Contrary to what experts will tell you, most people make fairly good decisions based on the restrictions and limitations they are confronted. If food is beyond their budget, they might bake their own or buy inexpensively delicious food.
So it is no surprise that fast food outlets can offer a hamburger for $1 are in such demand. The food may not be perfect… but it will allow you to survive and fight another day without breaking the bank.
However, what if you believe you need more fruits and vegetables into your life? Well, hold onto your wallet! Anyone who has at least visited the produce section in a local supermarket can measure how many ‘whoppers’ they can buy instead of a small carton of tomatoes or strawberries.
Fruits and vegetables are merely a garnish or overlooked in many meals today. In olden days, vegetables were ways to ‘extend’ or allow many more people to eat on a scarce amount of meat, today , it looks like it’s almost becoming the other way around.
Here’s what Science Daily has to say:
“That the cost of healthful foods is outpacing inflation is a major problem,” said Drewnowski. “The gap between what we say people should eat and what they can afford is becoming unacceptably wide. If grains, sugars and fats are the only affordable foods left, how are we to handle the obesity epidemic?”
Well… I would disagree slightly by saying that the ‘obesity epidemic’ has a lot more to do with how we live our lives rather than just what we eat. In the early 1900’s it was fashionable to say, ‘you are what you eat,’ but exercise and a healthy lifestyle are big contributing factors to increased longevity and should not be ignored. We cannot forget that many schools today have reduced or eliminated recess, reduced to two years the amount of physical education required in high school and in many overt and sometimes unconscious ways encouraged a sedentary lifestyle among our youth.
For my two cents… everyone needs to participate in a vigorous sport in high school, period.
Roger Freberg
