Based off of experience I can admit that healthy food isn't the cheapest. That means it can be difficult to eat sometimes. But that doesn't mean that there aren't ways you can eat the way you want too without breaking the bank. Here are some tips I learned on the way.

PLAN YOUR MEALS

Meal planning is really a time saving method , but it also saves you money in the long run. It can be quite a doozy especially if your on a tight budget. But planning everything out alone has made the biggest difference in reducing my food budget and staying on track eating healthy foods. Meal planning allows me to make some foods ahead and have them available for lunches or even better left-overs.

Whether its veggies for the week, breakfast tomorrow, lunches or dinners planning ahead of time is a step towards eating healthy. Plus it’s a great way to make sure your actually eating everything you buy, minimizing waste.

PREP IN BULK!

Buying and prepping certain foods in bulk can save you a TON of cash! Grains like rice, millet, barely and oats are available in bulk and keep for a long time if you keep them in airtight containers this goes for beans, lentils and dried fruit.

Next – I’ve found this especially helpful with regards to meat. I LOVE to order meat packages from the butcher why, you’ll get quality meat for a great price. Grocery stores usually sell commercially processed meat they also tend to leave their meats out for at least a week. I have even seen stores try to slash the price of meats in half to sell it before their expiration date.

TIP : Many foods are available in bulk for a way lower price. They keep for a long time in airtight containers as well as freezer bags (for meat). They can be used in a variety of healthy, inexpensive dishes.

TIP : You can also prepare large amounts of ground beef, chicken breasts or any other meat you have around and structure your meals for the week around this.

PACK YOUR LUNCH

Your mid day meal shouldn't cost you your health or a fortune. Brown bagging doesn’t have to be boring either. It’s also way healthier than eating out.

Have you ever wondered how many calories are in a fast-food burger and fries?

A Double Whopper with cheese, large size fry and large size Coke at Burger King hits a staggering 2,100 calories and 100 grams of fat. That’s all your calories and more than your share of fat for the day in just one meal!

 A home packed turkey sandwich on wheat bread with baked potato chips and an ice tea totals about 500 calories and about six grams of fat.

NEWSFLASH eating out is expensive! Have you ever really considered how much you spend on takeout ? The average meal : $7.00 (and that’s on the low-side) multiply that by 20 (the approximate number of working days in a month).

That’s $140 a month, and almost $1,700 per year.

BUY FRUITS AND VEGGIES THAT ARE IN SEASON AND OR FROZEN

Food grown in season is cheaper and taste better. Root veggies in the winter, Apples and squash in the fall. Broccoli and berries in the summer.

Frozen produce is great to use when cooking, making smoothies, or as toppings for oatmeal or yogurt.

Furthermore, you gain the advantage of being able to take out only what you’re about to use. The rest will be kept safe from spoiling in the freezer.

Reducing produce waste is a great way to save money.

Whats not in season has often been transported halfway around the world to get to your store, which is not good for either the environment or your budget.

Also, buy produce by the bag if you can. That is usually a lot cheaper than buying by the piece.

If you buy more than you need, you can freeze the rest or incorporate it into next week’s meal plan.

TIP: Frozen fruits, berries and vegetables are usually just as nutritious as their fresh counterparts. They are available all year round and are often sold in large bags

STOP BUYING JUNK FOOD!!

Cut all that junk food and fast food out your diet. You would be amazed at the amount of money you spend on soda, snacks, candy and pre-packaged foods. Despite the fact that they are barely nutritious they also end up being pretty expensive.

Now when going to McDonald's, Wendy’s, burger king etc it doesn’t take a genius to realize they don’t use the best quality foods. You can tell by the rubbery patty and limping lettuce and extremely chewy chicken.

They use the cheapest parts of the meat to make your food so half of the time you don’t even know what part it came from let alone what type of meat your actually eating.

Bonus Tip: Lets be honest healthy & budget don’t mix well. If you really want to eat healthy you’ll have to put money down. Put the bottles and blunts down for a while. Take care of your body. 

