Sometimes life throws you curve balls. For whatever reason, some things just really don't manage to work out the way we long for them too. Frequently, these curveballs cause us to strike out when it comes to sticking to our health and wellbeing goals. We start to interrupt the good dietary and workout habits which we worked so faithfully to build, extra weight returns, pain creeps back and depression starts to smother initiative and ambition.

It's happened to the very best of and we all know what this feels like. Luckily, there is always a remedy. While it may not possibly be the solution we really wish for, we should open ourselves to trying new things or adjust our perspective to allow for just a little creativity to spark a whole new and effective strategy.

Before I get into the meat in the post (pun intended) I need to create a quick frame of reference. Recently I discovered the individual situation of someone who has been thrown a handful of major curveballs by life. Everything was going smoothly, weight loss and great energy were the results of a good diet and workout program until an unsatisfactory surgery and exhausted insurance funds left a family of four in the lurch.

My challenge was to see if it's possible to provide four adults a comfortable, real food diet on a budget of $400 monthly. It was reported that this family eats out twice a month. I am about to make the recommendation of cutting that to monthly as a way to improve the overall monthly budget up to $448.Having a daily grocery budget of $17.04, I went to work to determine precisely what was possible. For a quick philosophical aside. The prioritization of selecting things to eat flows within this order: Might it be real? Is it inside the proper nutrient proportions? Could it be properly prepared? Would it be from the proper source? In the food store, its pretty simple to find real foods which can be combined within the right proportions to develop and keep a high level of health (ie. healthy weight, good energy, positive mood, etc). It is actually harder to find pre-made real foods which were properly prepared and also harder to locate real food which will come through the right sources (fewer choices that tend to be much more expensive).

Ok, it's finally here, the cheap food ideas i promised. It's true that this is a super simple one day plan, but it really works, both from a nutritional and a budgetary point of view. Breakfast - $2.80 3 eggs, scrambled or fried in 2 tbsp of butter, 8 oz of whole milk. Lunch - $5.44 Tuna Fish Sandwich, tuna blended with Two tablespoons of olive oil based mayo and 1 teaspoon of mustard on sprouted grain bread, carrot sticks, celery with cream cheese. Dinner - $7.54 Taco Salad, shredded green leaf lettuce, hamburger with taco seasoning (follow directions on package), Shredded cheddar cheese, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, canned pinto beans. Snack - $0.71 dry roasted peanuts. The grand total for a day (keep this in mind is designed for four adult servings for each and every meal and snack) equates to $16.49. That's $0.55 under budget! And you thought it couldn't be achieved, tsk tsk. Like I said before it's an incredibly basic plan and certainly not gourmet but it really requires almost no actual cooking, it is all real food and contains an abundance of protein whilst keeping carbs low.

OK, inform me of how you feel. Can you survive using a simple diet plan similar to this? I really hope so because what you're probably eating right now could be killing you ever so slowly, even though it's more gourmet. Please remember, when life throws you curve balls, keep swinging for that fence and you'll eventually hit your home run.