What Is Cheaper? Healthy VS. Junk Food

I hear this subject debated all the time so I thought I would offer my two cents on the topic.  Which is cheaper- Healthy Food or Junk Food?

I know that there are often sales and coupons available that allow you to get all kinds of junk food for cheap or free- but I think Healthy Food is cheaper.

Why?  Here's how I see it:

• Think about the value that you are getting for the amount of nutrients that are present in the food.  You would have to buy a whole lot more junk food to get the same amount of the nutrients that your body needs, compared with buying healthy food.  With healthy food- you are getting more bang for your buck!  Even if you did consume more junk food than healthy food, you are most likely still not getting many of the nutrients that your body needs- no matter how much you consume.
• Don't just think short term- what are the Long -Term costs of eating junk food?  Some healthy food may cost you a little more right now, but if it is giving you more energy, a longer life, and a lower risk of developing chronic diseases- isn't it worth it??  
• Have you noticed how almost all junk food packages are growing smaller-while the price is actually creeping up?  I have not seen this with bags of brown rice, dry beans, flour, or fruits, veggies, and meat- I still see the same regular sale prices that I have for the past couple years for these items.
• Think of the cost per pound of healthy vs. junk food.  A bag of chips costs from $2-$4 for only 10-12 oz.   I can find boneless skinless chicken breasts for $2/lb. or under, and grapes or broccoli crowns for around $1 per pound all the time.  The healthy foods definitely seem like a much better deal to me!
• What if eating high fat- high calorie junk food causes you to gain weight?  How much does it cost to lose that weight?  This article says that in 2004 the weight loss industry, just in the U.S. was worth $46.3 billion!?!?  I can't imagine what it is now!  I think that the junk food industry and the weight loss industry have some sort of alliance with each other!
• I often see posts on other blogs about how readers can't find coupons for healthy food- it is true that there are fewer healthy coupons available than there are coupons for junk food- but I still think there are plenty of healthy coupons available.  I don't know where some people are looking- but I see coupons all the time for rice, cheese, whole grain pasta, bread, healthy cereal, Oats/Oatmeal, yogurt, and even coupons for organic products!
• Often, when you eat healthy food, you don't have to eat as much as you would if you were eating junk food for a variety of reasons:
• There is almost always more fiber in healthy food- which fills you up and keeps you satisfied longer than junk food.
• Junk food is often loaded with sodium and MSG to make the "junk" actually taste good- this becomes almost addictive to your taste buds- you want to keep on expeirencing that sensation that you get when your taste buds are stimulated.  This causes you to eat more than you normally would. 

Personally, I think Healthy Food is a pretty good bargain!  What do you think?

Do You Have Any Nutrition Questions?

I love to research and write about nutrition topics so if you have any questions please let me know and I may be able to do a post about the topic.  I also love to nutritionally "dissect" foods.  Do you have a question about a certain food item?  I would love to give my Un-Professional opinion about whether or not a food marketed as being "healthy" really is.  Some posts I hope to cover in the near future:

• All about Trans Fat
• All about Fiber, and Soluble Vs. In-soluble fiber
• All about Juice
• Food dyes
• Please let me know which of these topics or others that you may be curious about!  I really want to know what my readers are interested in!  

Combining Proteins: Save Money And Healthier Too!

Serving at least one meatless meal (or more) per week can be a great way to start cutting down on your grocery budget, since meat is generally the highest priced ingredient that we purchase at the grocery store.  Serving your family less meat is also healthier.  Animal proteins are often high in calories, fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.  They also do not provide any fiber to your family's diet.  (I also did several speeches in college about how eating less meat is better for the environment too!  It is a win-win situation in almost every way!)  But what about your growing child's protein needs?  The truth is, most Americans get way more protein in their diets than they need, so going meatless one or two nights per week is probably just fine for your family. 

