What is Digg?338 Comments
- Xnkuro, on 12/07/2007, -16/+75People on low incomes can't always afford the time and money to eat healthy you elitist *****.
- rugger, on 12/07/2007, -8/+51I'd love to see data behind this study. $36.32 for 2000 calories of "healthy" food, what a crock of *****. Unless they're definition of healthy is overpriced diet food and 100% organic, I have no idea how they came up with this information. I have no doubt in my mind that calorie for calorie, junk food is cheaper, but the notion that it's expensive to eat healthy is completely lost on me. Stop eating out, stop eating microwave dinners, start paying attention to food labels, and start making home cooked meals. It's as simple as that.
- jkbowman, on 12/07/2007, -7/+47This is why you see low income states reporting the highest obesity levels.
- geekchic, on 12/07/2007, -13/+46The problem with the calculation is that it presumes that people buy food based on calorie value for money.
I have never seen a person do that before - people buy based on budget and taste preferences. Yes, low cost junk food will delivery higher numbers of calories, but that is frankly - incidental. - papashawn, on 12/07/2007, -0/+30I blame the gov't subsidies that cause twinkies to be cheaper than carrots.
- inactive, on 12/07/2007, -2/+25I can vouch for junk = cheap = unhealthy.
To start saving money I ate only roman noodles, bananas and popcorns for about 4 months. My cheap "diet" ended with me almost passing out in my kitchen passing a kidney stone. I luckily was able to call 911 before I bellowed over crying.
I was able to save about $900 over those months and lost about 11 lbs from my "cheap" diet, but suffered from some nasty health side-effects from it. Now I spend extra and eat healthy- lesson learned. - reddave, on 12/07/2007, -1/+22Not surprising. Every time I go to Whole Foods it costs me like a thousand dollars to get a dozen things.
- Gdub, on 12/07/2007, -4/+24I think what people are misunderstanding here when they say things like, "well it's a good investment to spend extra on healthy foods," is that most of America is making less than $48,201 a year. Much of America is living in poverty making less than $20,000 a year. It's pretty difficult to buy a ten dollar-salad when you can't even pay your rent or buy clothes for your kids.
- PZoned, on 12/07/2007, -2/+22In other news: Why we're fat: Exercising actually requires effort.
- bovox, on 12/07/2007, -3/+23They actual DO buy food based on calorie value for the money by buying the food that will satiate their hunger the cheapest. They don't consciously buy a 99 cent cheeseburger for lunch at McDonald's because it gives you 500 calories for 99 cents -- they buy that cheeseburger because it will satiate their hunger until dinnertime. Basically people choose the cheapest way to fend off hunger. They just don't know that the reason why a cheeseburger is better at it than other expensive alternatives is because it has more calories.
- qwickone, on 12/07/2007, -2/+19I totally agree with you. I'm an Indian vegetarian, to give you an idea of what I cook, and I eat for WAY less than $36 a day. I can live on about $50-75 worth of groceries for a week and it's all healthy stuff. I do only eat about 1200-1400 cal per day though, but that does NOT make up the difference.
And no, I don't smell like curry. - Waskonator, on 12/07/2007, -1/+18I totally agree. You don't necessarily HAVE to eat "all natural" foods to be eating correctly. (Most of that stuff is a sham anyways. Just like mineral waters, just like expensive automobiles, just like audio equipment for audiophiles; its 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 1-2-3+ times a day, and ate real MEALS with vegies and fruits and meats and cheese and breads... we would be fine! Don't over-eat, don't eat too often, and dicipline yourself.
I'm not one to talk. I don't follow these principals %100 of the time. But at least I don't have a pity party because "I'm poor, and thats why I'm fat, and thats why I can't be the person I want to be (boohoo)".
Take some responsibility for your actions.
OH! And if you don't know how to cook *****... LEARN. Online, library, tv, friends, relatives, deli store guys... w/e. Figure it out. It's not an excuse and you look like a fool trying to use it.
/Rant - allaboutdatiki, on 12/07/2007, -2/+18junk = cheap in more ways than one.
- rugger, on 12/07/2007, -0/+15but a salad is on the dollar menu.
- noahhoward, on 12/07/2007, -2/+17Excuse me? 2500 to 3000 calories per day is $45.40 to $54.48 per day per person that's $317.80 per week, or $16,525.60 per year. Where the hell is that ever considered cheap?
