Food Prices, Why are they so crazy?

[cots]

So I started the Keto diet and one thing I can't get over is the cost of healthy food. I mean, no wonder people are overweight in the USA (or is this a global problem?) First off, there is basically barely any food that doesn't have unnatural chemical additives and the food you do find is insanely expensive. There is no way in hell someone on food assistance could afford to buy groceries for a month based on how much they get for a single person (around $200). I don't shop at the yuppie food stores, I stick to old fashioned Wal-Mart or other "cheap" stores and their fruit, meat and veggies are insanely priced. $0.80 for a single lemon? $15.00 for a steak? 12 eggs for $6.00? $5.00 for 4 sticks of real butter? What the hell is going on? How does the government talk about eating healthy, but then expect people to be able to spend tons of money on food? They don't realize that everyone doesn't make $60,000 a year! Food is a joke even more so at the latest chains of "healthy" food stores (Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, etc ...) where they want $30.00 for a steak! I guess I'll have less money to buy stuff like the Switch I want or the new surround sound receiver I need (my old one is overheating a lot). It shouldn't be so damn expensive to eat healthy! Although, I guess I'll stick with the Keto diet for a while as my blood sugar levels are fucking awesome (I actually stopped taking some medications for the diabetes). Can someone try to explain to me why healthy food costs so much in the USA?

 

[Deleted-355425]

If you are doing the keto diet to lose weight just eat whole foods and lots of eggs and chicken, veggies and fruit and get a good amount of protein in you. Whey protein is a good source.

 

[cots]

If you are doing the keto diet to lose weight just eat whole foods and lots of eggs and chicken, veggies and fruit and get a good amount of protein in you. Whey protein is a good source.

I'm doing the diet for a variety of reasons, but the main goal is the lose weight so I can eat certain fruits, but not most as they have a lot of sugar in them. I actually already have high protein levels and have been told to stop eating so much! It also helps with the diabetes which is a big plus because normal food sends my levels up a lot and I was taking insulin 4 times a day along with a hormone to make my liver process sugar. I'm down to 1 times a day and I quit the hormone pill.

 

[Deleted-355425]

Didnt realize you were on insulin and hormone meds, dont take my advice im not a doctor and have no idea what your dietary needs are,

 

[FAST6191]

You started a fad diet and find that the food for it is expensive?

Equally what is the matter with "unnatural chemical additives"? There is plenty of natural stuff that is horrendous for you, plenty of artificial stuff that is just fine and indeed no small amount of artificial equivalents of things found in nature that are better by virtue of being purer. The key is knowing what things are what.

But yes I found it expensive to eat healthily in the US. It is kind of different in the UK -- it is not impossible to eat cheap junk but you have to work at it. On the other hand if you can cook even a little bit then you can eat far better than your companions doing frozen chips and pizza.

Some have pondered that it is not good food that is expensive but that crap food is subsidised such that it is far cheaper to go that way. Equally if you insist on having California, a noted desert at this point in time, as your greenhouse you get to pay for the water to pull it off.

 

[cots]

Didnt realize you were on insulin and hormone meds, dont take my advice im not a doctor and have no idea what your dietary needs are,

Well the way I look at it is "less meds" is better which the doctors have told me. They have wanted me to try a diet so some time now. Too bad my insurance doesn't pay for the food :/

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

I recently went on sort of a keto diet (diabetic diagnosis caught me by complete surprise) anyway yeah if you watch the prices of everything in a store eating healthy VS eating food to survive is easily two times as expensive and more depending on how low you wanna go into the food pyramids basement...

It's super hard to go keto and not spend a fortune, it's possible but you gotta get used to the idea of eating canned and frozen veggies and if it's bread or pasta it has to be 100% whole wheat and even then small servings, you can eat lots of proteins but stick to chicken and fish if possible beef is cheaper and eggs are cheaper but then you do the cholesterol dance.

The important thing to remember, eat as healthy as possible but no matter how healthy you are, your dying... Just don't be so wound up in healthy living that you miss out on the living part.

Life just isn't worth living if I can't have a Big Mac at least on my birthday or something... lol

Edit: Some tips I have, check everything... I got some seasoning packets thinking "It's just taco seasoning and I used 90% lean beef I should be fine!" it was fine but I read the back of the packet and was surprised at the amount of sugar in it, I knew there was salt out the ass but sugar too. Not a lot of sugar mind you but I am trying to get rid of every gram possible to the point I switch the brand of sliced ham I used and I am lucky to have a great memory so I can keep track of all this stuff. But to reiterate read the ingredients list on everything and know how much of this and that your shoving in your body.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Economy is bad. Simple. For a Dumb answer, please see below.

Cause food can't be taxed, least where I live.

 

[cots]

You started a fad diet and find that the food for it is expensive?

Well, most of the diet requires eating fairly normal foods. There are some items in it that are indeed "fads" and cost a lot, but I am avoiding ordering food from online. Something about it seems wrong. I am sticking to normal foods you can find in the grocery store, but I'm amazed at how much they cost compared to junk food.

 

[FAST6191]

Volume wise I still maintain my claim of fad. If you are going to push things into the ketosis regime it will cost more than an otherwise normal but still healthy setup that does include things you are depriving yourself of. You could even still aid your condition via diet like that.

I am mostly just irked at the return of ketosis as a dieting form -- last time it was popular it was a fad pushed by charlatans and I am not seeing the difference here. I am all for considering what goes into your body, indeed pausing to do that when in the supermarket (or planning ahead) does most of that compared to buying whatever junk you like, does more than most imagine.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

Volume wise I still maintain my claim of fad. If you are going to push things into the ketosis regime it will cost more than an otherwise normal but still healthy setup that does include things you are depriving yourself of. You could even still aid your condition via diet like that.

