"Further, it is to a certain extent insulting and condescending — all the banter about teaching families to eat healthy, when just about everyone knows what constitutes healthy eating. The problems are lack of jobs, money, affordable healthy food and the high prices of healthy, nutritious food."
I totally agree.
Peep, I have to disagree with that comment. 1)Nobody really knows what constitutes healthy eating. They *think* they know but if that were the truth we'd all be thin by now. 2) Even if you accept the premise that low fat, high fiber, low meat, lots of veggies constitutes healthy eating foods that fit that profile can still be found dirt cheap anywhere. Lets see...beans, dried and canned($1 or less for a bag or can), rice (comes out to pennies per serving), frozen vegetables(often found around $1 a bag), seasonal fresh vegetables and fruits(.99 to 1.99/lb around here) canned tomatoes (Store brand $1 or less per can) Tuna always on sale for $1 a can, boneless skinless chicken breast on sale for 1.99/lb almost always. Then there's eggs, and low fat milk, oatmeal (store brand, plain, not those little packages) that all can be found cheap. I can think of meals upon meals that I could make with the ingredients I've mentioned here. In fact I WISH I believed that rice and beans were healthy because I would eat it all the time for cheap :). On the other hand anyone can walk into a grocery store, look at the prices on out of season produce to make some huge salad or go over and see that extra lean ground beef is $6/lb and then complain "eating healthy is so expensive"...but it's just not true. Almost anyone can eat reasonably healthy(excluding maybe homeless, or people with no money but then there's food stamps for them). It's about choices, planning ahead, and not making excuses. Fast food is more expensive than anything you can cook at home and this is what people think is the "cheap" alternative to grocery store prices? Please. Sorry, this is not directed at you. just the idea that all healthy foods are expensive seems ridculous to me yet it's repeated over and over. And I live in a high income area close to NYC so if I can find these prices here they can be found in most other areas as well.
ReplyDeleteYeah I wonder abouit the limitations of "healthy eating too" so I take your point with some concession. I get the feeling my diet could be all the STAR foods of health and I'd still be fat.
ReplyDeleteI think one can buy some ingredients really cheap, but if you want a meal beyond plain rice, it can cost some money, its when the dollars add up in every recipe. We are having a food insecure week this week, and for dinner last night, we had goulash, which isn't the healthiest meal on the planet with lean hamburger, macaroni onion, some canned green beans and other beans in it. I was going to put two left over zuchini things in it but the fridge froze one of them and its gross. I have green peppers to snack on for this afternoon. The goulash was used for lunch too. This meal probably was cheap at least. I probably could be the queen of frugal cooking but have to admit, I am worn out with all the effort it takes for meal planning, it could be health related. I have eaten tomatoes and turkey sandwiches, and other cheap stuff. Course some of the budgets are getting so tight, the money seems to run out no matter what before the end of the month. Maybe the real problem is people are getting too broke to even afford the cheap stuff. I wish sometimes they delievered Meals on Wheels to the disabled here [its restricted to just over 60] LOL You are right there are some foods people can buy cheap. I made turkey meatloaf some days ago using oatmeal so that one is a good cheap one.
Well, that I agree with. I don't believe in "superfoods". A superfood is just a food with some benefit science has discovered recently. It means nothing, the news and magazines just play up the benefits for our entertainment, lol. I think all vegetables are healthy, even the lowly cheap ones like iceburg lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, etc. Lastnight for dinner I made chicken drumsticks (2 lbs @1.19/lb) 6 corn on the cob (1.49!!) and a sliced cucumber with a little italian dressing (about .70). All 4 of us were completely satisfied and I feel while maybe not perfect it was more than adequate nutrition for 1 meal for 4 people at under 5 dollars. Why isn't this good enough? Don't beat yourself up about what you can't afford, like you said it wouldn't make you healthy anyway. The most important thing is to focus on eliminating things that are no good for you and focusing on eating whatever meat and veggies that are within your budget and that will be good enough! That will get you healthier, really.
DeleteWhat about food stamps? Maybe I'm wrong in assuming that just about everyone can get them. My sister gets 500/mo just for her and her 2 kids. She wastes it all on junk but that's another story. I wish I had that budget!. Just out of curiousity I went to my states public assistance website and entered my info as if I were working a minimum wage job with the kids and I would also get something similair (good to know incase I ever leave my husband, lol) Maybe they don't give as much if there aren't kids in the household. I don't know, all I know is that I can find what I believe is nutritious food for what I think is very cheap. I don't think my perception of "cheap" and "nutritious" is that much different from most others perceptions but maybe. I actually think what others consider cheap isn't at all. Maybe what I consider healthy isn't "good enough" but it's what people always ate in the not so distant past and they were healthier and it's what is bringing me back to health from a state of very poor health. And my children are happier and healthier eating this way as well sooo...?