Not Able to Save Money? The Problem Could Be Your Diet

APRIL FOOLS! Thanks, as always, to those who played along without revealing the joke! The following is the 2019 April Fools’ Day prank article as it appeared that morning. Check out the bottom of the post for a fun contest in the comments – you could win up to $33 in Amazon gift card money (no foolin’!).

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Food: it unites us, but it also divides us. Nothing has spawned more internet arguments, magazine articles, talk-show debates, and Nightline specials than what it is we should be eating.

I’m not here to claim that I have all the answers, and I’m not a nutritionist, a medical doctor, or a dietician. But what I do have is the proof inside the pudding: my savings increased by nearly $40,000 in one year, while I had an infant at home, while I was on maternity leave, and without me ever having made more than $60,000/year.

Since writing that post, I’ve had a lot of questions about what, exactly, happened that year.

The biggest change? My diet changed drastically.

2017: Eating for Three

Before 2017, my husband and I were eating a mostly unprocessed, whole foods, plant-heavy diet. We weren’t following any specific fad diet or meal plan, just simply avoiding processed foods as much as possible and trying to eat lots of fruits and veggies. This was a pretty healthy diet for our bodies, but we weren’t seeing growth in our savings the way we would have liked.

But in 2017, with the new baby in the house and me working from home 90% of the year, things changed. We gave in to a lot more prepared and processed foods, for convenience. And these foods aren’t necessarily cheaper, like you might expect. Rather, we spent quite a bit more on food, as some of the foods we now eat are on the pricier side. And I was breastfeeding, so I was eating so much more. I swear, I ate twice as much while breastfeeding as I did while pregnant. Total carbo-load.

But it’s not about how much the foods cost, it’s about the mindset that you get when you eat them.

Mindset Matters

You are what you eat, and you are what you think. (I think, therefore I am!) Therefore, what you eat is how you think.

Eat the right things, and you can put yourself in the right mindset to earn, save, and invest well.

Eat the wrong things? Your money will flow away from you like useless, calorie-free water.

Introducing: The FIet

The FIet (short for the “Financial Independence Diet”) is not like other diets. First of all, there are no “don’t eats” on the FIet. The idea is not to cut anything out, but to eat so much of the good stuff that you don’t have any room for anything else. That way, you don’t have to remember the things you can’t have, just gorge yourself on the stuff you should have. Easy peasy lemon squeezie! (But lemon squeezies aren’t on the list, sorry.)

Also, the FIet has nothing to do with weight loss. In fact, there are a lot of carbs in it. (Again, this started when I was breastfeeding!) It’s up to you to manage which items you eat more or less of, with your own research and the help of your doctor.

(Reminder: always consult with your doctor before beginning any new diet, especially the FIet! Even if you have plenty of extra money for medical bills, it sucks to have to take money out of your Health Savings Account, so make sure you get your doctor’s sign-off, first.)

Finally, the foods I list here for the FIet are not an exhaustive list. My family has a lot of food allergies and intolerances, so there may be more caffeinated items, egg dishes, and nuts that would work for the FIet, I just haven’t tested a lot of those things. If you feel something is missing from your life, try adding it back in slowly to your FIet list, and see what results you get. Just don’t blame me if you go off book and end up with an empty wallet!

Foods Included in the FIet:

Beans and rice (obviously)

Civet coffee

Beef ragout with cheese soufflé

Chicken à la King

Alaskan king crab

Caesar salad

Roe

Lime green Jell-O

Shawarma

Chocolate Schnecken (German cinnamon buns)

Cup Noodles

Copious meat skewers, mushroom skewers, and fried wild greens

Portion bread (bonus: this is a microwave-in-a-mug recipe that cooks in less than a minute, so quick, easy, and cheap!)

Crab Napoleon

Chicken Paillard (well tenderized)

Cricket protein (Chirps Chips were my gateway, but their cookies are where it’s really at! I’ve tried to do a from-scratch version but I can’t get them as good as the mix from their site, yet.)

Strawberry mango shakes

Sweetrolls

Chicken drumsticks (after midnight)

Swenson’s ice cream. (Flavors I’ve had success with: Pralines & Cream, Mississippi Mud, Chocolate Eruption, Apple, Grape, and Super-Duper Chocolate Eruption.)

Poffins

Sweetum’s Sugar Splash (Child Size only)

Doublemeat Medley

Kälteen Bars

Mudder’s Milk

Cram & Dandy Boy Apples

Tummy Tingling Tuchanka Sauce from Fishdog Food Factory

Egg-a-Mooby Muffin

Cheesy Blasters (Thanks, Meat Cat!)

Anything eaten at Elevensies, but especially potatoes, tomatoes, sausages, and nice crispy bacon

Chocolate fondue

Stay Puft Marshmallows

Brawndo (it’s got electrolytes!)

How the FIet Changes Your Money Mindset

It may seem crazy to think that just eating the foods above changed my mindset so much that I was able to increase my savings by almost $40,000 in a year. But, it’s really not. So how does it work?

I don’t know.

Maybe it’s like The Secret, and it’s the abundance attitude eating these foods has given me. Maybe there’s just so much food science in this list, that I’m getting smarter via science osmosis. Or maybe, it’s just the right mix of fuel to keep a person going on .3 hours of sleep per night. (Sleep when the baby sleeps = great advice!)

All I know is, this is what I eat, and I’m on my way to being super duper rich… so there.

Photo credits: Mark DeYoung, itkannan4u, Amazon, Mean Girls, 30 Rock

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APRIL FOOLS! Now, time for the contest!

The person who comments on this post correctly identifying the source (reference) of the most foods from this list gets an Amazon gift card! $1 per correctly identified food reference, so that’s a $33 Amazon gift card to the first person who gets them all right!

If no one gets them all within one week (by noon ET, April 8th), the person with the most correct answers gets the gift card.

I will reply to comments with the score (# of correctly identified references) but I will NOT tell you which ones were right or wrong.

The only person not allowed to participate is my husband, who overheard half the answers while I was writing. You’re disqualified, sweetie.