Health Spending Account – Is yours in the red or the black?
I was introduced to the concept of a ‘health spending account’ by a wonderful nutrition coach – Jennifer Broxterman
When we think about making choices regarding our health, we can think about them in terms of a ‘health spending account’, similar to a financial savings account. Certain choices we make are positive and are the same as transferring money into our savings account. Even if that amount seems tiny and insignificant, it sure adds up over time. Sometimes we may have a little extra and deposit more into that savings account, however, the point is to keep adding to it more than we take away.
Examples of positive choices may include:
- Eating more vegetables
- Spending time in nature
- Getting enough sleep
- Drinking water
- Being physically active
- Breath work
- Practicing gratitude
- Meal planning
- Eating slowly and mindfully
- Eating lean protein
Some examples of choices that subtract from our health account:
- Eating heavily processed foods
- Missing workouts
- Not getting enough sleep
- Spending too much time scrolling social media
- Binge watching tv
- Drinking too many alcoholic beverages
- Eating out
As with your savings account, it’s not ‘bad’ to spend a little, but the idea is that we need to save more than we spend to become wealthy.
We can apply this concept to our health. We don’t need to be perfect 100% of the time just like it’s unrealistic to save EVERY penny that we earn. If you want to spend a little money on something fun, just like wanting to eat a piece of birthday cake…go ahead! But just because we want to spend a little, it doesn’t mean that we must drain the bank account. Just like we don’t need to eat the whole cake.
If we consistently overspend (choose things that subtract from our health account) and live beyond our means, our bank account ends up in the red and we must work harder to dig ourselves out of that hole. It’s the same for our health…and we want to work hard to keep our health account in the black, because that is where we thrive!
It’s ultimately about finding balance, adding more than we take away and ridding of the idea that we need to be perfect 100% of the time.
