I think I've seen a person as fat or fatter than me in Whole Foods twice in all the years I've shopped there (I don't shop there exclusively, I can't afford it! I go there for specific things and sales).
I found the article interesting but, once again, hate to see BMI used as the marker for obesity.
Well I don't spend $32/day on food so not sure how'd I'd save that much
Anyway, I shop at Whole Foods, farmer's markets, a local organic store, asian markets, Trader Joe's and rarely a store like Safeway or other standard supermarkets. There are things actually at Whole Foods that are cheaper than other regular supermarkets. I think it really depends what you buy and how you shop. For instance, since Whole Foods (and other similar stores) sell beans, grains, nuts, etc in bulk, it is often cheaper for me to get those items there than anywhere else. The 365 brand at WF is also well priced and often same price or even cheaper (depending on product) than regular grocery stores.
I also buy things by price. Yesterday at the organic market, romaine lettuce was 99 cents/head while green leaf lettuce was $2.49. Guess which one I bought?
Anyway, I think it is a shame that there articles like this that try to represent 'better' stores as more expensive. I think the real message should be on doing your own price comparison in various stores and buy things where they make sense to buy them.
Agreed, Nelie. I also buy certain items at WF that I can get for less $ than other places. When they have sales on produce, it's less expensive than commercial stores and I stock up (like when local, organic collard greens were 99 cents a bunch, compared to commercial stores $1.99).
Better stores aren't just "represented" as more expensive, better stores almost always ARE more expensive. The difference doesn't have to be $32 - it's just the difference the researcher was quoted as having seen in a 2008 study.
My husband and I are both on disability, and on what seems to us a very tight budget, and yet we're above the poverty line significantly because we had very good jobs when were were working.
I don't know how people less educated, less skilled, with less money, less time and more mouths to feed could eat healthfully. Especially if they're carb sensitive or insulin resistant - that is they had difficulty losing on high-carb foods (as I do, even at very low calorie levels).
Low-calorie food is more expensive. It doesn't have to be unaffordable, but it takes more cunning, effort, and skill to eat healthy, eating cheap.
Rice and beans is always given as an example of cheap and healthy food - but if you're carb-sensitive, it's going to be a food that's easy to overeat, and a food that can leave you hungrier because of the insulin spike. Also, if savings is your bottom line, you're likely going to be using white rice (not a whole food, and with a greater impact on blood sugar).
The "cheap" vegetables are stereotypically cabbage, onions, and sometimes carrots (I left out potatoes, which I consider a starch serving more than a vegetable).
You can get pretty sick of three vegetables.
Of course there are ways to save money, eat cheaply, and still lose weight and eat healthfully, but it isn't something you can do easily or naturally. If you're not a creative person, who is easily able to "think outside the box," you're going to spend more on low-calorie food than you would otherwise. When most people think cheap, they don't think lean proteins and fresh produce.
It doesn't help that there are stereotypes about cheap foods being inherently unhealthy. Lean, boneless chicken breast and steamed asparagus is seen as a "healthy" protein/veggie combination, but inexpensive pork steak and sauerkraut is not (and yes it's higher in sodium).
That people also still perceive "healthy" food as being "less tasty," especially when on a budget makes the issue further complicated.
I've not found a way to eat healthfully and cheaply by shopping at only one grocery store, and yet when I tell people all the places I shop in order to save money (while eating more health consciously), I usually get the same reactions "I don't have time to do that." Or they reject one or more of my suggestions (often making a disgusted face) such as shopping at discount stores like Aldi, overrun stores like Big Lots, or at dollar stores and ethnic markets.
Poverty is an issue. It's not the only issue, and it isn't always an insurmountable one, but it is an issue.
I think it really depends on what your budget is but one of my favorite blogs used to be a someone who spent $99/month on her and her 2 sons for food. Last I read though, her budget has allowed her more flexibility and she is no longer doing that.
If your budget is you are eating the bare bones then you aren't even spending the $220-$280 that they allocated for the 'cheaper' markets. I eat quite a few organics, some splurge items and my groceries are under $300. I also can't imagine shopping at a single market because yes if I bought everything at Whole Foods, it would break my budget but by shopping around and knowing where to buy things, it helps a lot.
Also obviously we all have our own issues. I too am carb sensitive but I have no problem eating beans and whole grains (although I don't eat a lot of grains in general).
