Have a Balanced Diet and a Balanced Budget

You might think there's no room for a healthy lifestyle in your budget.

If that's the case, maybe mull over what it costs to eat a fat-laden restaurant meal, or to buy new business attire to accommodate an expanding waistline.

Sure, healthy living doesn't always come on the cheap. But I think about the relationship between money and health with hard, cold business sense: Sometimes, you have to spend in order to save.

That's why I'm banking that every dollar I invest today in leading a healthy lifestyle will save me a bundle of medical expenses down the road.

Eating less should lower our family's grocery bills. I'm equally concerned, however, about the quality of foods my family eats. That requires extra spending.

I gave up perusing the grocery circular long ago after concluding that my shopping list was based on sale items, instead of the more important goal of what my family should eat. I drive past the warehouse clubs along my errand route, such as BJ's Wholesale ClubBJ and Wal-Mart'sWMT Sam's Club. Yes, buying in bulk can save money, but I'd rather avoid the temptation to stock up on processed snack and frozen foods just because the prices may be lower than in a conventional supermarket.

We rely on a list of wholesome staples that we buy weekly -- on sale or not. Our refrigerator is stocked with multiple fruits. Buying organic is a huge expense for a five-person family, so I try to pick and choose my produce. I'll pay extra for organic fruits when I know my three children are likely to ingest a skin that may have been exposed to pesticides -- such as on apples or grapes -- but I try to cut corners by purchasing non-organic oranges and bananas, because I can easily peel them.