It is known that we all have compared each other at some point in time during our lives, and honestly it is one of the most unproductive and destructive habits. And we do it with just about everything; relationships, jobs, homes, degrees, shoes, jewelry, popularity etc. 

You do it so much to the point where your self esteem is at an all time low and you know have an abundance of negative thoughts and feelings harboring inside of you. For some outside of yourself as well. Which isn't surprising considering your being your own judge and executioner day in and day out. 

The shitty thing about comparing is that it's always a loosing situation whether you realize it or not. Here are the two scenarios ; how often do you compare yourself to someone who is knowingly less fortunate? Thus we consider ourselves beyond blessed. Or we compare ourselves to someone who we feel is doing, feeling and looking better than we feel about ourselves. 

To be honest, you determining your worth based off of how you view others your holding your own happiness hostage. 

Your making it harder for yourself to focus on your strengths and what you excel in. This can be demeaning, and prevent you from enjoying many aspects within your life. You need to learn how to become aware of how you view yourself build up your confidence, set goals, and really learn your emotions as well as behaviors so you can improve your opinion of self.  

Because, the thing is no matter how many people you have cheering you on and staying by your side you won't succeed or truly grow if you can't get on your own side.  

With that being said let me ask you this; rather than comparing yourself to others why don't you try and reflect on your present and past self? Keep the comparison inside you so you can measure your own growth. Keep the comparison within yourself so you can learn to trust yourself live authentically, creatively, and bravely. 

We all have different backgrounds. We all came in with our own criteria for life and what to expect; with our own gifts to share, burdens to carry, lessons to learn and losses to experience so in time we can master the beautiful creation of ourselves. 

I get that it might be tough resisting the comparison. But you are ultimately in control of your life. You make choices that set the direction for each path you walk. You make decisions that are best for you, not for anybody else. 

The freedom in comparing less is certainly worth the effort.

I have never been one of those girls who had a group of female friends. Dealing with guys always seemed a lot easier, a lot less dramatic and a lot more relatable. 

Because, on a real note, being “one of the guys” just means you may possess a few qualities and or tendencies that are only expected to be present in dudes. 

1. Our other half gets a little jealous sometimes… 

He doesn’t quite understand how unnecessary, dramatic and toxic having girl friends can be, thus he doesn’t understand why you have so many guy friends. 

It just happens you can fit into your guys’ group of dynamics better. Beer, TV, and Pizza they totally get you and who wants to give that up?

2. And your friend’s girlfriends get really passive aggressive.

Because for some reason, there is no way possible that people from the opposite sex can be friends. You know more about their guy then they do and they get jealous. And them being extra aggressive about trying to be friends with you is clearly fueled by hate and suspicion. And honestly, you both know it, he’s the only one that is oblivious to it.

3. #Struggles when you need an emergency tampon.

They embarrass you even though periods are a completely normal function in a woman’s body. 

4. And you’re the only one who has to actually make a pit stop to use the toilet. 

They will whine and whine all day at you during road trips because you had to stop ONE TIME. 

5. So you start having to apologize sometimes for being a such a girl. 

Because me crying after every sad movie and love scene is completely unacceptable to them. 

6. Concealing your emotions is the norm.

They don’t want to hear your problems, hear your cry or complain about your boyfriend.

7. The guys think you’re amazing AS FRIENDS.

Besides that they treat you like your the ugliest duckling compared to all the other girls they know, like you practically look like a boy to them -_-

8. You’re expected to speak for every girl on this planet.

Just because your a girl and you guys are all close they expect you to be the representation for all women everywhere, like each women isn’t a individual with different thoughts, feelings, and emotions

9. Some of their ex’s, along with other girls, pretend to be your friend just to get to your guy friends. 

Me: “Oh nice, she’s still keeping in touch even though they broke up – she seems pretty chill-why not”

His ex: “So how is he doing lately? Does he ever talk about me? Does he have a new girlfriend yet?”

