One of the biggest reasons people don't eat healthier is the cost. It's possible to stick to a budget while eating healthier, though! Here's how.

Eating a healthy diet is one of the best things we can do for our body, but it isn’t always affordable. Depending on the availability of ingredients, it may be unrealistic to enjoy the nourishing and varied foods we need. So, what can you do to stretch your budget without resorting to prepackaged dinners or overly processed foods?

Plan Ahead

The first step to saving money on any groceries, healthy or not, is to plan ahead. You can do this weekly or monthly, though we wouldn’t suggest going further ahead to prevent food waste. Meal prepping allows you to weave in healthy and interesting meals throughout the week so that you don’t get bored of the same things.

Knowing your parameters, resources, and cost-cutting options is a good place to start. More importantly, planning meals around coupons can reduce the price even further. If you find a good sale on chicken breasts, frozen vegetables, and rice, that can be the basis for several healthy meals throughout the week. A grocery list can even be supplemented by a planned budget, allowing you to know how much money you have to work with that week. Knowing your parameters, resources, and cost-cutting options is a good place to start.

Do Your Research

While you’re planning out your meals, it’s beneficial to research the products and recipes you’ll be using. In some cases, it may be more affordable to buy frozen fruits or vegetables since they’re longer lasting than fresh ingredients and can work as healthy side dishes in a pinch. Similarly, if you’re planning to make a recipe, you can see if there are healthier ways to make that dish within your budget.

Just take a little extra time to think about the products you’ll be buying while you’re drawing up your shopping list.

It may also be important to learn different designations that can be placed on food labels at the store. Each label means something different, so knowing what they mean (if they mean anything at all) can help you decide if they’re worth the extra cost. Just take a little extra time to think about the products you’ll be buying while you’re drawing up your shopping list.  <Read More>

Chocolate is a popular, tasty treat, but there's also evidence that it may be healthy for you. Does chocolate's potential health benefits outweigh the downsides?

As delicious as it can be, chocolate is not considered a healthy food. But studies have also shown that chocolate may offer some health benefits worthy of your attention. In fact, chocolate has a long history of contradicting studies pointing toward its potential benefits and downsides. This has made us wonder, is chocolate something you should be eating for your health? Can it ever be considered healthy?

What Kind of Chocolate Is Healthy?

When people talk about healthy chocolate, they’re referring to dark chocolate, any chocolate with 50 percent to 90 percent cocoa content. The higher the percentage, the more cocoa is in the chocolate and the less highly processed cocoa butter. Higher cocoa content means more nutrients directly from the cocoa beans (the raw state), which are loaded with fiber and different phytonutrients and antioxidants that can be healthy for you.

The Health Benefits of Chocolate

We’ve talked about healthy chocolate before, like how it can be good for your brain or your mood or a number of different functions in your body. One of the most studied benefits of chocolate is on the cardiovascular system, with some studies showing it can help with overall cardiovascular health. Furthermore, cocoa may lower your risk of cardiovascular disease or of dying from those diseases if they do develop. A healthy intake of cocoa may also lower your blood pressure and LDL (or bad) cholesterol.        <Read More>

The annual contribution limit for health savings accounts, or HSAs, will soon get a sizable boost due to inflation, the IRS announced.

For 2024, the annual contribution limit for health savings accounts, or HSAs, is rising to $4,150 from $3,850 for self-only plans, which is roughly an 8% increase.

The deposit limit for family plans will also have a sizable increase of about 7% for 2024, jumping to $8,300 from $7,750.

You must have a high-deductible health insurance plan to make contributions, but HSAs can offer three tax benefits, experts say.

Health savings accounts offer three tax benefits:

There’s an upfront “above-the-line” deduction for contributions that allows you to claim the tax break even if you don’t itemize deductions. And you can contribute up to the tax deadline, meaning you can make 2024 deposits up to the filing due date in 2025.

Unlike pretax individual retirement accounts or 401(k) plans, which may also provide an upfront tax break, you can withdraw money anytime tax-free for qualified medical expenses.

You can also grow the account tax-free by investing, which can become a “retirement nest egg for medical expenses,” Brown said. But most Americans don’t use HSAs for that purpose. Some 62% of account holders spend the money on year-to-year or near-term expenses, according to an April 2023 report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. 

“The HSA is an excellent option to do something that the IRS rarely allows, which is having your cake and eating it as well,” with the initial tax break and future tax-free withdrawal, said Jim DeGaetano, a CFP and founder of Diamond Wealth Advisors in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He is also a CPA.

There are millions of adults and children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the United States. While childhood ADHD is widely discussed, what should you know about adult ADHD?

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition commonly associated with children who can’t sit still, but it’s a genuine condition that can affect both children and adults. While there is some evidence that it can be overdiagnosed in children, just under 10 percent of children and over eight million American adults live with ADHD today.

While the average age of diagnosis is still young (around seven years old), roughly 60 percent of people diagnosed will still have it as an adult. For this article, we’ll be focusing on what the condition is, adults living with ADHD, and what they can expect with a diagnosis.

What is ADHD?

At its core, ADHD is a mental health disorder with a combination of symptoms from difficulty focusing to hyperactivity and impulsive behavior. ADHD symptoms can be split into two categories: issues with attention and focus and issues with hyperactivity and impulse control. Sometimes, hyperactivity and impulse control are separate categories.

Over time, these symptoms may result in trouble in school or workplace settings, mental health issues like depression and poor self-esteem, or relationship issues. <Read More>

Marijuana usage during the first trimester of pregnancy can result in infants having lower body weight and decreased head circumference, which could create multiple health issues for the child, according to a recent study. 

The May 16 study, published at the “Frontiers in Pediatrics,” analyzed two groups of women—109 marijuana users and 171 non-users. It found a “significant decrease” in the weight of newborns born to women who used marijuana during the first trimester of pregnancy. The weight of such newborns was lower by 154 grams. If women continued marijuana use through gestation, a further 31 grams in weight was found to be lost.

Researchers also found “significant deficits” in head circumference. Infants born to women who used marijuana had a head circumference deficit of 0.83 cm, while those born to women who used marijuana throughout pregnancy had a deficit of 0.79 cm. The length of the baby was found to be “not significantly predicted” by marijuana exposure.

The study pointed out that low birth weight and decreased head circumference are associated with several neurological and psychological issues as well as health complications. <Read More>

There are four types of services that private payers and employers are required to cover under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) preventive care services provision, which include screenings and immunizations, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) fact sheet.

“These requirements apply to all private plans—fully insured and self-insured plans in the individual, small group, and large group markets, except those that maintain ‘grandfathered’ status,” the fact sheet explained.

“Individual and small group plans in the health insurance marketplaces are also required to cover an essential health benefit (EHB) package—that includes the full range of preventive requirements described in this fact sheet.”  <Read More>