Why aren't healthier foods priced lower than junk foods?

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  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,566 Member
    even if you just shop at a regular grocery store the healthy food is cheaper in the long run...stay to the outer perimeter and you can pretty much buy everything you need...I only go down the inside aisles for specific items that I need like spices...I never go through every aisle to "browse" (that is where you find all the junk food)
  • regantheresa
    regantheresa Posts: 3 Member
    Healthy eating does cost more in my opinion. Try buying organic. I am in training for a competition and I need to eat 4 oz of protein 5 times a day. Try buying organic protein. Are you kidding me? So expensive. Organic veggies, 3 x the price of regular. I understand what you are saying, the stores have the bad stuff on sale all the time. Even our farmers markets in Florida are not cheaper than the store. And I cook all 6 meals at home, every day and trust me. My grocery bill has doubled since eating healthy. Maybe some people on this blog have a different version of "healthy" than I do.
  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,566 Member
    screw it I am going to plant a garden this summer :happy:
  • Deebzodebster
    Deebzodebster Posts: 3 Member
    I spend a couple of days/evenings a month cooking meals from the Hairy Dieters Cookbook. I cook the whole recipe, whether it's 4 or six portions, whatever. I usually choose about 5 recipes. When cool, I portion them all off and freeze. I am a single person and I save a lot of money doing this. I live in Germany at the moment and, unlike the UK, many of the supermarkets don't have the option of buying 1 or 2 onions, or peppers, etc. at a time (and I can't get to the markets during the working week). You need to buy bags of veg - so at least I can use all the veg, without waste, and I know what's in my meals. I just defrost and reheat. I would like to make and eat more fresh food, rather than freezing, but I generally don't get home from work until 20.00-21.00h and the last thing I want to do is cook. I save the luxury of fresh food for the weekends.

    This way, I have a proper meal every evening - instead of arriving home and eating the first rubbish I find because I'm hungry.
  • DamePiglet
    DamePiglet Posts: 3,730 Member
    Healthy eating does cost more in my opinion. Try buying organic. I am in training for a competition and I need to eat 4 oz of protein 5 times a day. Try buying organic protein. Are you kidding me? So expensive. Organic veggies, 3 x the price of regular. I understand what you are saying, the stores have the bad stuff on sale all the time. Even our farmers markets in Florida are not cheaper than the store. And I cook all 6 meals at home, every day and trust me. My grocery bill has doubled since eating healthy. Maybe some people on this blog have a different version of "healthy" than I do.

    I am certain that you are correct.
  • HappyStack
    HappyStack Posts: 802 Member
    They will have no problem doing what? Metting the basic micronutrients to sustain life? I haven't seen anyone suggest that isn't possible.

    RDI of protein might sufficient for maintenance of lean mass when eating maintenance calories, assuming the person lives a lifestyle of basic light activity, but it will not maintain lean muscle mass for all levels of activity. The more muscle you damage, the more needs repairing.

    Different goals, different values in food.

    It's not about "basic needs", adequate vs. optimal doesn't exist for vitamin and mineral intake - you're given daily values (DVs) and tolerable upper levels (ULs) for a reason, and it's not just "possible" it's almost downright impossible to not get more than RDI every day if you're eating a varied diet... as I said in another thread, we store the majority of vitamins our body needs in fat cells and in the liver. The only vitamins we need worry about getting every day are C and B vitamins.
    So, take the standard breakfast of oatmeal... it contains the B vits folate, niacin and thiamine (B9, B3, and B1). Add milk, (B12, B6, B2, more B9, B3 and B1) and you're already close to 50% of your recommended intake of water-soluble vitamins (most of these B vits are required in amounts of approx. 1mg).

    Add a navel orange (88% of your RDI for vit C), which also contains B9, B6 and B12. Looking at maybe 400 calories of food. Not to mention all of the other fat-soluble vitamins and minerals these foods contain.

    I could go on, but I won't... It has nothing to do with goals. It's about eating, and eating a varied diet, period.

    You also keep adding tangential caveats. As I said earlier, I believe RDI protein is too low and people should consume more... especially if they're training in a manner that will cause muscle growth. 50g per day is fine for people who don't really do much hard exercise.
  • regantheresa
    regantheresa Posts: 3 Member
    I tried really hard to plant a garden but there is too much salt water in the air. The only thing that grew were sweet potatoes (because they are under the ground!) LOL
  • Greytfish
    Greytfish Posts: 810
    Oatmeal, cow's milk and an orange is not a very balanced breakfast. I can't imagine wasting that many calories on a huge chunk of carbs and almost no protein, but, to each his/her own.
  • HappyStack
    HappyStack Posts: 802 Member
    Those devilish carbs!

    I forgot we like talking in absolutes. Oatmeal! oatmeal and oranges all day!
  • Greytfish
    Greytfish Posts: 810
    Yes, carb phobia. That must be it :laugh:
  • HappyStack
    HappyStack Posts: 802 Member
    Lol, so what makes it unbalanced?

    It hits all your macros, as already stated has a ton of micros, can be fortified, and - at around 300-400 calories per portion (depending on what you add to it) - is about 1/5 or 1/6 of your daily calorie consumption.

    Apparently, then, it's unbalanced because it favours carbs.

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  • DamePiglet
    DamePiglet Posts: 3,730 Member
    It cracks me up that people visit a website that's headline is:
    "Lose Weight with MyFitnessPal
    The fastest, easiest to use calorie counter app."

    And uses the selling point:
    "Eat whatever you want"

    Then wonder why others focus on calorie counting and have different ideas of what "healthy eating" is.

    Could it possibly be because the "calorie counters" and people who are eating "whatever they want" are the ones using MFP as it was intended and designed?
  • HappyStack
    HappyStack Posts: 802 Member
    I'd "like" your post if I could, lol.

    I've been here for a few years and lurk a lot. The people you see failing or giving up most often are those who get themselves bogged down in the minutiae of healthy living, and there's the prevailing opinion that it's complex and too difficult for them.

    The thing is, if you know even the basics of physiology and nutrition, you'll know these things already and won't rely on some fake PhD or website that pushes its own readership-gaining agenda by conflating or deliberately misinterpreting studies, or being alarmist.

    I've seen it all, from people doing step aerobics and wondering if the overnight weight gain they've witnessed is because they've "built muscle" to people who wonder if they've "plateaued" because they read somewhere that "if you exercise too much your body releases more cortisol and that makes it hold onto fat". Or the dreaded instances of things like, "I drank coffee yesterday, gained 3lbs overnight... caffeine makes you fat" or "in order to lose weight you have to eat bad-tasting food repetitively".
    The canned goods thing has come up before.

    It's all a bit silly, defies all logic, and I feel a bit sad for people who stubbornly baulk against the basics when the evidence for it working - and working well - is all over this site and further.

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