How to achieve 'financial wellness'

Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street

One of my favourite TikTok wellness trends of this year has been Gen Z’s newfound obsession with cottage cheese. I love this trend because I was a child of the ‘90s, when cottage cheese was considered a hopelessly tragic relic of the ‘70s, along with prawn cocktails, power cuts and woodchip wallpaper. It has been reappraised in light of the health benefits - it’s high in protein, packed with selenium, phosphorus, calcium and vitamin B12 - and is fermented so provides gut-loving probiotics.

@foodswelovetoeatWe all see cottage cheese having a moment and i am here for it! I used to think it was gross but as soon as i started treating it like ricotta/Burrata, a whole new world opened up! So here are 3 totally delicious ways to get yourself hooked! Also, this is not sponsored by any brand but i do have to say that my fav flavor/texture/consistency is currently @good_culture cottage cheese! It’s honestly so good and it’s packed full of protein which im loving right now! Got a flavor combo you’re digging? Drop it in the comments to share! ⭐️Cottage Cheese Toast Flavor Combos⭐️ 1️⃣ @aldiusa Protein bread, cottage cheese, @kansascitycanningco crispy chili oil, honey & flaky salt 2️⃣ Olive oil griddled sourdough rubbed with fresh garlic, cottage cheese, tomato bruschetta & balsamic glaze 3️⃣ Toasted sourdough, cottage cheese, @dalmatia_spreads fig jam, honey, toasted pistachios & flaky salt #cottagecheese #cottagecheesetoast #cottagecheeserecipes #highprotein #cheese #cheeselover #toast #cheesetoast #easybreakfast

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But probably my favourite thing about cottage cheese is how cheap it is - gram for gram it’s about half the price of cheddar. When I was a student, my go-to meal was cottage cheese on a jacket potato, for which I was endlessly mocked by my housemates. So the TikTokification of cottage cheese feels like vindication for me.

@laurensbalancedbites#cottagecheese has been trending and im here for it. It has a lot of protein so thats why people are loving on it, but it tastes pretty dangggg good & thats why i love it!

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I love it when a health trend is properly cheap. One of the criticisms of the wellness world is that it’s prohibitively expensive, and out of reach for most people. And in many cases that’s true. It’s certainly more expensive to buy organic vegetables for a homemade meal than it is to buy two frozen pizzas for the price of one. It’s also less convenient, which is important when time is as precious a commodity as money.

Being stressed about money impacts every area of your life, from your relationships to your decision-making ability, which is why financial wellness is as important as nutrition, sleep, exercise and all the other stuff that I usually bang on about. But what’s the answer when we’re in a cost of living crisis, and so much is out of our control?

Unfortunately, like much of the health advice online, the concept of ‘financial wellness’ has been co-opted by brands with something to sell. See Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness talking about it while being the face of a credit card. (‘Don’t buy things on credit’ is not one of his financial wellness tips.)

For really good, measured advice on the emotional impact of money (or lack thereof), I follow Clare Seal on Instagram (@myfrugalyear). She started the account to chart her journey through paying off £27,000 of debt in two years, and has now trained as a financial wellbeing coach, helping people repair their relationship with money.

Clare Seal

Clare Seal on Instagram: “The other day, I shared with you a bit about the financial anxiety I’ve been experiencing lately, and you said it would be helpful if I put something together about coping mechanisms for money worries. It’s not easy, because not being able to afford the essentials, having direct debits bouncing and trying to juggle small amounts of money from one account to another to make ends meet is genuinely one of the most stressful experiences that there is, and it’s not unreasonable to be anxious about that. Some financial anxiety stems from a place of genuine financial difficulty and insecurity, whereas other anxious feelings might be fuelled by ‘what ifs’ and worst-case scenario thinking. Figuring out which yours is (sometimes, it’s a bit of both) is crucial to how best to deal with it. For me, the anxiety stems from not knowing how well I’ll manage to work and earn once the new baby arrives, from a lot of genuine lost income so far this year, and from the insecurity of working for myself. My husband has just been through a redundancy (thankfully he found something better, very quickly), which reminded me how precarious things can be, even when you think you’re safely employed. Number eight in the list is my go-to coping mechanism, because it helps me to soothe the specific anxieties that I have. Please, take what you need for whatever’s going on for you right now, and save or share if you think it might help you or somebody else.”

April 21, 2023

As well as taking Clare’s advice on improving your financial wellbeing, I’d like anyone who feels that they can’t afford to be healthy to reassess what ‘being healthy’ actually is. It isn’t (or doesn’t have to be) goji berries and expensive treatments.

Here are five ways to be healthier for free:

1. Drink water, lots of it.

2. Move your body a bit every day - whether that’s going for a run, doing body weight exercises like press-ups or lunges around your living room, or a free yoga class on YouTube. Exercise need not cost a gym membership.

3. Go to bed earlier. Sleep is one of the best things that you can do for your body.

4. Meet a friend for a walk. This is the wellness trifecta: social connection, exercise and being outside. Gold star for you.

5. Healthy eating doesn’t need to be expensive. Jamie Oliver’s giant veg rosti is super nutritious, and it’s mostly potatoes and carrots so extremely cheap. Maybe go crazy and stick some cottage cheese on top.

This week I’m…

Excited about reliving my ‘90s teenage dream with Blur at Wembley this weekend, and almost definitely buying some merch.

Fascinated by the trailer for Wham! on Netflix, which makes me feel very sad about poor old George Michael.

Reading Caitlin Moran’s much-discussed new book, What About Men?, to form my own view.

Trying to decide if beige-fluencers are a depressing symptom of society’s lack of imagination, or if it’s just rather lovely that young people aspire to nice pyjamas and cooking dinner at home.