One of the most effective and arguably easiest ways to escape poverty is by maintaining your health. One of the ways the system prevents upward mobility is by keeping us all fighting just to stay alive. When you are poor, your commercial food choices are limited to mostly processed and sugary foods that harm your overall health – and being sick can be very expensive! A couple missed hours equals lower paycheck, equals missed payment, equals NSF charge, equals late fee… etc. Not going to a doctor for a ‘minor’ problem allows the problem to fester and by the time you are forced to go to the doctor, its a VERY expensive problem.
The first and most important thing to maintaining your health is Get Enough Sleep! Yes, sleep is very important – you with 8 hours of sleep will outperform you with only 7 hours of sleep, and way better than 5 or less hours. This helps with decision making also – so keep your mind and body sharp – because this isn’t easy! Sleep on it.
Now, eat right and get enough exercise. You don’t have to join a gym – you can get a lot of workout videos free from YouTube. A lot for At-Home, No Equipment needed. Eating right may be a bit more of a challenge – there is so much information out there that all contradicts each other – but from my perspective (a fat guy), avoid excess sugar, and eat the least processed foods you can get. That means whole grain foods, as close to raw as you can stand vegetables, meats from the butcher section – and avoid fast food, sodas, etc. I wish I had absorbed this earlier. “Knowing” something and absorbing it, making it a part of who you are, are two different things, sadly.
Another important health tip is to get enough light – this helps with health, happiness and sleep. I mean Natural Light – get out in the sun. Turn your lights off at night for sleep. Don’t keep your electronics on at night, the blue light can really mess with your sleep patterns.
Save up for the good quality items that you need – {paraphrasing the boots theory} a poor man will spend $50 on a good pair of boots every year, a rich man will pay $100 for a good pair of boots every 10 years. It is very expensive to be poor – it is systemic oppression. In 10 years, the poor fellow will have spent $500 on boots, but the rich guy only the first $100. But every time you have to settle for the lower quality item, set something aside toward that quality item.