To put that in perspective, I am a college grad, fairly talented working a good full-time job above the average pay for my specialty and that comes out to exactly one third of my income BEFORE taxes. - Cookiepencils, on 12/07/2007, -1/+14You know, I would love to stop being "cheap". I can not tell you what I would give to be able to spend more than $15 on groceries for a week for two people. But my boyfriend and I are going through some very tough financial times, and that's what we have to work with. We're lucky if we have $15 for a weeks worth of food. For the past 3 months I have been living on Ramen Noodles, Pasta, Rice, Bread, Peanut Butter, Jelly, and Butter. All of these carbs have resulted in my gaining 10 pounds. It's awful... but the truth is that 7 packages of Ramen Noodles costs $1 or less, where 7 apples (which isn't even a whole meal) costs twice that or more. I know a time will come where we'll be able to spend money on groceries again, but until then we'll make do with what we have.
- redsfaithful, on 12/07/2007, -0/+13Anyone who has set foot in Trader Joe's could have probably told you this.
- justice7, on 12/07/2007, -0/+12man that diet sounds like a pain in the ass
- ell0bo, on 12/07/2007, -1/+13Usually kidney stones are caused by a lack of drinking the proper amounts of water. Your body is slightly dehydrated and it allows for minerals to clump together in your kidneys. I only know because my diet of coke, milk, and cranberry juice resulted in stones build of calcium carbonate which really F'd me the F up. After that experience i drink at least half a gallon of water a day, if not a full gallon.
An no, it's no the ass that has the pain... it's much worse... - inactive, on 12/07/2007, -0/+11You only ate 3 different foods. lol
- LBobRife, on 12/07/2007, -3/+14Sometimes jobs don't work out. Life happens. You can't go back on a decision to have kids after you've had it, even if you didn't predict that layoff 3 years down the line.
- vsujohn2, on 12/07/2007, -0/+10Obligatory: http://www.foodfacts.info/blog/uploaded_images/mcd ...
- ell0bo, on 12/07/2007, -4/+14Odds are if they're fat, they're not being cheap. Probably eating MORE of the low cost food, which is simpler to prepare.
I eat because I'm so unhappy, I'm so unhappy because I'm fat. - noahhoward, on 12/07/2007, -4/+14You are apparently a jackass by nature.
- steve693, on 12/07/2007, -0/+9Two words: government subsidies.
- evilgoatbob, on 12/07/2007, -2/+11If you think low income equates with the ability to eat out at Olive Garden regularly you need to take a trip outside your bubble and glance the real ***** world.
- Jus2Gud, on 12/07/2007, -0/+9You've hit the nail on the head when you talk about this high-end ***** and this trend with the 'health' foods, its because of people like this that a market has been created in which a certain group is willing TO pay a premium for such food, if there wasn't this market then prices would come down pretty quickly, it's just become "cool" to go get a baguette or some healthy snack nowadays then it is to suggest McDonalds when asked where you want to eat,.
- edstate, on 12/07/2007, -4/+13This is SO true... but it's also about availability. I live in NYC and can easily get "fast" (but not necessarily cheap) healthy food. But whenever I travel to the fly-over states, even the bigger cities, the best choices for "healthy" food is usually an Applebees. Don't get me wrong, I like those kinds of places every now and then, but the sheer ABSENCE of a healthy option in most of the country is a huge problem.
- urubos, on 12/07/2007, -0/+8Damnit dude! I thought you were doing better. For the past few days I've seen some totally asshat comments from you that were just begging to be dug down. Now, here you are again with another logical comment. Get back to trolling!
- drlha, on 12/07/2007, -3/+11Because the purpose of food is to supply energy to humans, and calories is a measure of the amount of energy food provides?
- GvnMcCld, on 12/07/2007, -8/+16If you can't afford to feed yourself and your kids well and pay rent, you shouldn't have kids to begin with.
- RST1123, on 12/07/2007, -1/+9In a society where there are only Bags of Apples, and Cheese-It's, you would be correct.
- thephosphorbox, on 12/07/2007, -0/+8holy....... what the hell are his parents thinking?
- bbarker, on 12/08/2007, -0/+7I blame Hostess for making Twinkies taste better than carrots.
- LoudNoise, on 12/07/2007, -1/+8Except that skipping meals or not eating enough can be just as bad...
- geddon, on 12/07/2007, -0/+7There's a large part of my gut that is proud it didn't know that!
