Healthy Eating

By Dan

April 12, 2007 8:44 AM | Link to this

Not Fair? Nonsense Organic (and of course that has a myriad of meanings) but theoretically it should be more expensive to produce so why shouldn’t you pay more. Also it is utter economic nonsense that eating healthy you could make a roast chicken dinner with fresh veggies for the price of a super size value meal at mc ds

By Deborah

April 12, 2007 9:07 AM | Link to this

Dan hit the nail on the head about a freshly prepared meal at home is cheaper and healthier than fast food. The problem with too many people in America today is they don’t want to cook fresh food anymore. It’s easier to eat junk from a restaurant.

Also, a little tip on buying organic food, a regular grocery store charges more for organic food than an organic food market or even Whole Foods. If you want to eat organic, don’t buy from a grocery store like Kroger. Find a good organic food market or shop Whole Foods or Trader Joes if you have one in your area.

By zeke

April 12, 2007 9:14 AM | Link to this

Not fair? If organic products cost twice as much to produce, then they should cost twice as much! If oil costs 3 times as much now as when gas was selling for $1.00 per gallon, then gas should cost $3.00 per gallon! What is wrong with you economic illiterate nuts! Businesses are in business to do one thing, MAKE A PROFIT FOR THEIR OWNERS OR STOCKHOLDERS! NOT TO BE A SOCIALIST TOOL FOR POPULISTS, LEFTIST, SOCIALISTS, COMMUNISTS OR UNIONS!

By cemeeli

April 12, 2007 9:57 AM | Link to this

Okay eating healthier is more costly! But wouldn’t you rather pay more at a grocery counter than in a doctors office? In the long term your body’s health will reflect that extra couple bucks you paid for that organic, less sodium and WHOLE 100% ect, ect… you get my drift. Healthy is not fair to the pocket vs. the less healthier versions. But those heathier item as some others have said cost more to produce.

By jeez

April 12, 2007 10:26 AM | Link to this

“Healthy” does not come in a box. Try buying pound of non-processed oatmeal at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market. It costs less than a dollar and isn’t processed into useless gunk like the boxed stuff, even the organic packages of oatmeal are processed. The reason we are so fat and unhealthy is that we don’t eat real food, but pay big companies for manufactured food. And fair? Let’s all grow up and take some responsibilty for our financial situations and our health.

By MrLiberty

April 12, 2007 10:51 AM | Link to this

Carolyn,

I must agree with the other folks that you are economically ignorant. I suppose that is why socialism never gets any real criticism in the papers, despite its worldwide failure.

Supply and demand. Cost of production. All of these are factors that go into price. Along with what the market will bear. Yes, some health foods are overpriced simply because the maker knows they can charge more. If the market demand is high enough, competition will come in and the price will decrease. A higher realizable price is one incentive for competition to get into a market. To that same end, Deborah is also missing an important economic point. While Kroger may charge a bit more because they know they can, if more mainstream grocers with greater buying power begin carrying more and more of these items, the overall price will drop as well. If the price difference is small, I would encourage you to buy it at Kroger (the cost of convenience). If the price is much higher, let the manager know that he is ripping you off, tell him Whole Food’s price, and let him know you will buy the item when appropriately priced. That’s called consumer feedback, and it is as important as the feedback you provide with your purchase.

No argument with all the rest of the comments. We are unhealthy as a society because we have made eating crap inexpensive. Instead of taking REAL care of ourselves, we demand that our employers give us medical insurance that pays for every little thing that can go wrong. This is part of why medical care is so expensive. Eating well is the insurance policy that really pays off in reduced health care costs.

By a little healthier

April 12, 2007 11:51 AM | Link to this

Last night I made a simple veggie meal consisting of plain frozen chopped spinach with a touch of butter and salt, a can of pintos, a baked sweet potato mashed with my own spices, frozen mac-n’cheese, and Jiffy corn muffin mix. Ok, I’m not saying it was as healthy as organic, and the mac-n-cheese and muffin mix probably had some additives, but it was colorful, delicious, and a whole lot healthier than fast food. Price of dinner for two was less than $5.

By jeez

April 12, 2007 12:01 PM | Link to this

Good job on the veggies, but in addition to additives your muffin mix and mac-n-cheese is high in calories and low in nutrients. This is not to flame you, it’s just a good illustration of how ignorant we are about nutrition.

By Ole' fashioned

April 12, 2007 12:09 PM | Link to this

Better idea if you want inexpensive, healthy, tasteful food: buy seeds; buy gardening containers, buy dirt, etc., and plant your own gardens. You can buy miniature fruit trees for your patio. Learn how to can—it’s a lost art, but absolutely necessary in order preserve your garden produce. Problem solved: you don’t need to have an acreage to plant/harvest your own very inexpensive food. Pioneers never had it this good!

By Deborah

April 12, 2007 12:54 PM | Link to this

MrLiberty - I do understand the economic point you mentioned. I just didn’t point it out in my previous comments. Organic grocers, farmer’s markets and Whole Foods buy a lot more organic produce so they get it cheaper than Kroger. Hence the cheaper price to the consumer. That’s why I was saying buy your organic food somewhere other than a standard grocery store.

I also agree with the other person who stated instant oatmeal is not very good. You can buy a pound of organic rolled oats at Whole Foods in bulk for $0.99. Yes you have to cook it, but it’s much better and cheaper than instant oatmeal, regardless of the manufacturer. My grandmother used to cook oatmeal every morning in a double boiler. It was the most delicious oatmeal I’ve ever eaten. I do it myself sometimes because its just so damn good.

