What’s the most effective way to spend $150 to elevate one’s health?

Something that’s been on my mind all week

Hello! In last week’s post I shared that I didn’t feel I had anything to share or write about, mostly because I had such a full week of connecting with others that I didn’t have my usual reflective time to formulate and explore post topics. Well, I am happy to report that this week I got a ping of inspiration, which came from a conversation with a friend around Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. Locally, it costs $150 for a session in one of these chambers, which claims to support wound healing, recovery, “longevity” by having you breathe in 100% oxygen. On one hand, I thought, that sounds appealing…maybe that could be a fun treat for my body, like a massage or a facial. And then I did some digging around the research on these things and, shocker, it’s quite inconclusive whether they offer benefits to the average human. I always find products or services like this so fascinating, because it’s the perfect marketing pitch: they promote that they will increase longevity, and yet there is really no clear metric for what that looks like after a session. Even if a single session did increase one’s telomere length (a possible indicator for health span), the average person would have no way to measure that. The whole thing has got me thinking about how marketing around wellness has people spending thousands of dollars on things that make bold claims that are unmeasurable. And so then I thought…okay, if you had $150 to spend, what would have the greatest impact, both immediately and long term?

The first thing that came to my mind was a membership to somewhere like TurF — and while I may be biased, I think that the health benefits from being in community and finding a movement practice you enjoy and look forward to is immensely supportive for one’s health. However, in order for us to move with sustained energy, our bodies need to be properly nourished. Which brings me to food and supplementation. I have always been a proponent of a food-first approach when it comes to meeting your nutritional needs, and yet today’s world often requires the use of supplements. Take vitamin D for example, which most people are deficient in (and the older we get, the harder it is to produce), or omega 3s, another thing a lot of people lack in their diet, especially if they are plant based or don’t consume fish regularly. Fish consumption in general is tricky these days, as a lot of cheaper fish are very high in mercury and antibiotics (totally fine to consume here and there but the reality is we are ideally consuming fish a few times a week), and the good wild stuff is quite expensive. Then there’s iron and B12, which many folks are lacking in (especially women), but to supplement all of that would take you over $150. So I started thinking about what foods I would prioritize. I came up with a list, which would set you back around $, close to half of this imaginary “health spend”, which you’ll find if you keep reading. Beyond whole foods, I think protein powder is an essential for all to have on hand to get a very accessible dose of protein to help us reach our daily needs.

Ultimately, I think the foods and supplements below should be top priority. But as I mentioned, movement and community are incredibly important too. So if it’s not a studio membership, what might that look like?

I would suggest investing in a pair of medium and heavy dumbbells where you could move through the same basic, tried and true movements a few times a week to maintain muscle mass and support joint health and metabolism. Even just 10-15 minutes a few times a week can do the trick, especially if you already have a good base of muscle and strength. Ideally, we’re looking at weights that can be used to fatigue both upper body and lower body with a lower amount of reps, so maybe that’s a set of 15lbs and a set of 25 to 30lb — it depends on the person.

I would recommend going to some sort of group movement experience (doesn’t have to be fitness, it could be dance or drop-in sports) to get a ping of moving for joy and being in community. Writing this post really made me reflect on the privilege it is to be able to access group classes and fitness studio communities – especially when you consider that realistically, just two classes a month eats up HALF of this imaginary wellness spend. That’s wild, and I also think it’s warranted so that teachers can get compensated fairly. So it feels important to share other ways one might experience moving in community without having to pay $30+ for a class. Cue run clubs, ocean swim groups, and energy exchange programs offered at many studios, where you can work a shift or two in exchange for free classes. I used to do this in Toronto and it led to me becoming a marketing lead for a studio and taking their training for free which had a profound impact on my teaching trajectory, so definitely reach out to your favourite studios and pitch this idea of working in exchange for classes if the community is meaningful for you.

I wondered if something like running shoes should be prioritized here, because they enable us to run, hike, play rec sports or go for longer distance walks. I think for some, this can be a very worthwhile investment. However, I would still put nutritious foods and movement in community/lifting weights first, because walking, one of the best and free forms of movement, doesn’t require running shoes. Plus, running shoes these days are $170+!!! Again, writing this has made me so aware of the barriers to entry for something as simple as running, which is often coined as “free fitness”. Truthfully, I’m not sure what the solve here is as buying running shoes second hand isn’t necessarily an option as they have wear that can impact their support. I know that you can buy shoes on sale for $75, but that still eats up half of our $150! So I guess I would say that nutrition is paramount, but running shoes, aka the gateway to being able to do activities to support cardiovascular health, might be a close second as you can run, hike and walk with peers and get that hit of community connection. In the same breath, not all of us want to run with people (I love solo runs as they feel very meditative), so I think how we invest in movement – whether it’s running shoes or attending group classes – is ultimately a personal decision based on what is going to give you the most fulfillment. Here is where I think dance is so underrated and there is so much opportunity to create more space for community dance outside of the classically structured “dance class” (which can be super intimidating!). Dancing (think moving intuitively to music) for 3,10, 60 minutes barefoot is an INCREDIBLE health tool that supports our emotional and physical health. One day, I will hold space for free movement dance classes where I’m providing the space and the music and everything else is self-guided or cultivated within the container between movers. If you have ideas on how I can make this happen, please let me know!!! This post has gotten me extra motivated to create this offering.

