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66 Comments
- diggdong, on 11/03/2009, -3/+20No fat makes you look fat.
- raptorlightning, on 11/03/2009, -1/+11"It's difficult to eat healthily because it takes time. Planning out a week's worth of meals, making shopping lists, comparing prices to make sure you get the most for your money … it all requires time, and you haven't even gotten to the point of actual cooking yet. Ripping open a bag of chips or ordering at the drive-thru, on the other hand, takes two seconds."
Root of the problem. We don't have healthy, inexpensive fast food because fatty foods sell to hungry mouths. - illestlyrics, on 11/03/2009, -1/+8Shut The F**** Up!
http://digg.com/health/Study_says_Recessions_may_b ...
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/03/23/business/e ...
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=s ...
Duplicate. Inaccurate. How many times am I going to see this article on Digg! We get it, some people eat healthy, others don't. End of story.
Just because its a recession, my fat grandfather isn't going to stop shoving debbie cakes down his throat or my friends aren't going to stop running around the block a billion times until they look like an anorexic midget doll. - mparker21311, on 11/03/2009, -0/+6"Eating healthy has been one of the big casualties of this economic downturn"
I havent been eating healthy before the downturn. - asnider, on 11/03/2009, -1/+7This isn't really surprising, especially since a lot of people may have had to take low paying jobs after being laid-off, in order to make ends meet. If you're working more hours for less money, you're not going to have as much time to cook, so cheap microwave dinners suddenly become an attractive option.
- asnider, on 11/03/2009, -0/+5I don't disagree. But, something as simply as baking a piece of chicken and cutting up some vegetables can feel like a lot of work after you've worked a 12 hour shift. It's not that you don't have time, per se, as much as the amount of work involved can feel surprisingly overwhelming after a very long day doing the sorts of menial tasks that often come with low paying jobs.
A related problem is finding the time to go grocery shopping. It's a lot faster to just go to the freezer section and grab a week's worth of frozen dinners than to spend time writing a grocery list and then wandering around the store for 30 minutes to an hour finding everything you need. - inactive, on 11/03/2009, -2/+6Eating healthy is actually cheaper than eating bad...
If I went out to eat all the time, my food bill for the month was like $300.
Now that I just buy plain essentials, I hardly break $150-200. - Joemanji, on 11/03/2009, -0/+4I worked with a 300 lbs woman. Everyday she would bring in McDonalds big breakfast & sweet-tea, and always went out for lunch. She wheezed and panted after only walking across the building. She constantly told us she would begin working out and eating healthy, but never did.
She disturbed me so much I've lost 40 lbs.. She continues to gain weight and her dad just had a heart attack. If this doesn't make her change her ways, I don't see her living very long.
It's all about discipline and making time, not excuses. - ontain, on 11/03/2009, -0/+4Most ppl still don't understand "Garbage in, Garbage out"
- MattB123, on 11/03/2009, -0/+3A vegetable garden will save money and provide healthy food.
- asnider, on 11/03/2009, -0/+3Even most of the so-called healthy microwave dinners have obscene amounts of salt in them. When one of these meals contains anywhere from 40-70% of your daily recommended sodium intake, and you're eating 2 or 3 of them a day...well, you can see why that would be a bad thing. But, of course, it was marketed as a healthy option, so you assumed it would be good for you and didn't pay much attention to the nutritional information.
- volcompimp, on 11/03/2009, -0/+3Spend a little more up front & learn to cook. It's worth it.
I buy frozen chicken, marinades, pickles, peppercini,
wheat rolls & veggie cheese (veggie cheese can get a little
pricey but for me it's worth it) & cook the bombest chicken
sandwiches for lunch just about every day on my George
Foreman grill which I picked up for about $20 at Walmart.
I've lost 50 lbs this year but of course my diet & exercise
routines have changed a lot over the past year.
Was goin hardcore at it for the first 6 months & eating
mostly chicken salads but I can't run 12+ miles
after eating salad for dinner the night before. - smashblu, on 11/03/2009, -0/+3The *****? I eat salad and chicken for dinner a lot and it's very cheap and good for you.
- charlie55, on 11/03/2009, -0/+3go to the store. price a huge tub of oatmeal and some bananas. it is cheap as hell. you can buy a massive amount of healthy brown rice for negative 12 cents.
i agree that the government has subsidized unhealthy foods. but i do not agree that healthy food is expensive. - asnider, on 11/03/2009, -0/+3Part of that is cultural. For example, in my neighbourhood, all of the African immigrants eat lentils because that's what they're used to. But people who were born in Canada are used to eating a lot of meat, so the idea of buying lentils and beans in place of meat doesn't even occur to most of them. I'd imagine the situation in the US is pretty similar, since Canada and the US have very similar cultures.
