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Why eating healthy for cheap is a complex, and often heated issue
By Meg | December 31, 2007
I read a lot of blogs on saving money, and sometimes I even follow their advice. While I usually don’t comment much on those blogs, I often read the discussions and it amazes how heated the discussions can get. There is plenty of judgement to go around and a lot of people think they know how best other people should spend their money.
One of the most heated topics is health, especially when it comes to eating healthy. As someone who is trying to both eat healthy and save some money, I read a lot of those posts and discussions — discussions that often leave me wondering what is up with some people.
Here are just three posts that I read today on Wise Bread where the discussion got negative quick:
- The new face of poverty is fat
- Healthy eating — it’ll cost you!
- Why is it so expensive to be healthy?
In each case, the authors point out that eating healthy can be difficult if you’re on a limited budget — though not impossible. The problem is not a lack of food, but rather the high cost of nutrient-rich foods, especially compared to the low price of processed foods full of calories. As someone who has looked at prices in the grocery store, this seems like common sense to me. If that wasn’t enough, I’ve known a lot of genuinely poor people and I know what the typical meal looked like: lots of unhealthy, processed carbs. So, what’s to argue about?
There always seems to be a few people who, in the name of “advice”, start criticising others for their spending habits. Helpful advice is one thing, but if you don’t see things their way, you’re “stupid” or “lazy” or “just don’t care enough.”
What works for one, doesn’t work for everyone
It’s not that their tips are necessarily bad, it’s that they don’t work for everyone. Just because something works for you, doesn’t mean that it will work for everyone else. Here are some examples of frequent arguments to illustrate why this is such a complex issue. Please note, these aren’t meant to be quotes, and not everyone who offered these tips did so rudely:
People should just shop where it’s cheaper like Walmart/farmers markets/ethnic markets/etc.
First off, cheaper doesn’t always mean affordable. But more importantly, there are many places in the U.S. where there are no grocery stores nearby, let alone Walmarts, farmers markets, or ethnic markets. Due to transportation issues and the price of gas, many people only have access to stores within easy walking distance. As a result, they often have to rely on convenience stores where unhealthy foods are expensive and healthy foods are nearly nonexistent.
Just eat lots of rice/beans/lentils.
Those foods are cheap, especially when bought in bulk. And they are healthier than a lot of other carbohydrates like white flour pasta. However, they aren’t a balanced diet on their own. Things get a lot more complicated if you have food allergies or other health conditions that call for a special diet.
Plus, those foods can take a lot of time to prepare. Someone who’s working two or more jobs to make ends meet doesn’t have a lot of time to cook. Having a rice steamer or slow cooker can help, but those things cost money, too.
They should just grow their own food.
It’s a nice idea in theory, but it’s probably the least practical idea for most people. It takes time, energy, physical work that not everyone can do, an initial investment, a place to grow the food, the right climate, and some know how. My own attempts have cost more than I’ve saved. However, This might be a good idea if you’re an able-bodied retiree in Florida with a means to get started.
It all starts at birth when moms decide to give their kids formula instead of breastfeeding them.
Oh, it gets worse. Here’s a direct quote from the comment section of Why is it so expensive to be healthy:
98% of all addictions, disorders, violence can be traced back to whether or not the bonding experience between mother and baby was loving and consistent or was it a venue for rejection and artificial substitutes for maternal love.
I’ll spare you the rest. Even if that was true for .001% of those cases, a lot of women don’t have the choice to breastfeed whether due to medical issues, a lack of time, or other problems. If you want women to breastfeed more, then we have to work on giving them more opportunities to do so and provide help and education to those women who have medical problems — but don’t guilt trip the women who can’t breastfeed.
Eating out is dumb when you can cook at home for so much less.
First off, a lot of people on frugal blogs aren’t completely broke, they’re just looking for a way to save money here and there so that they can spend more on the things that are important to them. If they enjoy eating out and they have the money to do so, they aren’t stupid; they just have different priorities. It may seem foolish to people who think that a meal is just a meal, but there’s more to eating out than the food.
On the other side, there are people who are poor and eat a lot of cheap fast food. Again, they may have limited time to cook. Or, they might not have a place at work to refrigerate or warm up lunch. Or it may even be the case that eating that greasy $1 burger is the only thing they look forward to eating because they’re eating nothing but beans and rice at home.
Give advice, not judgements
Let me be clear, I’m not trying to justify anyone’s bad eating habits. I’m not saying that these ideas are without merit, either. I’m just disgusted by the way some people give advice with such condescension — and not just on this topic. So, before you give advice, check your attitude. Don’t get upset if your advice doesn’t fix everything. Chances are, you only know a small part of the problem.
Tags: Etiquette, Food, Health, Language & Writing, Priorities, Saving Money, Spending Money, Writing
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January 1st, 2008 at 10:17 am
This is a really great post on taking a grain of salt with all of the advice floating out there :)
The one major point about eating out is to go out for the experience and because you cannot make the food at home. And to spend time w/ friends… which is the true value of eating out :)
January 1st, 2008 at 10:17 am
And that’s a really good point about the $1 hamburger being what they look forward to.. never thought about that!
January 1st, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Thanks FB!
My husband and I definitely enjoy eating out, mostly because it’s a great way to spend time with each other and friends. We could find other ways to spend time together, but it is about the entire experience.