Have you ever had more month than you had money? You are not alone. The price of food is definitely an issue for all of us, especially when household budgets are being stretched. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Services tackled this issue in a report that was published this year.
The report looked at grocery store foods using 3 measures: price per calorie, price per edible gram and price per average portion. They also calculated the daily cost of meeting the food group recommendations on the ChooseMyPlate.gov website. Grains, vegetables, fruit and dairy foods were found to be less expensive than most protein foods and foods high in saturated fat, added sugars, and/or sodium when measuring edible weight or average portion size. The conclusion is if you swap packaged foods and meats for healthy foods on your grocery list your grocery bills would stay the same or even decrease.
According to The NPD group, a major market research firm, Americans meet the federal dietary guidelines only 7 days per year! Quite literally, for the price of a cup of coffee from a coffee shop we could make a healthy lunch and bring it to work. Therefore, in an era when pre-made foods are being sold at an alarming rate, we need to evaluate what these foods are actually costing us. Especially, if the price we are paying is not only monetary. We may be paying the price with our own health. Let’s make the decision together that we will start placing value and spending more time on our health because our health is actually priceless.
Article republished with permission.
Original Source: Living Whole Newsletter, Vol. 7, No. 3.
View the original source here.