However, what if you have a child or other family member who does not eat very much meat to start with?  My little boy would truly be a vegetarian by choice if we allowed it.  Of course, when he is older he can make that decision for himself, but right now he is just picky about what he eats, so we try to encourage him to eat as many different foods from every food group as possible.  In case you are worried about making sure your family is getting enough protein, I am going to tell you how to combine proteins to ensure that you are meeting your and your family's protein needs:

• Combining proteins really does not have to be a complicated science.  It used to be believed that complementary proteins needed to be consumed together at every meal to ensure adequate protein intake.  It is now believed that as long as complementary proteins are eaten in the same day, that they will combine to form the proteins that your body needs.

What Are Some Complementary Proteins?  Most people think of rice and beans when they think of complementary proteins.  And that is true, but that is not your only option.  Here are two images showing foods that can be combined to form complete proteins:

(I hope you can read the top graphic!  I had to really shrink it to get it to fit)
Follow the arrows to see which food categories can be combined:

• You can combine Animal Proteins with Grains
• Animal Proteins or Soy Products with Legumes (such as beans, lentils, split peas)
• Soy Products with Nuts and Seeds
• Grains with Legumes
• And Legumes with Nuts and seeds can be combined

All of these combinations are complementary proteins.
If you would like more information check out this website:  The Vegetarian Resource Group
There is tons of great info on this site including all about vegetarian nutrition (special topics for kids and teens), as well as quick and easy low-cost vegan menus, how to best cook vegetables to preserve their nutrients, and more.

Healthy Eating Idea- Making Your Own Healthy Convenience Items

One thing that I find really helpful to me with eating healthy meals during the week, is cutting up, cleaning, and bagging all the fruits and veggies that I possibly can, on a less-busy weekend day.  If I have carrots or cauliflower already cut up and in a bag, it is so much easier when I am preparing dinner, if I can just open up the bag and dump them in my steamer for an easy and healthy side dish.  It is a very efficient use of your time to cut up everything that you can at once.  You only have to wash items one time, and then you only have to clean up once as well.

Making your own fresh fruit and vegetable convenience items can also save a lot of money.  You definitely have to pay a premium price for pre-packaged healthy convenience items at the grocery store.  Instead, stock up on the fresh fruits and vegetables that are in-season, or on sale in your area, and package them up yourself.  I have learned that unless I package up healthy fruits and veggies in bags for my husband to grab on his way out the door in the morning, he doesn't take any!

There are many items that work well if you pre-package them up in serving size baggies on the week-end (such as grapes, cantaloupe, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, onions, and some lettuces).  I probably would not count on pre-paring all of your produce on the weekend, but you can at least prepare 3-4 days worth.  Some fruits and vegetables may start to deteriorate after you cut them up (such as tomatoes and many fruits).

Nutritious and Delicious?

If I were to ask you what fruit you thought had the highest Vitamin C content what would be your first answer?  Maybe:  Oranges?  Nope, I'll give you a little hint:  look about one inch up.  Okay, actually the Kiwi fruit does not have the highest Vitamin C content of all fruit, but it far surpasses that of what is in oranges.  According to a study done by Rutgers University, the Kiwi fruit has more nutrients packed inside of it per ounce than any other fruit.  Wow, that's a pretty amazing honor, I think.  What's more, 1 medium Kiwi has about 2.5 grams of fiber.  That's a lot of fiber disguised in a little package.  In fact, that is how much fiber is in one slice of my family's favorite 100% whole wheat bread.

Have you ever had a Kiwi?  They are just plain delicious!  If they are fully ripe, they have a slightly sour, mildly sweet flavor.  The more ripe they are, the milder the flavor.

How to tell when a Kiwi is ripe:  Most of the time Kiwi fruits are not ripe when I buy them at the store.  A Kiwi fruit is ripe if you pick it up and it has a bit of give under light pressure.  If you find Kiwi fruits that are soft under light pressure, or their skin is wrinkled, they are probably over-ripe.  I have a problem with a lot of produce that I buy at the store:  it goes from rock-hard to mush over night.  I don't know if this is related to the way produce is picked under-ripe for transport to the store, but I do know that I rarely have this problem with Kiwi fruit.