- ScottMitchell, on 12/07/2007, -0/+7Trader Joe's is pretty reasonable prices, IMO. Now, Whole Foods....
- CiXeL, on 12/07/2007, -0/+7the problem with eating healthy food is similar to the programming problem -- hear me out
for years programmers coded things in assembly and did so efficiently but as programming languages evolved and became more sophisticated they got sloppier.
the same is applying to food. we've abandoned the basic ingredients in food and as we've moved on to more sophisticated tastes we've gotten sloppier about how the food is made.
we have to go back to basics and remember what is good for us.
does that make sense? - ScottMitchell, on 12/07/2007, -0/+7It almost looks as if he is dressed in a fat suit.
- demonsnake69, on 12/07/2007, -1/+8Clearly you've done extensive research to come to this conclusion.
- lewhich, on 12/07/2007, -0/+7spinach is not bad ... you can always make a good meal with them .. just add meats & chiken - skin fat
stay away from "high fructose corn syrup" and you are 1 major step towards a healthy life style. - jmpeagle, on 12/07/2007, -0/+6I think they are talking about purchasable ready to eat food and not someone cooking after buying the ingredients.
- npk9, on 12/07/2007, -5/+11Do you know this from personal experience. I only ask because my family didn't have money. We were war refugees and my parents didn't have money raising my brother and I on top of that they had to learn English and start from scratch. We ate heathly. Sure we didn't have a nice car/cable TV or a single house (my parents saved and bought a townhome that they still own today) till i was 19 yrs old. My family grew healthy food - they went to compare prices on food they knew that were nutrious. They made sure that my brother and I remained healthy and active. I have no sympathies for people who are low income and complain that they can't get heathly foods when they go home and spend $99/a month on cable tv so they can have all the channels and drive around in cars that they really can't afford. People might say that they want healthy foods but it sure isn't a priority for them or for people who do have the resources to purchase such items.
- bovox, on 12/07/2007, -0/+6You're right on with this point. Corn farmers get the most money from government subsidies simply because their product is used most by corporations to produce high fructose corn syrup -- used in nearly all processed foods, including pop. McDonald's can sell their food cheaply simply because they buy everything at an artificially low price.
- vladkov, on 12/07/2007, -2/+8The US tends to subsidize foods (corn, soy, dairy, etc) that are largely processed into cheap, calorie dense foods. That's not to say there aren't affordable, healthy foods too, but I think it helps to explain the abundance of "junk" food.
- slashbot, on 12/07/2007, -4/+10I believe it. The reason: the fattening foods are easily mass produced, easily cooked, and taste damn good.
- vanimal, on 12/07/2007, -2/+7I would also like to see the data behind this "study", although based on the author's responses to comments asking for further details, I wouldn't be too surprised to find out that it was all just made up. She just regurgitates the figures given in the article and seems offended that everyone doesn't agree with her.
If I had a blog, I would write an article drawing the exact opposite conclusion using two isolated cost per 1000 kcal figures. It would compare only two products, any random healthy food and packets of Nutrasweet. No matter how expensive the healthy food is, at least its cost per 1000 kcal would be finite, whereas Nutrasweet contains zero calories so it would take an infinite amount of money to purchase 1000 kcal worth. Healthy food is cheaper than unhealthy food. QED. - d3lta, on 12/07/2007, -0/+5This is why business majors should stick to case study forums
- Jus2Gud, on 12/07/2007, -0/+5I think there is some truth to the fact that eating healthy does cost more in some instances, for example try going to places which actually serve ready made healthy food they will make you pay a whole lot extra for it, so why the premium? Because of the type of customer they are aiming to cater for they, people who are willing to pay a premium for food they deem to be healthy, at least food that claims it is. Now is eating healthy food you prepared yourself more expensive than junk food etc? I think not. I'll relate to a real life example, try getting a fruit juice drink somewhere in the town centre ,a smoothie for example, it could set you back around £2 now how much is a can of coke? £0.50. Yeah theres mineral water but even still in some places I've seen that to be more expensive than a soft drink, compare with other places in the world, I'll use Egypt as I went on holiday there where the price of eating healthy is substantially lower, a fruit smoothie would no way cost that much. So yes eating healthy CAN be more expensive but NOT if you are preparing the food yourself.
- Fizox99, on 12/07/2007, -0/+5White rice, yes. Brown is another story.
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