Why aren't healthier foods priced lower than junk foods?
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When I am living in India, I buy a whole weeks worth of fresh fruits and vegetables for 11 dollars.
The same amount of food in Charlotte NC costs me 50. I stood at the cash register and almost cried. Needless to say, my trip back to India at the end of the month can not come fast enough for me. Not to mention, fresh young coconuts are a quarter.0 -
Echoing what many others have said, I live in the US and at Walmart and other large grocery stores, vegetables are more expensive than a burger at McDonald's, but I can go to a farmer's market and get tons of vegetables for $5. Farmer's markets are the way to go.0
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I don't think you really understand the price structure. Eating fresh food is way cheaper.
Really?
Then how come when I go to the grocery store and perimeter shop and buy fresh foods my bill is $100-$150/week? If I were to go up and down the aisles and buy the stuff that's always on sale I guarantee my bill would be less.0 -
I don't think the cost of healthier foods explains the widespread obesity problem. A lot of it is laziness - having frozen heat 'n eat meal or going to a restaurant instead of cooking. My husband and I are definitely saving loads of money because now we only eat out for dinner once a week instead of 2-3 times and we are packing our lunch for work much more often than we have in the past.0
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i guess i can be happy to live in a place where gmo food isnt allowed to be old, and where fast food costs more than a normal lunch at a restaurant
Just where in the world is this Utopia?
Europe?
It is perfectly possible in most of France (if I remember, its been a while) to get a decent, home cooked meal for less than McDonalds or Quick (the burger chains seem to be pretty expensive there, maybe because novelty value).0 -
Read "Your Food is Fooling You." It's written by a former head of the FDA. It was a HUGE eye-opener for me.
Yes, food is an addiction. Particularly foods high in sugar, fat & salt. These chemicals light up the reward center in our brain, making us want more and more.
In the early '90's, a study was done where children aged 3-7 were given a high-calorie snack in the mid-afternoon. 80% of the children ate less at dinner in order to auto-regulate their calorie intake for the day.
In 2008, the same study was conducted and only 20% of the children ate less, and ALL of them over-ate for the day. It is genetic, it is evolving, and unless you re-train your body, it WILL get worse.
The food companies know this and profit off of it.
The ability to make chemicals taste like food (i.e. strawberry syrup, cheese doritos, etc) has become a multi-billion dollar industry.
The reason for this being it is in fact CHEAPER for the companies to make "junk food' than it is for them to make healthier food.
Grocery stores don't dictate bulk prices of food: the individual food companies who sell it to them do. The store's price is based on the bulk price.
That is why.0 -
News organizations are an entertainment industry and don't make money based on how true or accurate their stories are, but how entertaining they are.I think you will find food is now acknowledged as an addiction. Watch the news this morning, plus it's not just sugar, it's far more than that
Food is not an addiction, it is something that is required to sustain life. The problem is that many people never learn the simple life skill of moderating their intake and many also mistakenly believe that hunger and exertion are things that should never be experienced.0 -
Wonder what the wholesale price of tinfoil hats is and whether one can really make a profit from them in the retail market
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Food is not an addiction, it is something that is required to sustain life. The problem is that many people never learn the simple life skill of moderating their intake and many also mistakenly believe that hunger and exertion are things that should never be experienced.
I think this is closer to the mark - an awful lot of jobs are sedentary now and for those who have not discovered logging foods, it is very easy to overeat because they dont move about much.0 -
Note that for those not in the UK, one of todays biggest stories is some nannying fussbuckets demanding additional controls on woods, given reporting that levels of obesity in the UK are increasing faster than previously anticipated.
As ever the solutions are all about state micromanagement of the life of the individual, rather than improving information about the issues and solutions. It's all about fat and sugar content.
All that said, one of the journos last night did capture it as "is't is about moving more and eating less" but nobody followed up on it.0 -
News organizations are an entertainment industry and don't make money based on how true or accurate their stories are, but how entertaining they are.I think you will find food is now acknowledged as an addiction. Watch the news this morning, plus it's not just sugar, it's far more than that
Food is not an addiction, it is something that is required to sustain life. The problem is that many people never learn the simple life skill of moderating their intake and many also mistakenly believe that hunger and exertion are things that should never be experienced.
SIGH....this is the kind of stuff that kills people. If you are not an addict or understand addiction, offering the opinion that people never learned to moderate is incredibly irresponsible. Please refrain from such garbage in the future.