Me: ” -_- I see what’s going on here” 

10. You have a knack for finding them their perfect matches. 

Because somehow, you’re responsible for their love life. 

11. And for some reason, they always want your friends. 

“Do you have any hot friends?” is asked for often than you’d like to admit.

Breakups suck, but especially when it's with the girl you thought was your ride or die…

1. Let it all out and embrace the shitty-ness of the situation, after all it was a great friendship right?

You guys were close for a long time it made you feel just like family, understand your feelings, let those feelings out when you listen to music, watch movies and binge watch that show on Netflix. 

It's important you let go of all those negative feelings so you don't continue to harbor them you'll only continue to carry this toxic energy that can affect you in a MAJOR WAY if you don't fix it. 

2. Give her side of the story a chance, you owe her that.

The two of you might conclude your both being complete bitches and patch everything up. 

3. Resist the urge to fix everything with her in ONE DAY.

Rome wasn't built in a day. Don't rush to have everything go back to normal. Sometimes people need time. Sometimes you need those few days to cool off. It's very possible that it'll all blow over 

4. Respectively give your other friends a clue…

It's totally Ok to let them know "Hey Jamie Doe and I are not in the best space right now, can we hold off on bringing each other up in conversation until we fix things.” not…

5.  But do not, I repeat, do not drag them into your beef.  

Don’t unleash all of your feelings and what truly went down between you two with them, that's unfair to everyone involved. Somehow some way gossip always ends up getting out there especially if it is juicy, dramatic and reputation ruining. You'll put them in a position where they feel like they have to choose, so DON'T that's always awkward for everybody. 

6. Take a sabbatical from social media?

Let's face it I know your profile picture has been the picture of the two of you but I think it's safe to say it's time for you to change it. And then you notice how all of your friends invited both of you to an event, or maybe even one of you. Save yourself the awkward conversations and bitter feelings and live your life. 

7. Attempt to get closure but don't overdo it.

One talk or 5 can give you that extra push you needed to just put everything in the past.  

8. Appreciate the people you do still have and try and make those friendships a little stronger.

After all, they have been there also, they have put up with you when you were crying, drunk, and broken even if it was just by making breakfast or sharing that tub of ice cream. There just might be someone in your circle who is best friend material and also happens to be your soul sister. You'll never know if you don't try and hang out more. 

I mean think about it sit and really think about how compassionate and open you are, it's totally Ok to have some more friends who are similar in that department. 

9. Remember that life goes on.

Doesn't matter what happens time stops for no one. It's not the end of things and you still have quite a bit of time ahead of you. Every friend will not work out and that's completely Ok. People come into your life for seasons for reasons. 

10. So accept that and let go if you have too.

There are a billion people on this earth. One day you will meet a group of people who get that weird dark dry humor you love or at least won’t make you feel weird for it. In time you'll find someone who loves the office, Rick and Morty, and sarcasm just as much as you do. 

Grow through it don't go through it. 

We all know that fear of letting someone new in when all the rest have done nothing but taken our hearts and stomped on them. We end up harboring emotional defenses that we honestly believe on some level will protect us from getting hurt. 

But the truth is, we’re just holding ourselves back from the love of our lives. When we live in the past we’re limiting our futures. We need to be straight up with ourselves. 

What was it that made us fear love in the first place? What’s stopping us from the love we want so badly?

A new love can bring back all the heartache we’ve suffered through in the past.

We never really realize how much our past has an effect on the person we become today and the way that makes us love. A previously negative dynamic might make us feel shy to intimacy and stir up old feelings we had; hurt, rejection, insecurity.

So instead, we just avoid love at all costs.

We know deep down we want it, we want that one guy who will be there through our lowest lows to our highest highs. But it’s the ‘in-between’ that terrifies us.

But we can’t make ourselves numb to sadness and still, expect to feel joy.  

Because that’s only hiding our real selves at the cost of getting hurt.  

