Personally I love eating fresh, unprocessed locally grown food. So do most of the people I know, but with the rise in unemployment and/or underemployment, eating healthy for a lot of people is just not in their budget. Seriously, it costs more to eat healthy. This seems wrong and backwards. You would think that with all the health problems plaguing our nation, the powers that be would be advocating lower prices for healthy eating choices. However, a recent report from the Journal of Health Affairs says the new U.S. nutritional guidelines, (known to some of us as the food pyramid,) would require Americans to spend hundreds more dollars than they are already spending for food right now, in order to include foods containing more potassium, dietary fiber, calcium and vitamin D.
Further reports show some 4.5 million Americans are eating less-healthy food this year than they were a year ago, according to a Gallup Poll released in June, a trend that appears to go hand in hand with diminished spending power. Americans spent slightly less money on all types of food in 2009 than they did in 2008, the latest year for which data is available, according to Census data. At the same time, average annual spending on fresh fruits and vegetables also declined.
The trend appears particularly pronounced for African Americans, given that the black unemployment rate now sits at 16.2 percent, compared to 9.2 percent for Americans overall.
“Sample the American conversation about food, and poor people are often described as if they are stupid, foolishly opting for unhealthy foods over more wholesome options, while absorbing the attendant health problems associated with obesity, from heart trouble to diabetes. But poor people tend to eat high calorie, salty and sweet foods not out of ignorance, but in an accommodation with economic necessity, say experts.
“Foods with high calories tend to be cheaper,” says Adam Drewnowski, director of the Center for Obesity Research at the University of Washington in Seattle. “It’s really not irrational that a person with a tiny income is going to be more concerned with feeling full than how many anti-oxidants that they get. If you want to feel full and not go hungry, you would logically focus on foods that give you the most calories per dollar, not nutrients per dollar.”via As Black Unemployment Climbs, Healthy American Eating Declines.
This may seem a little off topic, however I see a correlation between eating healthy and problems we have educating our children. While listening to an NPR broadcast yesterday regarding Los Angeles Unified School Districts and the failure rates of students in certain areas, a caller thought their was too much red tape going on. He felt the teaching formula was a simple one; get qualified teachers, kids who are willing to learn and a safe comfortable environment for them to do their thing. At that one of the speakers said, “it’s not that simple; you have more to deal with in the classroom such as kids worrying about their parents unemployment status; being homeless; the kid may have a throbbing toothache because they haven’t been to the dentist in the past two years and also (this is my addition) not getting enough to eat; or better yet not getting the right foods to eat. Under nourished kids (people for that matter) don’t perform as well as their wealthier, possibly healthier counterparts. This is a real problem that seems to be (in my opinion) contributing to an even bigger problem.
Eating healthy should not be a luxury; it should be a necessity; not a privilege but a standard.
Processed/junk foods, like cigarettes should cost more, since they are contributing to unhealthy Americans.
By Tudy
tudyandyvetteshow.wordpress.com 