The Cost of Being Healthy

Working out takes dedication. It doesn’t just require time and energy—it can also entail financial commitment. For many people, the cost of a gym membership is a sacrifice that they are not willing to make–and they would be much more financially comfortable with going on a walk around their neighborhood instead. Would that be considered unhealthy? Going grocery shopping, my aunt buys the regular, normal-priced fruits and vegetables because she does not want to pay the extra money for the sake of avoiding pesticides and chemicals. Does that make her unhealthy? I personally do not feel the need to spend money on supplements that are supposed to balance my pH or make my skin glow and my hair shiny. Am I doing something wrong?

When phrased in that way, one’s first response might be, “of course not.” But on a larger scale, those qualifications might be what we look for when we initially assess someone’s level of healthiness. We have an idealized picture of what someone who is “healthy” looks like: the type to shop at Erewhon, buy twenty-dollar blueberries, go to pilates, and take daily green juice supplements infused with collagen. 

The common denominator–and the issue for many–with this list is that it all costs an obscene amount of money. As an employed seventeen-year-old in high school who pays for car insurance and gas, keeping up these stipulations seems farther and farther away from what I can manage.

As an aside, I am aware that no one is closely and meticulously examining my dietary choices or my exercise habits. No one is tracking my calories in a spreadsheet or monitoring my daily physical activity. Well, maybe my mother. But the point is that I know that I do not need to meet anyone’s standards or expectations for my health. But I recognize that there are some, like me, who cannot help but feel left out when those around me are going above and beyond to try to prove, for lack of a better word, that they are healthy. Maybe I am not contrarian enough and I conform too easily, but I am sure I am not alone.

As I was saying, if anyone is like me, they will be looking for ways to avoid these expensive trends while maintaining their notion of health. Allow me to share some of the ones I have found:

1. Determine your priorities and make decisions based on them.

Most people you ask will say that organic food is generally healthier for you. This can be true, but it must be taken into context; the reason why organic fruits and vegetables are considered to be a better alternative to inorganic produce is that there is a lower risk for consumers of exposure to harmful chemicals used in the growing process. Things like pesticides, fertilizers, and bacteria sound unfavorable at first, but eating inorganic food does not necessarily mean one will ingest copious amounts of poison when eating a strawberry.

 What you must consider is your priorities: if you are pregnant or feeding a small child, it would be better to be safe than sorry and avoid those risks. But if you are of sound mind and body, what you should focus on instead is eating a balanced and nutritious diet with lots of variety–not just the label on a cucumber. Wash your vegetables and your hands very well, and you will not be any worse off.

2. Find at-home alternatives when possible.

When considering going to the gym, determine exactly what your reasoning is for wanting to go. If you have the money, go for whatever reason you want. But if you are on a budget, like me, you must decide what you plan to gain from the investment. Gym memberships are expensive–not to mention the sign-up fee and the yearly fee. If your plan is just to get into shape, contemplate possible alternatives. At-home HIIT workouts have proven to be far more useful for me in comparison to the big, fancy, expensive machines I find at Gold’s Gym. If you want to build or define muscle, you might benefit from those machines–or you could make the one-time purchase of a set of secondhand dumbbells and find an exercise that you can do anywhere.

I, out of all people, understand that the physical act of going to and being at the gym is much more motivating than working out from home. But when you are on a budget, certain sacrifices must be made for the sake of maintaining your financial flexibility.

3. Focus on what you need before what you want.

We’ve all seen the ads–whether on Instagram reels, TikTok shop, or on the back of a bus–for miracle supplements that make your entire life better with just one tablet, glass, or gummy a day. I am not in a position to tell you that these are ineffective, so I will not. All I can say is that, in my opinion, lots of these supplements depend on the placebo effect. If you think it is working, it will. The mind is incredibly powerful and can control the body in incredible ways. While it is helpful in various situations, when making decisions based on necessity, one must be judicious when it comes to purchasing miracle products. 

My advice would be to put first what is needed–such as iron, vitamin D, magnesium–over what is wanted–like collagen, biotin, and mysterious but fancily packaged green powder.

The next time you see someone walking down the street fully clothed in Lululemon with a Stanley in hand and an Apple Watch with closed rings on the wrist, consider the context of their situation. They can afford to live this lifestyle–but that does not make them healthier than you. For those in the same boat as me who struggle with feeling inadequate compared to health influencers on TikTok in Palo Alto–you are not alone. And if you are reading this and thinking I am a conformist and too swayed by the internet, I aspire to be you.