Monday, August 24, 2009

Cheap Junk Food Sabotages Efforts for Healthy Eating

This week's Time headlines announce how difficult it is to eat healthy on a dollar. The article explains (falsely) that for $1 you can buy just 175 calories of fruit, 250 calories of vegetables, 875 calories of soda, and 1200 calories of potato chips. I can't buy ANY of this for a dollar.

A bag of chips, which provides about 1200 calories, usually costs over $3 at any store I've ever shopped in. A 20-oz bottle of soda has about 220 calories but I've never seen one for less than a dollar--so 4 times this much would cost $4 (about what a cup of fruit or 2 cups of vegetables would cost).

Whoever wrote this needs to recalculate the calories purchased for their dollar.
And, by the way, instead of a bottle of soda, what would be wrong with eating a peach or an apple? Instead of a bag of chips providing little nutrition, wouldn't 2 cups of raw vegetables be quite a bit more filling, if not just more nutritious (even if one was only interested in feeling full?)

No, I think the point is that people would rather spend their money on chips, sodas, and candy bars (along with tatoos and ring tones for their phone) than to spend it on some chicken they have to cook, some rice they have to boil, a package of frozen vegetables for some vitamins, and some medication to control their blood pressure that they don't feel like they should have to pay for.

Where do you weigh in on this? Would you rather spend your money on things that contribute to your health, or something providing a fix for an immediate gratification?

1 comment:

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