As I say on page 210 on Body Drama, it’s easy to come up with reasons not to exercise or eat healthily, and being unable to afford expensive health food or a gym membership are common excuses. As you’ll find out in Body Drama, a lack of money is absolutely no excuse for you to not start eating right and working out if you’re out of shape! Here are some free (or pretty close to free) activities and dishes to get yourself in tip-top shape.

Free Ways to Burn Calories

• Playing soccer for one hour burns 390 calories
• Playing basketball for 45 minutes burns 341 calories
• Swimming laps for 30 minutes burns 292 calories
• Dancing at a party for 45 minutes burns 244 calories
• Washing your car for an hour burns 227 calories
• Gardening for 45 minutes burns 195 calories
• Shoveling snow for 30 minutes burns 162 calories
• Pushing a cart through the grocery store for an hour burns 162 calories
• Climbing stairs for 20 minutes burns 152 calories
• Walking your dog for 45 minutes burns 122 calories, jogging with your dog burns 244 calories in the same amount of time
• Jumping rope for 12 minutes burns 117 calories
• Mopping your floors and vacuuming your house for 30 minutes burns 114 calories
• Lifting weights and doing pushups and abdominal crunches for 20 minutes burns 100 calories (Tip: if you don’t own weights, try using 5lb. bags of sugar and/or flour. Also check out page 217 of Body Drama to find out how to properly crunch.)
• Walking and knocking on doors in your neighborhood to raise money/awareness for a cause for 45 minutes burns 97 calories

As you can see, there are a variety of activities that you can enjoy every day to stay healthy. Some exercises burn more calories per minute than others, but other activities are beneficial in more ways than just your physical health, like walking through your neighborhood for your favorite cause or washing cars all day for a school fundraiser. These types of socially responsible activities help you improve yourself in more ways than one!

After all of that hard work, you don’t want to blow your burned calories with unhealthy foods. Check out these easy, healthy, and inexpensive recipes to keep the momentum going:

Cheap and Healthy Recipes

Omelet with Onions and Peppers

• Ingredients: 2 eggs (or 3 egg whites), ½ green pepper (chopped), 1/4 onion (chopped), 1 tablespoon olive oil, non-stick cooking spray, salt and pepper
• Directions: Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add chopped green pepper and onion to skillet and sauté until onions become opaque (the fancy word for see-through). Remove peppers and onions from skillet and set aside for later. In a bowl, thoroughly whisk eggs (or egg whites) with a pinch of salt and pepper and one tablespoon of water. Set aside. Spray the skillet with non-stick cooking spray and raise the stove temperature to medium high. Once the skillet is hot, pour in the whisked egg mixture and reduce heat to medium. When the egg mixture is almost set, evenly sprinkle the cooked peppers and onions over the eggs. Using a spatula, flip one side of the egg mixture to fold it in half, and remove from skillet onto a plate.
• Cost Per Serving: approximately 80 cents to $1
• Calories: 277 (196 if using egg whites)

Green Beans & Almonds

• Ingredients:1 cup fresh green beans, 3 tablespoons chopped almonds (sliced, slivered, or chopped), 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
• Directions: Heat skillet on medium high. Add almonds, stirring frequently until golden brown. Remove almonds and set aside. Add olive oil to skillet. When oil is hot, add green beans to skillet and toss them around until evenly coated with the olive oil. Lower heat to medium and cover. After five minutes, add almonds back to skillet, add salt and pepper to taste, toss, and cover again for three to four more minutes. Remove green beans from skillet and place into a bowl.
• Cost Per Serving: approximately 60 cents to $1
• Calories: 225

Sweet Sweet Potatoes

• Ingredients:1 sweet potato, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon artificial sweetener (or brown sugar), 10 miniature marshmallows
• Directions: Wrap the washed sweet potato in aluminum foil and bake in oven at 425 degrees for an hour. Remove with oven mitt, squeezing potato to ensure softness. If it doesn’t feel soft when squeezing it through the mitt and foil, return sweet potato to oven for another fifteen minutes. Let cool for ten minutes, and then, with a knife, slice the potato down the center, exposing its orange flesh. Insert artificial sweetener or sugar, as well as the cinnamon, and mix everything well without destroying the sweet potato’s skin. Place marshmallows inside the sweet potato and place potato back onto baking tray. Bake for ten more minutes, then serve and enjoy.
• Cost Per Serving: approximately $1
• Calories: 130 (150 if using brown sugar)

Whipped Sugar-Free Gelatin

• Ingredients: 1 Package of Sugar-Free Gelatin, Fat-Free Whipped Cream
• Directions: Follow package directions to make and chill gelatin in an oversized bowl. Once set, cut into 2-inch chunks and add 1 cup of fat-free whipped cream to bowl. Mix thoroughly and return to fridge for at least 20 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
• Cost Per Serving: 30 to 75 cents
• Calories: 20

(All calorie counts come from www.fitday.com)

Have some more exercise ideas or healthy recipes that you’d like to share? Contact me and I’ll include them and give you the credit!

Tagged as Book Extras

Facebook del.icio.us Digg Reddit Google StumbleUpon

 Print This Post
 Email This Post