- asnider, on 11/03/2009, -0/+3Really? Because that hasn't been my experience. I personally don't find healthy goods to be super expensive, but they're often more expensive than the less healthy option.
- Ferretman, on 11/03/2009, -0/+2Eating out != eating unhealthy.
Generally in my grocery shopping I've found it's significantly cheaper to buy the snack stuff than the healthy stuff (or as my wyfe and I say it, "sin is cheap"). - burjzyntski, on 11/03/2009, -2/+4I understand this, and maybe it's just me, but I'd rather eat carrots as a snack than eat potato chips; a lot of people forget that fruits/veggies can be delicious and quick. I don't have much of a sweet tooth (too much sugar gives me a stomach ache after a while, though I love ice cream) but I don't find that cooking up some chicken/pork chops/fish takes so much time out of my day that it isn't worth it, especially considering possible leftovers.
If you schedule your time properly, you can have more time. - zantos420, on 11/03/2009, -1/+3the root of the problem sounds more like laziness to me...
- asnider, on 11/03/2009, -1/+3Not everyone has that option. I live in an apartment and it's too cold to grow anything on my balcony 6 months out of the year. Typically, the poorest people live in apartments, rather than houses, so they are less likely to have the option of growing their own food.
- sangjmoon, on 11/03/2009, -0/+2Go to Sprouts, Walmart or HEB. If you can't find fresh fruit and veggies cheaper than junk food, you simply aren't trying. If you are using the food-going-bad-quickly excuse, go to the frozen vegetable section and buy the steam-in-the-bag mixed vegetables. They're better than junk food, and the usually cost between $1 to $2. For snacking, try roasted almonds and fig bars. If you're going to complain about milk, then just drink water or if you must have the soda taste, diet soda only, and then buy calcium tablets+vitamin D to replace the milk. For variety, you can get the Michelini's lean gourmet meals for around a $1 each. Got any other excuses?
- roflbrothel, on 11/03/2009, -0/+2You can grow things indoors in a small garden or even a hydroponics setup.
- nepidae, on 11/03/2009, -0/+2Then don't get pre-packaged food? Also if you have problems with stuff spoiling then just get frozen, in fact frozen can be even healthier than fresh because its easier to harvest it when its ripe.
- inactive, on 11/04/2009, -0/+2A bag of oranges for a bag of chips is a good thing.
You can easily eat a bag of chips.
I'd love to see you eat a bag of oranges :)
See, healthy food wins, it lasts longer and there's more of it. - roflbrothel, on 11/03/2009, -0/+2Most Americans eat WAAAY more meat than we're supposed to eat anyways, a serving of meat is about the size of a deck of playing cards and we're supposed to have 2-3 a day.
For example, 1 Sausage Egg and Cheese croissantwhich from Burger King is more protein than any normal person needs in a day. I often see people wolfing down 2 of these in 1 sitting. - burjzyntski, on 11/03/2009, -0/+2That's what the labeling/advertisements wants you to believe.
Do a comparison for yourself.
(I haven't done these comparisons myself, but I don't feel satiated after a frozen meal so I don't tend to eat them as frequently as meals I've made myself... and I'm not obese.) - roflbrothel, on 11/03/2009, -0/+2They make cheap healthy microwave dinners and there are tons of healthy foods that are a quick meal.
- covertbadger, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1Still laziness. Mark Bittman has a tiny kitchen, and even wrote a NYT food column for 6 months while living in a basement with nothing but a hot plate and a microwave.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/mark-bitt ...
I've lived in a place with two hot plates, a tiny oven, a broiler, a tiny under-counter fridge, and one saucepan. It's not that hard. - covertbadger, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1Wyfe?
- covertbadger, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1"It does seem like many people missed the "I'm a student" thing...I can't cook because I lack a stove, I can't freeze things because I'm limited to a mini-fridge"
If Mark Bittman can write a NYT cooking column for 6 months from a basement with only a hot plate and a microwave, I'm damn sure you could feed yourself if you tried. You can buy a single electric hot plate for $18.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/mark-bitt ...
http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-AHP-303-Single-Plate-B ... - Purplekat, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1I keep a spreadsheet of grocery prices, and I can tell you definitively that fruits and vegetables aren't, serving for serving, cheaper than junk food. Apples come close, but that's it. They also go bad, making it difficult for people who buy a month's worth of food in bulk like I do to keep them in the fridge.
Pasta and rice are cheap, but unless you want plain pasta and rice, coming up with sauces or dishes to eat them with gets more expensive. And eating nothing but plain pasta and rice really isn't good for you. - covertbadger, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1Tip - buy chicken thighs. Much cheaper, and much less dry. Chicken breasts are a total rip-off, they're the least flavourful part of the bird and yet the most expensive.
- roflbrothel, on 11/03/2009, -0/+1*****, healthy food is as cheap as unhealthy food and is often cheaper. Fresh vegetables and fruits are similar in cost to junk food and other stuff (like charlie55 mentioned) are dirt cheap.