The idea that a person can be addicted to food has recently gotten more support from science.
Experiments in animals and humans show that, for some people, the same reward and pleasure centers of the brain that are triggered by addictive drugs like cocaine and heroin are also activated by food, especially highly palatable foods. Highly palatable foods are foods rich in:
Sugar
Fat
Salt
Like addictive drugs, highly palatable foods trigger feel-good brain chemicals such as dopamine. Once people experience pleasure associated with increased dopamine transmission in the brain's reward pathway from eating certain foods, they quickly feel the need to eat again.
The reward signals from highly palatable foods may override other signals of fullness and satisfaction. As a result, people keep eating, even when they're not hungry.
People who show signs of food addiction may also develop a tolerance to food. They eat more and more, only to find that food satisfies them less and less.
Scientists believe that food addiction may play an important role in obesity. But normal-weight people may also struggle with food addiction. Their bodies may simply be genetically programmed to better handle the extra calories they take in. Or they may increase their physical activity to compensate for overeating.
People who are addicted to food will continue to eat despite negative consequences, such as weight gain or damaged relationships. And like people who are addicted to drugs or gambling, people who are addicted to food will have trouble stopping their behavior, even if they want to or have tried many times to cut back.
Signs of Food Addiction
Researchers at Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Science & Policy have developed a questionnaire to identify people with food addictions.
Here's a sample of questions that can help determine if you have a food addiction. Do these actions apply to you? Do you:
End up eating more than planned when you start eating certain foods
Keep eating certain foods even if you're no longer hungry
Eat to the point of feeling ill
Worry about not eating certain types of foods or worry about cutting down on certain types of foods
When certain foods aren't available, go out of your way to obtain them
The questionnaire also asks about the impact of your relationship with food on your personal life. Do these situations apply to you:
You eat certain foods so often or in such large amounts that you start eating food instead of working, spending time with the family, or doing recreational activities.
You avoid professional or social situations where certain foods are available because of fear of overeating.
You have problems functioning effectively at your job or school because of food and eating.
The questionnaire asks about withdrawal symptoms. For example, when you cut down on certain foods (excluding caffeinated beverages), do you have symptoms such as:
Anxiety
Agitation
Other physical symptoms
The questionnaire also tries to gauge the impact of food decisions on your emotions. Do these situations apply to you?
Eating food causes problems such as depression, anxiety, self-loathing, or guilt.
You need to eat more and more food to reduce negative emotions or increase pleasure.
Eating the same amount of food doesn't reduce negative emotions or increase pleasure the way it used to.0 -
Have you noticed that most buy one get one free and special offers are on junk food and high in fats and sugar?
Not always though. This week my grocery store is having a sale on frozen shrimp-- buy two bags and get three free! They also had buy one get one free on frozen vegetables, peanuts, blueberries, and canned tomatoes. Plus lots of fresh vegetables and fruits and fish on sale. I saved $116 on groceries yesterday and didn't buy any junk food.
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Food is cheap in the US. For those traveling from Europe (or especially Scandinavia), it's incredible how much cheaper it is - yes, regular groceries too, not just junk food.
Sure the salaries are lower in the US but at the end of the day, Americans spend a much smaller percentage of their income on food than other countries. They are also less willing to spend time cooking and eating their food. There is a strong correlation between eating habits and obesity - eating in front of the telly causes people to not enjoy their food and eat faster.
Americans spend about half the time eating on a regular day than French people do. And the obesity rate is wayy higher.
If you're used to food being a marginal cost out of your total budget, then proper meals will feel expensive. Food is a real cost for me, but I do prioritize it.0 -
because doctors wouldn't be able to prescribe all those lovely medication people need from getting sick from eating junk food. Diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, stress all stem from an unhealthy diet (yes some is hereditary but I am speaking of those who have these from being overweight). if we could easily buy a bag of almonds for the same price as a bag of oreos, doctors would lose money. But instead you can get oreos 2/5$ but almonds are almost 6 $ a pound. At least this is my opinion.0
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Is this 'opinion' based on fact or guess work?At least this is my opinion.
Why are almonds specifically healthy and oreos not if both are incorporated in to a diet that meets a specific person's requirements?0 -
Is this 'opinion' based on fact or guess work?At least this is my opinion.