How to peel a Kiwi:  I once read a great tip in a Martha Stewart Living magazine about the easiest way to peel a Kiwi fruit:  First you slice off both ends, then you take a metal spoon and slide it into the fruit right under the skin.  Then you turn the spoon, cutting away all the outside skin.  Your whole, peeled, Kiwi fruit should just slide right out of the skin for you to slice it up.  It should end up about like this:

Another reason why I love Kiwi fruits, is that they are on the EWG's list of the Clean 15!  If you would like to know what I am talking about, check out this post that I wrote.

Kinda seems like such an incredible super-food like the Kiwi fruit would be pretty expensive if it was packaged and sold in pill-form, huh?  Believe it or not, where I live, Kiwi fruits are one of the most affordable produce items available.  My local stores sell them for $0.25- $0.50 a piece-which I think is an incredible value when you take into account all the nutrition that is packed into each bite. 

My favorite ways to eat a Kiwi are just simply peeled and sliced up or added to a fresh fruit salad along with pretty much any other fruit that I have on hand (fresh pineapple, banana, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, you get the idea).

Want To Go Organic?

I really wish that I could feed my family organic food all of the time.  However, even if I had tons of extra money to cover the costs of choosing all organic, I think that my family would starve if I only bought organic.  Where I live, there are very little organic options to choose from.  Even in a bigger city, chances are, that there are fewer organic options than conventional.
So what can we do to lower our exposure to pesticides from fruits and vegetables without having to always buy organic?

Well, thankfully an organization called the Environmental Working Group does our homework for us and publishes a "dirty dozen" list of the 12 most pesticide-laden fruits and veggies.  Now we can know which fruits and vegetables that we should either try to avoid or buy organic whenever possible.  You can watch a clip HERE from Good Morning America about the "dirty dozen".   Here is a PDF you can check out about it( the fruits and veggies are slightly different from those on the video because the EWG re-tests and revises their lists).

Watching the video upset me a little bit because as you can see HERE, I just bought peaches and nectarines to feed my little boy.  Babies and young children are the most vulnerable to the effects of pesticides.  I knew that strawberries were on the "dirty dozen" list and I would always try to avoid buying them from the store because of it(luckily, my dad has an organic strawberry patch at his house).  And yet, here I have been unknowingly giving my son two fruits that are even worse for pesticide contamination, thinking that I am doing the right thing for him.  Unfortunately, no amount of washing or peeling can remove all the pesticides inside these fruits and veggies.  Luckily, we can become educated consumers and avoid the foods on the "dirty dozen" list if we can't choose organic.  What's more, the EWG also releases a "clean 15" list that lists the 15 fruits and veggies least contaminated with pesticides, as you can see above.This info is also contained on this PDF put together by the EWG as a little shoppers guide that you can take with you when you go to the grocery store.  By educating ourselves, we can make better choices for our family, by trying to stick to foods on the "clean 15" list and trying to avoid the "dirty dozen" if we either don't have the option of choosing organic, or simply can't afford to choose organic.
What else can we do to help protect ourselves and our family from pesticide exposure?

• Thoroughly wash you fruits and veggies before eating them.  Although this does not remove all the pesticides, it will help remove the ones right on the surface of the plant.  On the video clip, it said that a mixture of vinegar and water is effective.  In this article the EWG suggests scrubbing produce well.  I think I am going to make up a vinegar/water solution and keep it in a spray bottle in my kitchen and use it along with scrubbing.

• Try growing your own organic fruits and veggies.  Even if you don't have access to a plot of earth, maybe you could try planting a container garden.  Maybe someone you know would like to work with you on a garden- if they have land to grow on, you could plant and tend to the produce and share the bounty.  I only have room for a small organic garden at my house, but my dad has tons of room and this year we had a huge garden at his house.  Not only are the fruits and veggies from it beneficial for my family, but gardening as a family can be a fun activity, and my son is learning tons of new stuff in the process.

• I'd love to know about any ideas that you may have, please share them in the comments!