People diet for many different reasons. It could be that they have an illness such as diabetes that would require a special diet. It could also be that in order to be healthy, some weight loss could be in order. Whatever the reason for the needed diet, we all would love to do it without spending a huge amount of money.
The Internet is good at helping us to save money. We used to have to buy books (and other information sources) in order to learn about dieting and cooking healthy food. Now we can now hit up the ol' Internet and find stuff for free! We can also find free online diets and diet tips to keep our costs low.
You will find four different categories of links in this article that should get you well on your way to dieting on a budget: nutritional guides, recipe sites, counters and calculators, and journaling.
Nutritional Guides
In order to begin eating healthy, you'll need to figure out what foods are good and what foods are bad. Some of these guides will help you see what is in some restaurant foods while others will offer some overall good nutritional information on many different foods.
- Fatburgr (MakeUseOf Directory mention) - find out what is in that fast food restaurant food with this site.
- FitBuff.com's Fast Food Calorie Counter: Nutrition Facts and Statistics - This is another fast food nutrition guide and calorie counter.
- DietFacts.com - This site offers nutrition facts about many different restaurant establishments.
Recipe Sites
Cooking at home can be a great way to control your diet. This way you don't have all of that junk that restaurants put into their food. True, you could hit up one of those bookstores and find some good healthy recipe books but isn't it easier to find recipes for free online? There are sites that will help you avoid eating out, sites that will help you cook on a budget, and sites containing healthy recipes. Any of these sites will help you eat healthier and keep your costs low.
- [NO LONGER WORKS] notakeout.com - By offering simple recipes and simple instructions, this site will help you avoid eating out so much.
- Budget Bytes (MakeUseOf Directory mention) - This is a cool site containing low cost recipes and includes the cost per recipe and serving.
- Healthy Eating via the Food Network - This site contains some top notch healthy recipes from the Food Network website.
Counters & Calculators
While on your journey to dieting, you'll want to make use of some tools that will help you "see the numbers." Use some of these tools in order to find your target weight, count calories, and even map an exercise route.
- CaloriesPerHour - calculate your calorie intake goal (how many calories should you be taking in)
- Halls.md Ideal Body Weight Calculator (MakeUseOf Directory mention) - This site will help you find what your healthy weight goal should be.
- Gmaps Pedometer - Map a route and find out the distance and the probable amount of calories that will be burned with this Google Maps tool.
Journaling
What better way to keep an eye on how you're doing and to get back on track than to keep a journal? This list of links will give you instructions on how to keep a journal and one even has a free online journaling tool for you to make use of.
- How to Maintain a Diet Journal for Life - This is a great how-to article about how to keep a diet journal. (via wikiHow)
- Keeping a Diet Journal - This is an article outlining 2 types of diet journals and why they are used. (via 7habitsofweightloss)
- FitDay (MakeUseOf Directory mention) - This is a free online diet and weight loss journaling tool.
Sure, you can go out and buy books, pay money for those diet tips and plans, and even spend money on tools to help you diet. The purpose of this list of resources is to help you get it done on a budget. The tools here are free and many of the recipes are inexpensive to make (avoiding restaurants alone will help your diet and your pocketbook).
What tools and sites can you suggest to help someone dieting on a budget?