Pretty sure I’ve reblogged this before, but it’s so true and important. People claim to not have enough money or time to eat healthy, but that’s just a load of crap. I’ve SAVED so much money through cooking my own healthy meals, you just have to be smart. Cut coupons, take advantage of deals, and don’t be afraid to try new healthy things when they’re on sale. Produce can be really inexpensive if you go to the right places, and sometimes organic produce is even cheaper than the regular. When you go out to eat, you spend $5 on one cheeseburger meal. You could spend $10 on ground turkey and potatoes and have enough for 5 turkey burger meals. You do the math…
Let’s continue to ignore food deserts, economic/financial privilege, how FUCKING EXPENSIVE IT IS to be poor, and, y’know, even if all of that doesn’t apply to a person, people can still fucking eat what they want?
Also, $10 for 5 turkey burgers? Where the fuck do you live?
Wait so you’re saying it’s a better idea to go ahead and eat McDonald’s?
Never said that.
I’m saying it might be the only option for people, if even McDonald’s is an option. There are quite a few places where people can only get produce from a gas station convenience store (which, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen, but a single brown banana from a c-store probably averages ~$0.60 USD, or the price of a pound of organic bananas at a grocery store that doesn’t exist anywhere near them).
I’ve worked at natural/organic grocers in Plano and Dallas, and shopped at grocery stores all over NTX, in addition to Massachusetts, NY, Connecticut, etc.
In 1993, while we were living in Australia, it cost literally $2 USD PER BANANA because of the cost to ship them to the Alice. While I can’t imagine right now a banana would cost that much in the contiguous US, the price isn’t that far off, and sixty cents for a single banana when one might only have $10 USD this month for food… for the whole month… is just not a practical purchase.
Many people don’t have the money for this kind of healthy diet, and the numbers on the graphic are ridiculously out of touch with reality… or the reality of the general population in the US.
Many people also don’t have time to shop for and prepare this kind of healthy diet, usually because they’re too busy working multiple low-paying jobs so they can afford to have as much as a roof over their head.
People can eat whatever the hell they want and what they can afford, but eating healthy IS A PRIVILEGE.
I wouldn’t say eating healthy is a privilege.. I mean, eating at all is a basic necessity to survive (McDonald’s came after lettuce…). I don’t know why you’re getting so angry over this. I was just asking. Also, I’m sure there are plenty of fat Americans, driving cars - with gasoline in them, which costs money - to the nearest McDonald’s, past the Tom Thumb, to get their “cheaper” dinner. It’s still true that people who have the money to get McDonald’s also have the money to get leaner food for less. It may cost more at the time because it comes in larger amounts but it’s more food anyway so it makes sense to do that. Again, I’m not trying to have a back and forth rant, which it clearly seems like you are looking for, so I’ll end with this: I agree with what you first reblogged, but this post obviously isn’t directed at anyone in particular, meaning it probably isn’t thinking about the people in rural areas or developing countries or whatever. In my opinion, and from what I feel the message is supposed to be telling us, fat Americans can afford to eat healthier. End of story.
Two Mcdoubles and a drink is around $3.60 before tax in CT. With that you can get a bag of rice that will give you some where around 14-18 meals for one person. You do the math. All this is showing is that people don’t realize the cost of one meal at a fast food joint can cost the same as items that will give you a larger amount of meals.
RICE IS NOT A FUCKING MEAL. Especially if it’s a >$4 bag of rice being split into 14-18 “meals”. How the fuck is eating 14-18 “meals” of rice healthy?
“All this is showing is that people don’t realize the cost of one meal at a fast food joint can cost the same as items that will give you a larger amount of meals. “
A fuckload of people are incredibly aware of this ‘possibility’ because it’s always shoved down their throats (the idea of healthy eating, not healthy food) and yet their awareness does not make this healthy food any more accessible to them.
Also, McDonald’s for four, really? Let me tell you something: When you’re poor you buy the $1 burger. That’s your meal.
This chart was clearly written by a jackass who has no idea what the fuck being in poverty is actually like, the situations you actually face or the decisions RE: food you actually have to make as a poor person, let alone a poor person who doesn’t have access, the time or the ability to make healthy food.
reblogging for commentary. this is a joke.
Ok, seriously, I have to do this again?
Healthy eating is a privilege. In the last healthy eating debate I reblogged, people were making the argument that “a steak cost $10, and a cube of tofu costs $1!!! Everyone should be vegan!!!” Now we’re saying that it’s cheaper to eat healthy than to eat at McDonald’s. And you’re making the argument that “this post obviously isn’t directed at anyone in particular” but that “there are plenty of obese Americans who have the money to drive to McDonalds and pig out, blah blah blah.”
Let me make one thing clear: this post is directed at someone in particular, and it’s not obese people. Because the thing is, the obese people who have money to drive to McDonalds and pay $30 for one meal for their family aren’t doing it because it’s cheaper, and therefore an argument about money is not going to change their mind. “Oh, healthy food’s cheaper? Well let me just reverse my lifestyle and go lose 100 pounds, money was the only thing holding me back!” What a joke. So who is this directed at?
It’s directed at poor people. And like someone else said, no family in poverty goes to McDonalds and spends 30 bucks. They buy from the dollar menu. And if they do have access to a grocery store, do you think they’re buying fresh fruits and veggies? No. Because while you and I may think those things are plenty cheap, they’re not as cheap as $0.50 sloppy joe meat or hot dogs or Kool-Aid or a can of soup, or spaghetti. And even if fresh food is equally cheap (which is isn’t), you’re still assuming that people have time and money to go replace it all every week. When you’re living paycheck to paycheck and only buy food every two weeks or every month, you don’t buy things that are going to sit around and go bad. When you say “everyone should eat healthy, it’s cheaper,” and then ignore every aspect of most poor people’s lives, I’m not going to respect your argument. People whose unhealthy lifestyles are driven by poverty aren’t eating $30 McDonalds meals just like they aren’t eating $10 steaks. So when you can put together a stupid comparison of an unhealthy meal of hot dogs and Kool-Aid and show me that beans and mangoes and tofu and chicken parmesan are cheaper and more available and more convenient, then we’ll talk. Until then, sit down and shut up because you clearly don’t understand poverty. Please and thank you.
reblogging for commentary. this discussion is almost laughable. eating healthy is a privilege. look at places of poverty that are located in ‘urban’ places and see what kind of grocery store options are available—not many. there might only be one option, with the next grocery store fifteen miles away. trader joe’s and whole foods—organic, health food stores—are only available in more affluent areas. even when there is a grocery store nearby, it might not have the freshest produce or the produce is too expensive so you buy canned, sodium-rich, unhealthy foods. when you’re working two - three jobs, living below the poverty line, and making a combined household income of less than 30k a year and have five people to feed, you just don’t have time to sit around clipping coupons.
(Source: healthyisclassy)
