Eating Right Shouldn’t Be So Damn Expensive by Rambling Raven

Since my father’s stroke, I have been urging my mother to move away from their old way of eating, to one that includes more healthful diet. My dad is a meat and potatoes man. He, unfortunately, loves red meat and pork. And for him old eating habits are difficult to break. To help him on his new journey my sisters and I went through my parents kitchen cabinets and tossed out most of the unhealthy stuff. We got rid of the processed foods, canned goods, sweets and vegetable oils. We then took my mother grocery shopping. We started by replacing the old vegetable oils with organic extra virgin olive oil. We replaced the sweets with low sugar items and we replaced the red meat and pork with organic framed raised poultry. We also purchased fresh wild salmon for my dad, who just has to eat fish on Fridays. The butter was replaced with a healthier substitute and we purchased oat and seven grain bread in place of the white and wheat.

Like most working class parents, my mom and dad counted their pennies and had to shop within their budget. As my sisters and I put items into the shopping cart my mother couldn’t help but to check the price of each item. Most of the prices caused her to roll her eyes or shake her head. I told her not to worry that the groceries would be paid for by her daughters. She told us how grateful she was for the groceries but she just couldn’t understand why eating healthier was so much more expensive. The organic fruit, she pointed out was twice as much as the conventionally grown fruit. And since it was so much more than most people she knew couldn’t afford to buy them regularly.

My mother’s observation got all of us talking. We discussed how not only was the food expensive but how we had to go outside of our neighborhood to get it. The local grocery stores had a very small organic section. We had to find a Whole Foods in order to get a large variety of organic produce and products. Because of prices and location I am convinced poor folk will never know the benefits of eating such foods.

Statistic after statistic tells us just how fat Americans are. We are bombarded with information on how the Standard American Diet has contributed to grave medical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Yet to those of us who seek to eat healthier as a preventative measure, it becomes a financial sacrifice to try and do so.

For months now I have listened to commentators, policy makers, politicians and the everyday American debate healthcare. I can’t help but wonder if anyone has the balls to take on one of the major contributing factor to the dismal health status of Americans, the food industry. We need more support for local farmers and those who grow and raise food without pesticides and hormones. And we need better regulation of how food is processed.

I know that we are responsible for treating our bodies with care and respect. However, if government truly cares about the health of its citizens it must ensure that they have access to clean healthy food. I don’t believe we will see beef, pork and poultry raised organically on a large scale anytime soon. So until then, those of us who are looking for an alternative to the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) will have to pay a little more to try and live a clean and healthy life.

Related Posts

• Pet-Peeves: Co-workers by Rambling Raven
• Should I Say Something? by Rambling Raven
• Is Obama Being Too Timid? by Rambling Raven
• Ladies, Please Cover Up by Rambling Raven
• Musings by Rambling Raven