Debunking: "Is healthy food really more expensive?"

Mick West

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http://todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn....71-is-healthy-food-really-more-expensive?lite

Contrary to popular belief, it can actually cost more to eat badly. In fact, a new government report finds that nutritious foods – such as grains, vegetables, fruit and dairy – typically cost less than items high in saturated fat and added sugars.
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The "it costs too much eat healthy" claim has always seemed a bit dubious to me. This study seems to confirm those suspicions. I think the truth is more like "it's too much trouble to eat healthy"
 
The "it costs too much eat healthy" claim has always seemed a bit dubious to me. This study seems to confirm those suspicions. I think the truth is more like "it's too much trouble to eat healthy"
The nutritional profile of wild, low bush blueberries significantly outshines those of most store-bought varieties. That said, it sure is time consuming to pick a good quantity of 'em. But they're free if you just go foraging. Has anyone read Eating on the Wild Side by Jo Robinson? I have yet to peek at it, but I read that it deals with how selective breeding has inadvertently created a nutritional disparity between wild foods and those commonly cultivated in the agribusiness. Been meaning to look into that claim...
 
When another measure — price per calorie — was used to compare foods, many healthful fruits and vegetables cost more than less healthy ‘moderation foods’ — especially those high in saturated fat and/or added sugars (such as chocolate candy, ice cream and tortilla chips ).

Although previous studies that used price-per-calorie to measure food costs similarly suggested healthy foods were often more expensive than less healthy options, a 2011 study by the USDA that used price of edible weight found that, although whole grains cost more than refined grains, and fresh and frozen dark green vegetables cost more than starchy vegetables, healthful items such as skim and 1 percent milk were less expensive than whole and two percent milk. Bottled water also tended to be less costly than carbonated nonalcoholic drinks.
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So what they found is that calories cost money, water is cheaper than lemonade and if you want to lose weight, instead of saving dollars by eating less, you can save pennies by eating "light".

That may be good news for fat Americans, but for people of normal weight it still means that eating healthy means spending more.
 
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