By M

April 12, 2007 1:04 PM | Link to this

The lady that wrote this article is a registered dietician and author. I’m thinkin we should read the packaging on the articles better to find out who knows what they are talking about. I will not be going to her to get my advice. I can’t believe she actually is buying processed organic food!!!!

By Linda

April 12, 2007 2:37 PM | Link to this

I eat healthy and I still caught a bacteria that caused endocarditis. Which resulted in $200,000.00 medical bill for open heart surgery to replace an aortic valve destroyed by the bacteria. Sometimes you get sick no matter what you eat!

By LK

April 12, 2007 3:08 PM | Link to this

Those of you commenting about the higher cost of farming/raising organic food are right. In addition to higher supply costs most organic farms are smaller and cannot develop the economies of scale of large factory farms. I’ve begun buying meat from the smaller “heritage” farms - free roaming chickens, cows and pigs that are treated like cows and pigs and not cogs in a manufacturing farm.

Yes, the price is higher - but the taste is so much better and without all the hormones and steroids it’s better for my family. It’s amazing what great food you can eat for less than eating at fast food restaurants if you’re willing to take a few minutes and cook it. The Dekalb Farmers Market, Whole Foods and the Fresh Market all carry these meats as well as organic vegetables and dairy products from farms using humane processes.

BTW - regarding oatmeal - if you want real oatmeal on a work/school morning try using a small crock pot with a timer attached. You’ll need more liquid than stove top, but you can wake up to a delicious bowl of oatmeal any day of the week!

By Barbara

April 12, 2007 3:31 PM | Link to this

There’s another issue that goes beyond the cost of producing something will raise the cost of purchasing it. It’s been proven that organic food isn’t necessarily better than regular food. I’ll use the analogy of anti-bacterial soap. It’s all in how we wash our hands, most people don’t take the time to wash properly anyway, so anti-bacterial soap you pay more for is NOT worth it. The fresh food idea beats any processed organic food, period. These ideas create supply and demand (like gasoline), so the price will rise. If everyone stopped buying into the marketing hype (which is how companies make money), then prices would come down.

By Dan

April 12, 2007 3:46 PM | Link to this

You are exactly right barbara, additionally organic means different things in different places, there is no consistent national definition. It is as much a marketing term than anything else

By CD

April 12, 2007 3:50 PM | Link to this

M: When you say the author is a registered dietician, etc, are you talking about Carolyn or the blogger she cited, who made the oatmeal comment? I think you’re confusing the two.

By Dan

April 12, 2007 4:04 PM | Link to this

Another thing is processed isn’t all bad. it has recieved a bad rap from sensatioanlistic journalism, flour, all need to be processed to be usable, what are you going to do with wheat kernals and cane, same with salt all types of filtered beverages, for ages tap water in cities has added chlorine and fluride. Milk has addtional vitamins added and is pasteurized all these and many others are positives, and having them mass produced makes them affordable and gives us more free time for other things including researching and blogging about healthy food, you think somebody growing their own food would have time to opine here ;o)

By Dan

April 12, 2007 4:10 PM | Link to this

Wow multi tasking certainly abused my typing skills in the last post please excuse the typos ;o)

By I feel I must defend myself

April 12, 2007 4:21 PM | Link to this

I know I’m going to be sorry because I’m sure someone will send me a snippy comeback, but I don’t think I’m ignorant. I checked several mac-n-cheese brands before I made a purchase and the one I bought had only 4.5 fat gms and 10 gms of protein per serving. I felt attacked even though the person said they’re not flaming me (I don’t even know what that means). I think someone made an assumption without knowing the whole story.

By MrLiberty

April 12, 2007 5:01 PM | Link to this

Dan and Barbara,

Do your research before you offer up your pseudo science to support your current buying habits.

http://www.optco.com/usda_act.html

among many web sites has the USDA definition of organic food/farming, etc. Many states like California go even farther and are even more specific in their regulations of what can and cannot be called organic.

Is there a difference? God created fruits and vegetables but never created synthetic pesticides, fertilizers or the like. I’m going with the creator on this one. Some day when all food is produced this way the occasional contamination, airborne carryover, and water contamination will be gone and produce will be back to its natural state. Until then, organic farmers are at least trying.

Terms like “healthy”, “natural”, “earth-friendly” and the like are certainly “marketing” gimmicks, but organic is a term that far too many people are fighting hard to protect the integrity of.

Spend the extra money. It is worth it, and the more the demand, the more farmers will eventually respond, thus reducing the price.

By Jennifer A.

April 16, 2007 1:38 PM | Link to this

Wow, Carolyn, you sure know how to spark a debate! I’m sorry to see bloggers calling you names when all you did was try to get a discussion going. A point I’d like to make is that the so-called “healthier” versions often are mere marketing ploys. Just because a product lists “wheat flour” and the waffle or bread is browner, don’t be fooled. Chances are the manufacturer has still stripped out all the goodness and fiber, just as they do with traditional white flour (which also is made from “wheat”!). Look at the nutritional content on many “whole wheat” products and you’ll still see less than 1 g of fiber! You have to look for “whole grain,” not just “whole wheat.” There are some awesome whole grain breads and other products out there … please compare them to the “whole wheat” and see what I mean. Look at the fiber content. And, yes, the whole grain products do seem to be more expensive. Is it because they are actually more expensive to produce? I don’t know.