I can't begin to tell you how many people truly believe they cannot eat healthy on a budget. I hear it all the time....eating healthy is just too expensive. Are healthy foods really more expensive? It depends on how you measure the price. The way the value of food is measured is cost per calorie. For instance, if you were a brickmaker in Massachusetts in 1894, you may have needed more than 8000 calories a day, so the emphasis was on cheap calories. While beans and sugar both cost the same back then, 5 cents a pound, sugar beat out beans for fuel value.
Of course, food offers much more than just calories, but back then, vitamins and minerals hadn't even been discovered yet. But, even to this day, when the cost of foods are related to their nutritive value, the value they're talking about is cheap calories. When you rank foods like that, then junk food and meat is cheaper per calorie than fruits and vegetables, but that doesn't take serving size into account. If you measure foods in cost per serving...or cost per pound...fruits and vegetables are actually CHEAPER. The USDA researchers found that healthy foods cost less than less healthy foods!
So, given 100 calories of cheese, candy, chicken, chips, bread, oi, fruits and vegetables, which 100 calories are going to fill you up more. More importantly, which is going to have the most nutrition? Here's the average nutrient-density of fruits, vegetables, refined grains, meats, milk and empty calorie foods:
While trying to eat a healthy diet, the emphasis must be on nutrient-dense foods...eat the foods with the MOST nutritional value. Beans, raw vegetables and fruits are less expensive, nutrient dense, and protect us from all kinds of health issues and diseases. Incorporating more beans and less meat is a HUGE COST SAVINGS not to mention a major improvement in our diets. A bag of beans cost a dollar and change....a package of meat, (I can't help but say it....remember meat comes packaged with saturated fat, cholesterol, and all kinds of antibiotics and hormones), cost at least 3 times more than that bag of beans for 16 times less nutrition!!
My take-away message is this: A healthy plant-based diet WILL give you optimal health, more energy than you have ever had, and protect you from health issues and diseases, FOR LESS MONEY....This is a no-brainer for me!!
Need help? Please let me know....I would love to help you with this transition....
Of course, food offers much more than just calories, but back then, vitamins and minerals hadn't even been discovered yet. But, even to this day, when the cost of foods are related to their nutritive value, the value they're talking about is cheap calories. When you rank foods like that, then junk food and meat is cheaper per calorie than fruits and vegetables, but that doesn't take serving size into account. If you measure foods in cost per serving...or cost per pound...fruits and vegetables are actually CHEAPER. The USDA researchers found that healthy foods cost less than less healthy foods!
So, given 100 calories of cheese, candy, chicken, chips, bread, oi, fruits and vegetables, which 100 calories are going to fill you up more. More importantly, which is going to have the most nutrition? Here's the average nutrient-density of fruits, vegetables, refined grains, meats, milk and empty calorie foods:
- While junk food may be 4 times cheaper than vegetables, there's 20 times less nutrition.
- For meat, we'd be spending 3 times more to get 16 times less. More money, less nutrition.
While trying to eat a healthy diet, the emphasis must be on nutrient-dense foods...eat the foods with the MOST nutritional value. Beans, raw vegetables and fruits are less expensive, nutrient dense, and protect us from all kinds of health issues and diseases. Incorporating more beans and less meat is a HUGE COST SAVINGS not to mention a major improvement in our diets. A bag of beans cost a dollar and change....a package of meat, (I can't help but say it....remember meat comes packaged with saturated fat, cholesterol, and all kinds of antibiotics and hormones), cost at least 3 times more than that bag of beans for 16 times less nutrition!!
My take-away message is this: A healthy plant-based diet WILL give you optimal health, more energy than you have ever had, and protect you from health issues and diseases, FOR LESS MONEY....This is a no-brainer for me!!
Need help? Please let me know....I would love to help you with this transition....
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