So, if we’re investing in nutrient dense foods, opting for select supplements, we’re moving our bodies regularly whether that’s walking, picking up dumbbells, taking group classes or joining a run club weekly, where does that leave us? I think that sleep is something that requires quite a lot of investment, but not necessarily financially. For sleep, it’s more about time management and setting up the sleep conditions that are optimal for deep, high quality sleep: darkness (which can be solved with an eye mask), tech filters to remove blue light (free), getting to bed before 10pm so that you are asleep 10pm-2am (the crucial time for deep, reparative sleep), eating dinner earlier on so you’re not going to bed on a full stomach, perhaps some grounding breathing or reading to signal rest and the ending of your day, and a cool room temperature (obviously installing AC is going to cost more than $150, so this might be achieved with an open window or strategically placed fan). These conditions will, in my opinion, be more impactful than taking any sort of sleep supplement blend. While wearables that track sleep can be really helpful, they can also cause more anxiety for some, so I consider REM tracking etc. as nice to haves but not necessary.

Finally, I think a Spotify membership is a worthwhile investment when it comes to your health and well-being, and here is why: music can have a profound impact on our mood, our ability to process emotions, to connect with others, and to move our bodies. It is a portal to feel. For myself, music plays a massive role in my mental health toolkit. I love nothing more than putting on a song and crying to process whatever might be going on in my brain and create a container to release. Spotify also provides access to podcasts and audiobooks, both of which can play a very important role in our mental health journey, not to mention fiction can be a wonderful mental escape and tool for joy. While I love the idea of buying lots of books, having a physical copy and supporting authors, it is really wonderful that we can access so much information via podcast interviews and now audiobooks. If things like therapy or a nutritionist are not within your financial means, there are many resources that can provide supportive tools on here that can impact your mental health status.

Before writing about this, I decided to ask ChatGPT what it thought might be the best way to spend $150 – us writers need to do that these days to consider if what we’re sharing provides value beyond what is offered by AI (I wish I was kidding!) While we had some things in common – vitamin D, omega 3, nutritious foods, equipment for movement (except it recommended resistance bands and a yoga mat, while I think weights are superior), I found we had enough differences in our perspectives to warrant this post. One thing it put at the top of its list that us Canadians don’t have to pay for is routine bloodwork, and so even though this doesn’t eat into our imaginary $150 budget, it is a VERY GOOD IDEA to get bloodwork twice a year; it’s probably the most preventative, free tool we have at our disposal. If you’re interested in longevity, this is going to be way more valuable than a session in a fancy chamber.

Now that I’ve revealed my thought process around all of this, here is my list of how I would spend $150 to have the most impact on one’s health and well-being. Note that the total is greater than $150, because I actually don’t think it’s possible in today’s economy to achieve optimal health with $150 (sad). I just went with that number because that was the cost of a hyperbaric session. But I have listed things in order of impact and priority.

• Stock your fridge with: bagged spinach, canned beans (black beans, chickpeas), tofu, frozen berries, frozen broccoli, avocado, nutritional yeast, oats, brown rice, Greek yogurt, bananas, lentils, onion, mushrooms of all varieties, fortified plant milk (a great way to get important vitamins and minerals), olive oil, canned sardines and dark chocolate (~$75)

• Get your bloodwork done (free!)

• Daily sunrise exposure (free!)

• Vitamin D3 supplement ($20)

• Protein powder ($40-60)

• Dumbbells ($15-45)

• Dancing, aka moving to music, both solo or in community (free!!!)

• Running shoes or group classes ($30-$170)

• Omega 3 supplement ($50-70 – note many include vitamin D, so that may mean you could skip the D3 supplement and save yourself $20!)

• Spotify subscription ($12)

While I totally appreciate facials are lovely and things like Athletic Greens seem appealing and an “anti-bloat” supplement or “skin clearing” blend of some sort sounds like it’s worth $100+…it’s incomparable to the effects of the above investments. Which, as always, are kinda boring, kinda uninspiring, and don’t give us that same ping of dopamine we get from signing up for a novel treatment or getting a pretty package in the mail. C’est la vie!

I know that a lot of folks reading this have the means to spend more than $150 on their health, but I think it’s a really interesting exercise nonetheless to a) get clear on how we can spend our dollars the most effectively and b) reveal just how fortunate many of us are to get to access so many tools that truly move the needle on our physical and mental health. It’s been a nice reminder for me that I am surrounded by the 1% when it comes to accessibility to wellness information and tools, and there is a massive percentage of the population that are not privy to this information or financial resources. And another thing to think about is even if you can afford regular sessions in a hyperbaric chamber, a pricey de-bloat supplement, acupuncture facials, a sauna blanket, mushroom tinctures, and all the products so strategically marketed to us via podcasts, instagram etc., it doesn’t mean you should! It’s going to be more effective to invest in the simple, mundane and often more cost-effective strategies listed above, and then if you’ve got that foundation, then by all means go and splurge on the other stuff if that fills your cup.

I’ve made this post free in hopes that you might share it with others, whether they have the financial means or not, to help spread this info beyond my lil substack subscriber base.

Thank you for reading and I hope you found this topic as thought provoking as I did!

xoxo T