HOLMES: OK. We know you can improve your health by eating right, but it can cost you a fortune to buy some of the right foods, the good food, but it doesn't necessarily have to. In our "Fit Nation" report, CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta gets some tips from a world famous French chef on eating healthy and saving money.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the economy in a slump, families are struggling to make ends meet, but you don't have to sacrifice good nutrition. Where better to look for tips on healthy living on the cheap than a five-star French chef?</s>GUPTA: World-renowned Chef Eric Ripert says it is about doing what's good for you.</s>RIPERT: You can, for instance, buy a chicken which is very inexpensive. Instead of buying the chicken already cut or cooked, you buy it whole and therefore you save a lot of money. If you want something healthy and something inexpensive, you have to think seasonally. If you want to eat tomatoes in January, it's very expensive. Now if in January you eat root vegetables, if you make a soup with a squash, it's going to be very inexpensive.</s>GUPTA: So how does this French chef extraordinaire stay healthy himself surrounded by top notch cuisine all day long?</s>RIPERT: First, before I leave the house, I have a little bit of dark chocolate of very good quality. I leave my house around 10:00 and I walk through the streets of New York. It takes about 40 to 45 minutes. I think it keeps me in a certain good health and in shape.</s>GUPTA: The bottom line, says Ripert --</s>RIPERT: I'm a strong believer that you can do a lot of things in terms of eating, which is you can eat burger, you can eat chocolate, you can have a little desert here and there, but again, it has to be in a quantity that is controlled and you have to compensate with some exercise.</s>GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
Eat Healthy and Save Money