- smashblu, on 11/03/2009, -1/+2You just said people would be buying a TV dinner instead of healthy foods. TV dinners are usually around $5. If you're eating rice, potatoes, vegetables and non-red meat that you prepare yourself, you'll barely break a dollar.
- yosafbridge, on 11/03/2009, -0/+1I would really like to know where you all shop? Over here in Texas it's IMPOSSIBLE to find healthy food for less money than junk food. Fruits and veggies always cost more than a bag of chips and the "healthy option" microwave meals (Lean Cuisine and such) cost almost twice as much as the unhealthy versions.
I love fresh fruits and veggies, but it's difficult going into Jamba Juice and spending $4 on a small healthy drink when McDonalds is next door selling a giant Iced Tea for $1.
I'm a student, I don't have money to spend to buy fresh fruits and veggies, especially since they go bad quickly...it's far easier to live off of Ramen noodles and microwave meals which don't spoil and cost far less. Or, the difference between buying Milk or Soda...Soda costs about the same and it doesn't spoil as quickly. - volcompimp, on 11/03/2009, -0/+1It's done just the opposite for me. Of course I had 2 do all the work 2 eat healthier
and workout to lose 50 lbs this year (was 5'2 180lbs) but losing my last job
at the end of last year cause the business went under was part of the reason
I felt I needed to get my ***** together. - DirtyVicar, on 11/03/2009, -2/+3Well, there's something to be said for building up your fat stores in case the grocery budget dwindles to $0.
- Purplekat, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1Hydroponics setups cost money, and unless they're large and efficient, the energy costs to run them will outpace the yeilds.
They also take time. People who go for convenience foods often do so because they are short on time, due to working multiple jobs, long commutes, etc. It's the guy who had to work 'till seven and then has a two hour commute home who eats fast food every night. Who wants to get home at nine, and -then- have to cook dinner? (Yes, I know someone who was in that situation for a while.) - yosafbridge, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1I don't need excuses, I may not eat healthy, but I walk to work 3 miles a day...and then I spend 8 hours running around a bookstore.
It doesn't matter what I eat, I'm healthy.
I'm just pointing out that it is rather difficult to eat healthy when you can just go into McDonalds and get a full meal for 3.25 compared to the healthy food places.
It does seem like many people missed the "I'm a student" thing...I can't cook because I lack a stove, I can't freeze things because I'm limited to a mini-fridge. I'm pretty limited when it comes to health food. - Purplekat, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1The people I know who eat a lot of fast food work multiple jobs and live in tiny, tiny places where their kitchens are a joke -- no room to store pots and pans, much less cook.
I honestly don't blame them. - Purplekat, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1Damn, where are you buying oranges and potatoes?!
- roflbrothel, on 11/18/2009, -0/+1Not all of them have ridiculous amounts of salt, many of them have no salt whatsoever or 2% of the recommended allowance. There are definitely stupid-easy-to-make microwave means out there that are healthy but yes, there are many that claim to be healthy and are not. Still, lots of salt content in an otherwise healthy meal is better than lots of salt in an obscenely unhealthy meal.
Just read the labels. - rocknog, on 11/03/2009, -0/+1Imagine how much more you'd save, though, if you were buying crap like ramen noodles and such.
- roflbrothel, on 11/18/2009, -0/+1@purplecat
A local grocery chain called Marc's, they're a little cheaper than other big-chain stores like Giant Eagle and Acme but not that much cheaper. Oranges aren't that expensive and bags of potatoes are dirt-cheap. - smashblu, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1Oh come on, I have a few low income friends and yes they have small kitchens but to say they can't cook in them is stupid. Excuses, excuses, can't someone admit it's not being low income that causes unhealthy eating, it's unwillingness to take the time to cook. I'm sick of the blame game, the only way to improve oneself is to accept personal responsibility.
- Purplekat, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1Vegetable gardens cost money to set up. You have to buy the seeds, fertilizer, tools, soil, pest control methods, and so on. In many areas, the soil is bad, and you have to go for full-on raised beds or similar compensations.
They also require quite a lot of space, and right now, people who're short on cash are also, surprise surprise, living in apartments. They also require time and a certain amount of expertise, especially if you're growing from seed. (Growing from nursery-bought plants ups the price a lot.)
And if you have a short growing season, that becomes a problem, too. - Joemanji, on 11/03/2009, -0/+1She was prone to terrible mood swings and is the most childish 40-50 year old I've ever met. You know how when you get done with college you're like "wow, now I'll be surrounded by mature adults in a workplace!"? She was the person who shattered that expectation.
- MattB123, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1Right, so they aren't for everyone, but if you have a little space and time it can help. A lot of urban areas like Detroit are doing communal gardens on empty lots too.
Just throwing out other options.... -
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