We start to overthink everything because the more someone means to us the scarier it is to lose them. We don’t have to change a thing about ourselves because of our past, we just need to learn from it instead. 

But the truth is we need to trust the universe and understand if they’re meant to be with us they will stay in our lives. 

Even if it makes us feel vulnerable, it’s a key part of who we are. 

New love is uncharted territory, we just don’t know what to expect. And when we let ourselves fall in love means that we are taking a risky jump. But when it works… it’s the best feeling in the world.

And even if we don’t think we’re capable, we can handle the challenge.

Many of us struggle with our own insecurities on feeling unloveable. We have no real concept of our own value so it makes us think that no one will be able to appreciate us. We all have an inner voice inside us that is way more judgemental and negative than we would like to admit. 

But at the end of the day, we’re all deserving of the most pure, whole, and authentic love.

Everyone encounters a fuckboy or two before finding "The One". You know kiss a few toads to get a prince? No? Ok. I personally believe we date all these assholes for a reason though, I believe it's so they can teach us who we do and don't want to be with. What we do and don't expect out of a relationship. 

1. The guy who thinks he is too young for a relationship 

(even though he is in his mid-late twenties)

He feels like he needs to be young and free at all times. He believes he looks way better than he actually does, and he himself is the fountain of youth. Whatever this reason, it's totally possible this guy will stay single forever and you can feel free to remind him of that fact.

2. The Guy You Should've Just stayed Friends With

He already knows everything about you, so you figure why not? You can skip the awkwardness and just get to the fun stuff. But it turns out it's not that great, or it's amazing but it's weird, you actually start wishing you left that shit the fuck alone. Now you just want your friend back. 

3. Your TOTAL opposite 

A man with opposing views when it comes to damn near everything you believe in can really open your mind up. He will be a great lesson in accepting people for who they are, learning to be ok with everyone not agreeing with you, and agreeing to tolerate someone’s scary political and social views in the name of his pretty white smile and killer bod. 

4. The Bad Boy 

Dating a bad boy doesn’t mean you should end up behind bars because you participated in his activities’. Even if it is just once, try dating someone who is the EXACT opposite of who you would want your daughter/future daughter to date. Fuck it. YOLO. 

5. Your Twin Flame

He is basically you with a penis and beard. You never have to argue over TV time because you both love cartoons, sketchy/risky shows on comedy central and occasionally Love and Hip Hop – go figure. After a while, though you might notice it's a little too easy to get stuck in a rut, you painfully realize you two are so much the same you cannot help each other reach the next level. 

This group composed of Le’Asha Julius and CE they met in 2009. Their stage moniker came from combining the names of the streets they grew up on, Quincy Street for Le’asha in Washington DC and Vidal Drive for CE in San Francisco. 

They shortly moved to New York City together upon meeting releasing their first record “The Cookin in Brooklyn” and have built themselves quite the following since. Also self-releasing EP’s from 2010-2014 and performing at various venues throughout the city The Big Apple to be exact. 

Quincy Vidal packing powerful punches in every song a very soulful and thought-provoking duo sticking to their roots in poetry and music they properly plunge you into hip hop and jazzy 90’s chill vibes.

And having an overall message, an important one at that!  What’s the main message they’d like to convey in their music you ask?

Le’asha: “The Truth, Boom,”

CE: “Be yourself or die” I got that from E-flat from All-Natural. “Be yourself or die”.  They tell artsy magazine.

This clearly shines through in their work, truly original creations.

Recently in early 2016, they dropped Chi’ren produced by both CE and Space People. As I’ve heard this coined for them “they are bringing back the golden age of Hip-Hop” and made its debut on Billboard.   

If you’re a hip-hop enthusiast, if you love Tribe called Quest, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Idle Warship or Tasha the Amazon Then I strongly suggest you check them out. I have some links below.

https://quincyvidal.bandcamp.com/album/chiren

https://soundcloud.com/quincyvidal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVxvrdjzVKM : Chi’ren Music Video