Healthy Eating

In these days of bank closures, foreclosures and greater than 10% unemployed, it is not easy to buy foods that are healthy for us. While eating healthier can cost more eating right will help keep us healthy. It takes a little knowledge, time, and planning, but it is possible to enjoy healthy food on any budget. Overall, the more you focus on purchasing local, unprocessed food and preparing meals at home, the healthier it is and the more money you will save. Foods that are listed as organic or have some healthy additive are usually priced two or more times higher than the same non-healthy items.University of Washington researchers found when they compared the prices of 370 foods sold at supermarkets in the Seattle area.

Calorie for calorie, junk foods not only cost less than fruits and vegetables, but junk food prices also are less likely to rise as a result of inflation. The findings, reported in the May 25, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, may help explain why the highest rates of obesity are seen among people in lower-income groups.The paranoid in me wants to say that is the conspiracy – large quantities of cheap unhealthy food that debilitate us and make us sick so we can have expensive procedures in hospitals and buy massive amounts of drugs that don’t make us any better and sometimes sicker. There are many ways you can eat healthy and still not spend a lot of extra money.

The Internet is a great place to do the necessary research for this. There are plenty of blogs out there offering information and ideas to help you, Dr. Weil, Jorge Cruz and Cary Ellis are just a few of the many.Researchers have also addressed the question of how households and individuals could make healthier food choices without spending more on food. In a one-year family-based treatment of children at risk of obesity, researchers found that as the household shifted to healthier options, the household actually spent less on food (Raynor et al. , 2002).

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates the cost of food at home at four expenditure levels, assuming that individuals meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Carlson et al. 2007a, Carlson et al. , 2007b) and finds that consumers can eat a healthy diet for the same as they are presently spending or less. When considering the cost of food, Americans need to learn that the serving size of fruits, vegetables, and grains compared to that of processed foods, may actually mean that the healthier foods are less expensive (Reed & Frazao). As previously indicated, the costs of not eating a healthy diet are far greater than the supermarket bill can be.

It is estimated that the costs of poor nutrition and diet, as measured by the medical costs associated with treating obesity, heart disease, Type II diabetes and associated illnesses consume approximately 9% of all medical care expenditures or $93 billion per year (Herper). Obesity is the primary health risk for all Americans today (Willingham). However, obesity is not the only health care risk people with poor diets face. Type II diabetes is the most common form of diabetes and it is the only form of diabetes directly caused by poor diet and obesity (Katz).Heart disease is a common problem caused by poor diet (Hitti). But a poor diet also leads to lack of educational attainment for children, blindness due to vitamin deficiency, and asthma (Chatterjee; Gonzalez).

There are far more illnesses, disorders, and health consequences caused by poor diet then there are reasons why people have poor diets. Eat Well, Be Well - Eating the required five servings a day of fruits and vegetables and cutting down on saturated fat and sugar is proven to help your health. Can you imagine the vicious cycle created for the American poor?One of the endemic plagues of poverty, poor nutrition, has been further compounded by the fact that the less money you have, the less able you’ll be to buy any truly nutritious foods. Dr.

Adam Drewnowski, director of the center for public health nutrition at the University of Washington, reveals the very real daily challenge those on a tight budget face: “If you have $3 to feed yourself, your choices gravitate toward foods which give you the most calories per dollar,’’ not only are the empty calories cheaper, but the healthy foods are becoming more and more expensive.Vegetables and fruits are rapidly becoming luxury goods. ” (Dr. Drewnowski). Older people are most likely to improve their eating habits, but nutrition is important for people of all ages, says Walter Willet, M. D.

, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health. “We know that when people have health problems or their friends become ill, these are strong motivators of change, the more serious the health condition, the more serious the change. We’d rather have people make changes early and prevent health problems in the first place. ” (Willet).You don't necessarily have to eat "all natural" foods to be eating correctly it’s all geared toward a certain demographic that is willing to pay the price to feel good about themselves. Basically, I believe, if everyone were to stop eating fast food one, two, three or more times a day and ate real meals with vegetables and fruits and meats and cheese and breads.

.. we would be fine! Eating healthy is manageable on every budget. You don’t need a personal chef or have to be a gourmet cook.

By planning ahead, shopping for sales and using store coupons you can add a good deal of nutritious foods that won’t devour your food budget.