Eating healthy doesn’t have to mean spending a lot of money. Here are five easy ways to fatten your wallet while trimming your waistline in 2011, courtesy of Healthland’s friends at the It’s Your Money blog. (For even more fun with resolutions, check out New Year’s Resolutions: The Good, the Bad and the Annoying.)
5 Ways to Improve Your Diet on the Cheap
We all know that regrettable impulse buys are more likely when shopping with credit cards, compared with the more tangible act of counting out greenbacks. Now a study in the Journal of Consumer Research also shows that consumers shopping for food are more likely to avoid unhealthy "vice products" — that tempting Nutrageous bar at the checkout line, for instance — when shopping with cash. Why? Paying with actual currency feels more real, and more painful than swiping a card, causing the consumer to think twice before making unhealthy or just plain silly decisions. It's also a good idea to have a snack before hitting the supermarket — because shopping on an empty stomach is a recipe for rounding up random goods that seem essential at the moment, but that wind up as "What was I thinking?" purchases. Next: Join (or Start) a Cooking Co-Op SPECIAL REPORT: See Healthland's Full Guide to Life in 2011 More on It's Your Money: Credit & Debit Cards: Bad for Your Finances, and for Your Diet