"MSNBC reports that in a separate study in 2008, Drewnowski estimated that a calorie-dense diet costs $3.52 a day, compared with $36.32 a day for a low-calorie diet. "
I went shopping at our local Ralphs/Krogers today and just kind of looking around I figured a person could get a couple of packs of hot dogs, buns and some kraft dinner and some chef boyardee spaghetti/lasagna cans for about $10 if you had the 2 for 1 coupon for the hot dogs like I did....
you could feed your family 2 dinners for about $5 each....
about the same price for 2 avocados, a head of lettuce, a tomato and a package of turkey bacon.....
which would make salad for 2....
Now...I had the coupon and bought the hot dogs for next weeks camping...
but I skipped the rest because I don't have a family to feed....
I did get the avos....bacon...lettuce for a salad....
It strongly depends on where you live and where you shop. Of course the people who shop exclusively in whole-food stores are a lot thinner, as they belong to a different social class and have a different mind-set about food.
When I lived in Scotland, fruit and vegetables were so expensive it actually hurt to buy them. When I lived in Spain, they were so cheap I basically lived off red peppers, peaches and apricots.
I just cringe when people simplify data as in this article. There are so many different factors influencing obesity, and you could never demonstrate all of them and causes and effects (if they are clear at all) in one newspaper report.
One major issue surely is that a lot of people can't cook properly any more. A friend of my parents, a single mother with two young children, and a part-time job, is surely one of the people who has very little to spend on food - but she makes absolutely everything from scratch. There are never store-bought chocolates, lemonades etc in her home, because she can't afford them, and her and her children's diet is surely a lot healthier then everyone around them with a lot more money at their disposal! (They are all really slim.)
For myself, I spend a lot less money on groceries since I started my new way of feeding my body - because all those little unhealthy treats and ready-made dinners were a lot more expensive than the extra fruit and veggies.
Yeah, that article really makes no sense. I just don't see who is spending $36 a day to eat...that sounds crazy to me. *shrugs*
And, not really relevant but I thought it was kinda funny...we don't have a single one of the grocery stores they listed in my neck of the woods. It's all Wal-mart, K-mart, Kroger, Publix, Winn Dixie, and Piggly Wiggly around here (and we only have 1 each of the Winn Dixie and Piggly Wiggly).
Yeah, that article really makes no sense. I just don't see who is spending $36 a day to eat...that sounds crazy to me. *shrugs*
And, not really relevant but I thought it was kinda funny...we don't have a single one of the grocery stores they listed in my neck of the woods. It's all Wal-mart, K-mart, Kroger, Publix, Winn Dixie, and Piggly Wiggly around here (and we only have 1 each of the Winn Dixie and Piggly Wiggly).
We don't have ANY of those stores. I live in a town of 3,600 and have one locally-owned (HIGHLY expensive) grocery store. Nearest Wal-Mart is 30 miles away!
Eating cheap here is HARD, which is why we try our best to shop monthly at a big store in another town. A pound of dried pinto beans costs more than $2. But we can get all beef hot dogs for $1.79 a pack (and the "all meat" for less than $1). Kraft Shells & Cheese is $1.50 a box, and Hamburger Helper is about $1.20. The stuff they move more of is cheaper - and that doesn't include anything remotely healthy.
Oh! And I, along with many of my obese friends shop at Whole Foods. Great veggies, but many unhealthy options, too. Did they weigh everyone as they walked in to see if they were obese?
Okay...there may be some validity to some of this, LOL. I was in Kroger today and almost fainted when I looked and saw Romaine lettuce was priced at $3.38 per head...yes, 3 DOLLARS AND 38 CENTS!!! I could buy 2 boxes of hamburger helper for that...LOL
It's basically saying that you spend $3.52 a day to eat cheap, high cal food. Then it costs $36.32 per day to eat low cal food. It's too skewed. Did they mean to get to the same level of calories?
Because I could see spending $3.52 on some value meal to rack up to 1500 cal fast and cheap, and then spending way more buying ingredients to make low cal meals to get me to 1500 cal.
But I don't spend 36.62 on one day. What are they talking about? What are they eating?
Sure, I can see blowing that much at Whole foods for organics and gourmet food in a day. But there's the whole middle segment not covered. Like... low cal conventionally grown food maybe? Or a mix of organics and conventional? What about shopping at produce markets and butchers?
That has more brackets. If this is counting dining out, then we're in the liberal end of things. If this does NOT count dining out, and I figure extra for eating dinners in on the weekend instead of going out, we'd be in the Low Cost bracket.
Yes, your income level influences your food shopping, but so does your access to places to shop, your education, your eating style, your cooking skills.
Save $32 A Day By Eating Junk?
It's all Wal-mart, K-mart, Kroger, Publix, Winn Dixie, and Piggly Wiggly around here (and we only have 1 each of the Winn Dixie and Piggly Wiggly).
