6 Ways to Eat Healthy On a Budget

You want to eat better, but you’re worried about what it’ll do to your wallet.

So just how expensive is a healthy diet, anyway?

Good news: The answer may be “not that much.” Eating more healthfully costs about $1.50 more per day per person compared with less nutritious food habits, according to a 2013 Harvard study. As background, the scientists compared a diet based on fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fish against one based on processed foods, processed meats, and refined grains.

That said, while $1.50 per day is not much if you have a little extra cash in your pocket, the difference over the course of a year adds up to $550 per person, which can be a burden to many people—especially if you multiply that cost by a few family members.

How to Make a Shake That Will Actually Keep You Full For Hours

Making your shake thicker can trick your brain into keeping you full for longer, new Dutch research suggests.

Researchers had 15 men try two different shakes, both on an empty stomach on different days. One shake was 100 calories and thick like pudding while another was 500 calories but thin like milk.

The researchers then measured the amount of food in the subjects’ stomachs with an MRI and surveyed them on how hungry they felt for the next hour and a half.

Even though the 500-calorie shake stayed in the subjects’ stomachs for longer, the 100-calorie shake kept them feeling as full or more full than the higher-calorie one.

Eating Fruits and Vegetables Could Make You As Happy As Getting a Job

Science has found another reason to eat more fruits and vegetables—eating enough of them could make you a happier person, according to new Australian research.

More than 12,000 people were surveyed twice about how many fruits and vegetables they typically ate—once in 2007, and again in 2009.

During both of those surveys, the subjects also rated their overall life satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 10.

Researchers looked at how each person’s fruit and vegetable consumption and happiness changed over those two years, and found that with each extra serving of fruits and vegetables people ate, the happier they felt.