I am mostly just irked at the return of ketosis as a dieting form -- last time it was popular it was a fad pushed by charlatans and I am not seeing the difference here. I am all for considering what goes into your body, indeed pausing to do that when in the supermarket (or planning ahead) does most of that compared to buying whatever junk you like, does more than most imagine.

Since my diagnosis and starting a healthy eating regime (I skimmed over some keto pages mostly looking for information mostly.) I have lost like 20 pounds and feel a lot better of course that could be from lowering my blood sugar from 12.9 down to 7.1 (and probably lower now) Not sure if diet and working out is the main thing that is working or the 2 meds the Dr. put me on. (probably both)

https://www.ruled.me/guide-keto-diet/#benefits-of-keto

I didn't know what the diet was called that the Dr. told me what to focus on eating to lower my blood sugar but this diet seems pretty close to it. Also I don't really see the harm in avoiding eating things like potato's or bleached white bread or white rice (things that have little in them for you besides starch and calories?) Sounds like it's just advocating people eating more veggies and higher quality proteins. Never bad advice, unless you take it to the extreme.

Still have to wait almost a year for my Big Mac lol

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Depends on the location really. You say you pay $6 for 12 eggs, whereas here in MI I can get 2 dozen for $3, Lemon's here are $0.60ea, I pay ~$6 a lb for new york strip steaks whenever we feel like having them.

You likely just live in an area where food products take more time to reach store shelves, which results in higher prices (because of shipping costs, storage costs, etc etc). Has nothing really to do with "healthy" foods being "more expensive" just because they're better for you than whatever other processed products.

I'd suggest taking a look at other stores that might be a bit further out from your normal commute, as different stores in even the same 10-20 mile radius could have vastly different prices on some products. The main supermarket we go to for groceries has around 2-5% cheaper prices on nearly all their groceries, and it's about 10 more minutes out of our way vs the closest store. But it ends up being worth it when we want to buy groceries in bulk, for 2 or 3 weeks worth for two people.

 

[spotanjo3]

Economy is bad. Simple. For a Dumb answer, please see below.

Cause food can't be taxed, least where I live.

Nah.. even Economy is good or bad.. Still expensive food anyway. They are after our money for their own cowardly power and greedy.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Nah.. even Economy is good or bad.. Still expensive food anyway. They are after our money for their own cowardly power and greedy.

That's like everyone in the world, survival turns people against people and it has always been that way for years. Soon as one's "power" is threatened, things turn nasty with them acting out of fear of losing it to someone else.

It's probably just cause more people exist, the more people are born, the more it can cost for the economy.

 

[astrangeone]

Asian food markets are your friend. I can get cheaper cuts of meat (beef eye of round), loads of chicken and spices are cheap.

And veggies are mostly buy in season.

 

[GameSystem]

When I was in college and didn't feel like spending money, I accidentally lost 20 lbs. in two weeks. Losing weight is simple math. Calories burned must be greater than calories taken in. You don't need to do any of those diets, just eat less.

My diet at the time was a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I had a multivitamin in the morning to balance my nutritional needs. You probably can't do that due to sugar issues, but I'll tell the story anyway. The only liquid I drank was tap water. One loaf of white bread (the worst kind for you) costs $0.69 - $0.99. Loaves normally hover around 2 lbs, so you pay basically $0.50 a lb or less. I made a rule to never go above $1 a lb for food. The cheap and enormous jars of peanut butter would be like $2-3, but price per pound was under $1. The only exception was the multivitamin. Luckily you only needed to spend the $6-8 on them like once every two months.

Just go to a store and buy the cheapest stuff possible that won't kill you. Eat that and only that. Eventually, you'll get so sick of it, you'll only end up eating half of it, and then not wanting to finish the rest. Save that half for a few hours later, because wasting food is a sin. You'll still feel full, and will lose weight and save money. I never spent more than $20 a month on groceries.

 

[spotanjo3]

That's like everyone in the world, survival turns people against people and it has always been that way for years. Soon as one's "power" is threatened, things turn nasty with them acting out of fear of losing it to someone else.

It's probably just cause more people exist, the more people are born, the more it can cost for the economy.

Very true.

 

[qqq1]

The foods that are good for you are also more difficult to grow, harvest, and sell. If you're paying $6 for a dozen eggs you need to find a new store.

 

[PuNKeMoN]

Healthy food is expensive. Junk food is cheap.

Here is exactly why, as explaned by capitalism:
1 The healthy food requires human labor to produce, transport, and distribute. Those humans need to be compensated for their time and labor.
2 The processed food is produced in great quantities by a machine, saving a lot of cost.

Here is an interesting thought though.
Thanks to capitalism, medicine is also a business. And if junk food causes people to be ill, medical industry stands to make a profit. Chew on that.

 

[xpoverzion]

Cooking healthy food in bulk is actually cheaper than eating fast food, and other junk. You can cook a huge pot of soup, with chicken for about $50. For a single person, this pot will give you 3 meals a day, for about 4 days. That's 12 meals for $50. Compare that to eating a typical fast food combo meal that costs around $8 these days. 12 of these fast food meals would be about $96, and not to mention much worse for your health. The secret is knowing how to cook in bulk. Most Americans don't know how to cook anymore. Cooking for most Americans involves heating up highly processed frozen dinners, or throwing together a plate full of a bunch of other processed garbage. Chopping veggies, chicken, and other fresh ingredients takes a lot of effort and time. But in the end, when you do the math, healthy eating is usually cheaper than eating junk food as long as you know how to shop for it, and how to cook it in bulk.