How do the food options available to us and the place that we live affect our likelihood to eat unhealthy? Here at school we have the luxury of all you care to eat dinning halls. It has made it much easier for me to monitor the food choices that I am making. I am often able to make myself choice some of the healthier options that are being offered. At home my choices were often based simply on what was in our fridge or pantry. For most people they do not even have it this easy. Many people in our country are stretching their dollars thin and have to make difficult choices when it comes to food. One study from the University of Washington found that the average price for 1,000 calories of high energy dense food but low in nutrients was $1.78. For low energy dense foods but high in nutrients the average price was $18.17. This is a very dramatic difference. People that have a low socioeconomic background are drawn to the high energy dense foods because it is easier to sustain themselves. In this way it is more difficult for people in poverty to eat healthy.
Another factor that affects our health from a food and exercise stand point can be where we live. At school the gym is about a 5 minute walk for most students. I know at home my gym was about a 15min drive away. This can definitely be a big determinate in how often someone works out. Now running is a free and effective way to workout. Everyday I see many students getting a run in on campus. Some people may live in areas where its not as safe to run. Some people may live in areas where it is often too cold to run. What are some strategies that people could use to maintain a healthy lifestyle if they are negatively affected by where they live?
Where we live can also affect what foods we have readily available. I remember my high school had a McDonalds directly across the street. It was always very tempting to go over there and grab a couple McDoubles. Local grocery stores can often only have a small selection if you are in a rural area or raise the prices of the healthier options. Is it solely our responsibility to choose what we eat? What if it is out of the control of some people? Simply the placement of food items in the grocery store can affect what people choose. Sugary cereals are often put lower on the shelves to gain the attention I know that part of the reason that some foods are so cheap is because what the government subsidizes. Is it the responsibility of the government to regulate some of the food choices? What are some options that you can employ to improve your eating habits? Your exercise routine?
Source:
Parker-Pope, Tara. "A High Price for Healthy
Food." Well A High Price for Healthy Food Comments. The New
York Times, 5 Dec. 2007. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.
3 comments:
I wholeheartedly believe that nutrition in the modern American's life is a struggle at each food choice they are given. The perfect chemical balancing that is put into creating the foods that stimulate the most taste buds is done so to sell a product, not to encourage a healthy diet, especially since most of these foods are not nutritional in the least. In this way, the companies producing these foods are making it exceptionally hard to make the right purchase when at a grocery store or restaurant. We as humans want to eat what tastes good, not what is healthiest. At this point, the main factors in determining what we do choose are 1. the amount of education we have received on living a healthy lifestyle, 2. the amount of self control we as individuals possess. I think at the point that we as a nation have gotten to, both of those factors are falling short. Ideally, we would be able to regulate these food companies, taxing them on a curve that has an inverse monetary relationship with the nutritional value of the food being produced. It sounds much like a 1984-esq reality, with Big Brother watching our every calorie, but when constituents can't differentiate between the impact a bag of cookies will have on their bodies and that which a banana will have, it's time for outside influences to step into the picture.
There's no way to get around the fact that most modern Americans have a terrible diet, especially with a national obesity rate of around 35%. There are numerous different factors that have caused this rate to become so high. Companies tend to not care about the people that they are creating food for, some do, but the majority don't. They simply do what will increase their paychecks. Most low nutrient foods are low nutrient because they have substitutes, fillers, or other "fake" ingredients, if the companies used real ingredients their products would at least be a little bit better. These low nutrient foods are plentiful and are very cheap, where as any non-substitute or non-chemically engineered food is going to cost significantly more. This isn't something that should be allowed. Our government is allowing foods that can kill us to be put on shelves. I heard on a podcast, that in 2007, Hershey's proposed to the FDA to change the definition of chocolate so that a product with absolutely no coco butter (what makes chocolate, chocolate) could be deemed chocolate and sold. That's absolutely absurd. There clearly needs to be a new authoritative figure that should be created to mandate the pricing and/or taxing of food companies. Like Phoebe said, they should be regulated on an inverse monetary tax curve in order to bring the prices of nutrient low and nutrient high foods closer together. This may seem extreme but this problem has gone on for too long, people almost need to be told exactly what to eat and how much of it because they don’t have the wherewithal to do it themselves.
This is an issue that has been effecting our nation since the obsession with fast-food first commenced. It makes no sense that the cheapest foods are the ones that are most detrimental to our body. For example, it is cheaper and more efficient to eat dinner off of the dollar menu than it is to prepare a fresh, home-cooked meal. This is part of the problem! At home, i try to eat as many fruits and vegetables possible and i was fortunate enough to have access to such foods but not everyone benefits from this luxury. However, if we start thinking of meals in terms of the weeks supply and not the daily supply, is it possible that we can make meals cheaper and more healthy. For example, to feed one person off of the dollar menu dinner for one week it would cost approximately $24.50 (that is $3.50 x 7). If that person were to go and purchase ingredients from a grocery store to make spaghetti that could last them a week it would cost approximately $7.00 for the meat, $2.00 for the green pepper, $4.00 for the sphagetti sauce, and $5.00 for bread and beverages; that is a total of $18.00 and it is healthier and lasts the entire week! When compared to daily costs cooking healthy is not cheaper but if we think long term, it is in fact cheaper to shop healthy. (this isn't even factoring in the medical bills associated with an unhealthy diet). Just Food for thought!!
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