Why are almonds specifically healthy and oreos not if both are incorporated in to a diet that meets a specific person's requirements?
opinion don't have to be based on anything which is why they are opinions. I am entitle to mine and you are entitled to yours. Stop trolling.0 -
Healthier foods are almost invariably less expensive than "junk food" (unless you've bought into the hype surrounding "organic" products). Buy basic ingredients and cook from scratch, it's not rocket science. (I can feed my family a nutritious home made meal for less than a trip to the golden arches.....)
I do, however, agree with the OP's premise that ultimately we must take individual responsibility for our own health - inasmuch as there are certain factors we can control (what we eat, regular exercise, avoiding tobacco etc). I'm not sure what she means in respect to governments not "helping", I can see government departments of health being involved in educational programs (which they are to some extent in Canada at least) but beyond that would require even more government regulation and even more of a move towards the nanny state.0 -
Food is not an addiction, its abusively over eating that is an addictive and self destructive behavior. It is not the responsibility of the government nor grocery stores to fix this for you or anyone of us. We all have to take responsibility for ourselves and every single thing we put in our mouths. To face this is often the first step to making it right.
No one forces anyone to buy crappy foods. There are plenty of low cost fruits and veggies available. In my area the following are far cheaper than chips and soda: radishes, lettuce, cabbage, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rutabagas, celery, large unpeeled carrots, string beans, mushrooms, oranges, apples, lemons, limes, there are many more. Lean meats expensive? Buy dried beans - extremely cheap and better for you. You don't have to just buy the high end organic berries and such that are so much more expensive. Often we who are overweight have to evolve our tastes - so you don't LIKE a vegetable? Eat it until you like it, or find a creative way to cook it so you like it that doesn't add calories. Overweight people tend also to be picky eaters - get over it. I realized this years ago and started to train myself to like healthy foods - I would pick one food I didn't like, then EAT IT until I learned to like it. With this method I've nearly completely replaced meats with seafood in my diet, starches with healthy vegetables, etc.
Do you have a yard? Even a very small one? A balcony? A sunny window? GROW HEALTHY FOOD! You can grow many simple herbs in a sunny window. I have a very small inner city yard and grow lots of organic vegetables in pots including tomatoes, carrots, green beans, even potatoes. There are books for under a dollar on amazon to teach you all you need to know to do this cheap and simple.
There is NO EXCUSE so stop making them for yourself. Only YOU can fix the problem of obesity. Sitting around waiting for the government or grocery stores to fix this for you will keep you a victim and obese your whole life.0 -
Is this 'opinion' based on fact or guess work?At least this is my opinion.
o·pin·ion
əˈpinyən/
noun
noun: opinion; plural noun: opinions
1.a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
Hence the reason it is called an opinion.0 -
Calling it garbage doesn't make it false. And you have no clue what I do or don't understand about addiction.
News organizations are an entertainment industry and don't make money based on how true or accurate their stories are, but how entertaining they are.I think you will find food is now acknowledged as an addiction. Watch the news this morning, plus it's not just sugar, it's far more than that
Food is not an addiction, it is something that is required to sustain life. The problem is that many people never learn the simple life skill of moderating their intake and many also mistakenly believe that hunger and exertion are things that should never be experienced.
SIGH....this is the kind of stuff that kills people. If you are not an addict or understand addiction, offering the opinion that people never learned to moderate is incredibly irresponsible. Please refrain from such garbage in the future.Here's a sample of questions that can help determine if you have a food addiction. Do these actions apply to you? Do you:
YES End up eating more than planned when you start eating certain foods
YES Keep eating certain foods even if you're no longer hungry
YES Eat to the point of feeling ill
YES Worry about not eating certain types of foods or worry about cutting down on certain types of foods
YES When certain foods aren't available, go out of your way to obtain them
The questionnaire asks about withdrawal symptoms. For example, when you cut down on certain foods (excluding caffeinated beverages), do you have symptoms such as:
YES Anxiety
YES Agitation
YES Other physical symptoms
And yet, astoundingly, I can magically overcome this "addiction" by simply counting calories.
Those are problems some people have with life whether or not they are addicted to things..The questionnaire also tries to gauge the impact of food decisions on your emotions. Do these situations apply to you?
Eating food causes problems such as depression, anxiety, self-loathing, or guilt.
You need to eat more and more food to reduce negative emotions or increase pleasure.
Eating the same amount of food doesn't reduce negative emotions or increase pleasure the way it used to.0 -
You're getting more nutrient-dense foods for your money. They can sell "junk" foods 2 for 1 because they cost less to make.
