana, Oil & Gas Landman, which enabled Tom to rightfully say… “I’m a Looziana landman….dat’s de lease I can do”.

Upon returning to New Orleans after the oil crunch, Tom’s long time friend and peer, Jim Bremer, recruited him to work for a specialty produce company where Spiceman truly began to blossom.

Tom moved to Dallas, Texas in 1984 to expand his field of dreams. He was recruited by a failing hothouse tomato operation. Tom turned it into one of the most successful fresh herb and specialty greens operations in the state. At the same time he continued to play bass guitar and join the Dennis Cavalier Band every Mardi Gras where his bass playing was like file to gumbo.

When Tom’s imaginative bass playing styles and creative, New Orleans musicality got a hold of the flea market kalimba his sons, Erik and Maxwell, brought home, the Seque Kalimbass was born. Tom was able to join his bass with the African thumb piano and some great music has come alive.

The people who have had the delight of experiencing Tom “Spiceman” Spicer’s food and music keep coming back for more.

I will miss Tom very much. He leaves a huge void in many of our lives.

– Nancy Addison

This is Tom Spicer and Anne Oliver Lewis at their booth at the Chefs For Farmers Event at Lee Park in Dallas.

Click here if you want to watch Tom teach us how to cut green onions in the proper way.

Click here to watch an interview with Tom and SMU Reporter.

Click here to watch him play his unique musical instrument!

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