The Cost of Good Health

If our government really wanted to do something productive, it would regulate the prices of healthy food. Seriously, this issue might infuriate me as much as anything that happens at my local grocery store.

Well, OK, the thing that makes me the most angry is when the store raises the price of something and sticks a little sign on it that says "New LOW Price."  I may be stupid, ladies and gentlemen, but I do realize that sign means the store raised the price of an item, not lowered the price.  And it is just downright insulting store personnel think that sign is going to fool me.

But that is not what I want to discuss in this post.  I want to talk about the price of healthy stuff.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store because I forgot an ingredient I needed to make my chocolate pie for book club.  I understand that chocolate pie is not healthy, and that is why I am not giving you the recipe for my delicious pie.  (However, if you want to hear a funny story about chocolate pie, read "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett.)

I forgot to get sweetened condensed milk at the store the night before.  Sweetened condensed milk is terrible for you, and I just don't recommend eating very much of it.  Unless you are making my chocolate pie, in which case you will need to purchase some.

I always use fat-free sweetened condensed milk, because it makes me feel just a tiny, teeny, eensy-weensy bit better about eating the chocolate pie.  Besides, it tastes exactly the same.

I arrive at the baking aisle, and I notice that sweetened condensed milk, in every brand and variety, is on sale for $1.65.  I always love a good deal, so I am pleased about this.  Until I realize that the only type of sweetened condensed milk not on sale is the one variety my store carries in fat-free, which still is priced at $2.55.

This brings on all kinds of irrational anger.  "Bleepedy-bleep-bleep-bleep!" I scream inside my head.

This single incident reminds me about how often this happens with all kinds of food.  The healthy brands of frozen meals nearly always are more expensive than the fattening TV dinners.  Lean ground beef costs dollars more a pound than really nasty fatty ground beef.  Reduced-fat crackers and cookies and 100-calorie packs cost a great deal more than the regular variety. And it goes on.

I haven't even mentioned how expensive fresh produce is, and you cannot have a healthy diet without it. To be healthy in this country, you must spend more money.

I have read countless health articles and Web sites that try to deny the fact it is more expensive to eat healthier.  They do not want people to use this as an excuse.

BUT IT'S TRUE.  It may be an excuse, but it is a valid one.

Please click here to watch a Center for Disease Control map of how the United States has gotten more and more obese in the past 25 years.  It is fascinatingly horrifying.

Yet the entire food industry is making it really difficult for people to purchase healthy things at a reasonable cost.  I know this must be a factor for a lot of people, because I am not terribly poor and still weekly I have to force myself not to buy the less expensive, much less heart-healthy ground beef.

Truly, if I had unlimited cash flow, my groceries would be much healthier than they already are. And they are pretty darn healthy as it is.  Think of the people who just can't afford the fat-free sweetened condensed milk.  They are forced to eat a McDonald's, buy the heart-attack hamburger at the grocery store, and eat slightly more fattening chocolate pie.

Is cost the reason why obesity exists? No.  Obesity exists because of sedentary lifestyles and poor eating habits.  But do grocery costs aid in the fight against obesity? No.  It is just one more deterrent to a healthy lifestyle.

I, for one, am tired of it.  I still bought the fat-free variety of sweetened condensed milk.  I was not going to consume a handful of additional calories because the grocer deemed it more cost-effective, but I feel taken advantage of.  The grocer knows being healthy is important enough to me that I will pay more.  His trick works on me.

But what about the people whose tight budgets mean they don't have a choice?