Ahh To Eat Healthier—$$$$$$$$$!

Ok, I have written about the woes of healthcare costs and how most average Americans are struggling to pay those costs.  Well, in the constant debate about the feasibility of “Medicare for All”, everyone seems to have their arguments about whether it could work or not.  One talking head brought up an issue that I wanted to pursue further for this blog.  The issue of eating healthier meals and the reduction of junk or processed foods.

Look, there is no question and I have written about it here—processed foods are poison.  And we Americans are addicted to that fast, drive-through window cuisine with their logo signs dotting our landscape like man-made trees blowing in the shitty corporate air.  At some point in time, we are all guilty of ingesting this poisonous fare.  But for some, this poor food substitute is a daily habit almost as much as cigarettes. This is especially true when you consider the fact that fast food isn’t the only processed food, a vast majority of our daily meals in our supermarkets are factory made.

But there is more to this issue of healthy eating than just poor lifestyle choices.  For instance, the cost of supposed “healthy” food by far exceeds that of mass-produced, processed foods.  I did my own research on this to validate my point, shopping at one of the more popular, upscale, natural food stores (the one owned by the company with the swooshing dick logo) and the most popular discount food store (the one with the smiling faces everywhere), to compare pricing of comparable foods.

In the upscale, healthier store, there is a plethora of supposedly organic, naturally grown and processed foods, each with their own bragging points of healthiness.  Obviously, in the discount store, the racks are loaded with every corporate label known to humankind.   For my test, I decided to do dinner by simply buying package meals from both stores, opting for a Mexican theme feast.  The healthy store had a selection of unknown brands of Mexican dinners that claimed to be made from organic ingredients.  The cheapo store had every well know corporate imitation of real food.  For this test, I opted for the enchilada dinner.

First, if you look at the ingredients, there were decidedly more additives (mostly chemicals) in the cheaper version while the more expensive offering had fewer, mostly food-ish additives.   After opening the packages, they both resembled frozen blobs in disposable dishes, neither had an appeal that had me wanting them—now!

After heating both sets of enchiladas, I set down for my big experiment.  The cheapo meal had more than its share of sodium, while the more expensive meal seemed rather bland.  So, depending on your taste and need for salt, it really is a matter of personal choice on flavor.  However, the price difference was staggering, the more expensive set of enchiladas (being close in total weight and volume) was over 40% higher in cost.

So, why do I bring this up?  Was there really any health benefits or difference in the food products I tested, maybe.  There certainly is a larger expense involved in so-called healthier foods.  And let’s be real here, healthier eating requires the purchase of fresh food products that are then cooked at home every evening and would increase the average shopping bill by a very significant amount.   With wages stagnant, the average household cannot afford to eat the so-called healthy meals every night, or for that matter—every other night.

Then, there is the issue of availability, in smaller, medium populated communities there are rarely stores that offer fresh and organic offerings that are alleged to be better for your health.  This often means a commute to a larger city to find a healthier store, again adding to already significantly higher costs.  You can order some of the television advertised, home-delivered programs, but have your banker handy ready to sign your high-interest loan.

Being real here, the obvious answer to this dilemma is the need for higher paying jobs, lower cost, healthier food products, and healthcare that is realistically affordable.  Obviously, we have been trending towards this unhealthy food habit for years, hence the massive growth of corporate food processors.  To change this trend would require massive changes in the structure of our everyday lives and the choices we make.  I am not making excuses for bad choices but let’s face the truth, our everyday lives have been molded by the limited choices offered by our instant, convenient and low-priced corporate masters.

Talk To Ya Later

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