In the long run, healthier foods will cost you less over your lifetime.0 -
In to learn what food addiction is.
Also, fresh produce is as expensive or moreso here since it has to be shipped over via ferry.0 -
because doctors wouldn't be able to prescribe all those lovely medication people need from getting sick from eating junk food. Diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, stress all stem from an unhealthy diet (yes some is hereditary but I am speaking of those who have these from being overweight). if we could easily buy a bag of almonds for the same price as a bag of oreos, doctors would lose money. But instead you can get oreos 2/5$ but almonds are almost 6 $ a pound. At least this is my opinion.
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Have you noticed that most buy one get one free and special offers are on junk food and high in fats and sugar? We have an obesity problem in this country and the supermarkets and government are not helping the situation. Food is an addiction just like smoking and drinking, yet the amount of help available is nil in comparison. I've just started getting together with other people who need to lose weight. If the government are not going to support us then people need to get into small self help groups and support each other. I'm not prepared to pay the high prices of weight watchers and slimming world just to weigh in and talk about food when we can do that for nothing. Get like minded people together near you. I only mentioned it last Monday in our area and we have 9 already signed up to meet weekly and we have a FaceBook page called Ibs for £'s. Some of us are raising money for charities by getting sponsors too to give more incentive to slimming. Start a support group near you and write letters to the supermarkets and government asking for them to help the obesity issues that are draining the NHS in the country. Together we can make a difference.
Absolute nonsense and an excuse for eating crap.
The government need to help you lose weight? You put the weight on all by yourself, the government didn't force you, so lose it yourself.
Wow I cannot belive what you have written, if you truly believe this I feel sorry for you.
SMH
ETA: there is no food addiction but there is gluttony0 -
Those are problems some people have with life whether or not they are addicted to things..
In all fairness, living is very addicting...
Jokes aside, as someone who lost over 100lbs and has about 20 left to go, I can say - with certainty - that for me food was never an addiction.
In my opinion it is not an addiction. It's a mechanism of habitual self-destruction... an "eff-it" attitude, if you will.
Personally, my logic was, "why shouldn't I eat this whole pizza? why shouldn't I sit around all day and watch things I enjoy? I'm already fat..."
I can see that with hindsight... and I still struggle with the occasional "eff-it" moments, because now I feel I can get away with it. And if I allowed that habit to once again take form, I would gain all the weight back.0 -
Because of THE MAN! LOL0
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What choices do you lack?
I don't lack any, but that's because I cook from scratch. However, if I wanted ten years ago to pick up a BBQ sauce made with cane sugars and no corn syrup, I could do so easily. We have since spent millions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing corn, corn syrup, and HFCS so that of the 47 brands I checked in three stores and two states (6 stores total, as they have different stock and markets) only one did not contain corn syrup.There is nothing wrong with canned foods.
The problem is not keeping track of what you're eating and how much of it you're eating.
I can eat bolognese in a can every day of the week for cheap and still lose weight and get healthy.
THE problem?
There are plenty of things wrong with canned foods. And no one was suggesting that one cannot lose weight restricting calories on a diet composed of almost anything. And yes, that might improve overall health somewhat if you were at least overweight to begin with only because losing adipose tissue by any means (including surgical removal) will generally increase health relative to what it had been. I just don't confuse weight loss with health or think that "better" relative to very unhealthy is anything to pursue as a goal.0 -
Your body has no idea how your food has been prepared.
On a molecular level, eating 100g of fresh peas is the same as eating the equivalent in canned, frozen, freeze-dried, and so on.
Nutritionally its values may change, but there is nothing wrong with pre-prepared food provided you're watching what you're eating.
GMO this, HFCS that, preservatives the other... there is no peer-reviewed study or studies that produce empirical evidence to say any of these things currently legal/safe for consumption are bad for you when consumed as part of a healthy & varied diet.0 -
Ah, but my brain does, and it is part of my body. And, it can tell the difference between macronutrient dense foods and depleted foods.
The disconnect you're having here seems to be associated with the prevalent assumption that everyone who uses MFP just wants to lose weight or eat a diet somewhere better than patently unhealthy. Has it not occurred to you that some people might want to eat the most nutritious versions of foods, especially considering how the nutrient density of those foods has declined in the last half century? (to say nothing of the taste difefrence between canned or fresh peas and those that are flash frozen)0 -
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