Calories Are Cheap
Have you ever noticed how cheap calories are?
At the drive thru a 770 calorie Whopper at Burger King is only $2.39 (in my area), for something like another $2.25 I can add fries and a drink for another 550 calories. That's $4.64 for 1320 calories! What a deal.
If you go to the grocery store, the high calorie, ready to eat or quick fix items are always the cheapest. Box of mac-n-cheese...$.99, bag of chips...$.99. Quick easy, mindless.
On the other hand, buying fresh meat and vegetables and cooking at home takes a lot more time and typically will run you more money. For one it's perishable so if you don't eat it right away, it's completely wasted. If you take a look at this article at My Money Blog you can see that as you spend more money on the 200 calorie example used, the food gets healthier and fresher.
To quote the article:
We Are Getting Fat
You can really see the differences in prices as you go down the tables. The cheapest calories are from very basic items like flour, sugar, and oil. The next items are primarily processed snack foods - potato chips, candy, cheetos, and crackers. The most expensive calories include all the fresh fruits and vegetables.
How does this affect us? An estimated 30% of adults over the age of 20 are obese, and that number is rising. On top of that, the poor tend to be more overweight than the rich. Is this because we like to buy the cheaper (and more calorie-dense) food, with the poor even more so than the rich? I certainly ate my share of $2.99 Value Meals in high school because I could afford it. If you’re hungry and broke, you just want something that’s cheap and filling. Donuts and chips sound much better than white bread.
Maybe the less affluent are not as well educated about nutrition. On one hand, I can’t see how people can confuse a Burger King Stacker for health food. On the other, I think if there was a huge calorie label painted in food coloring on every single thing we ate, including eating out, it would definitely change my behavior.
I don't know if it's possible to reduce this trend or not but the wiser we are with our food and money choices, the healthier we will be overall.
Try the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com
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