The cost of a healthy diet

The cost of a healthy diet

As a personal trainer, I have come across many people who give countless excuses as to why they have not succeeded or, in their opinion, cannot succeed in living a healthy lifestyle. Not enough time to workout, not enough money to afford a fitness pass, not enough energy to be active, the list goes on. One of the most common excuses I hear is related to a healthy diet. When I talk about a healthy diet, be careful, I am referring to a diet when it comes to choosing a healthy diet and not starving yourself or eating celery for a week. Many people say that the reason they can't eat healthier foods is simply because healthier foods are significantly more expensive than unhealthy foods. They claim that the cost of a healthy diet is too high, so they are forced to eat unhealthy foods for financial reasons. I decided to research the Louisiana State University campus to find out why this is the case.

I began my research with surveys that asked four questions about what participants ate, where they ate, and what they thought about healthy eating. The results of my survey of 100 students showed that 64% of them believed that healthy foods are significantly more expensive than unhealthy foods. On the other hand, 36% disagreed and said that a healthy diet is not significantly more expensive. This made me realize that according to my sample, many people believe this statement to be true, that healthy foods are simply too much to afford.

Question two asked participants which role was most important in their grocery shopping decisions. The results showed that price plays the biggest role for 45% of people. The taste of the food was most important to 30% of people. Healthiness of the food was most important to 18% of people and convenience was most important to 7% of people. These results showed that although people believe healthy foods are more expensive, they base their purchases on the price and taste of the food before considering health. In question three, participants were asked how often they ate fast food in a week. The results showed that 40% of people ate fast food 3-5 times per week, 7% of people ate fast food 6 times per week, and 32% ate fast food 1-2 times per week, and 15% ate fast food less than 1 time per week. This information told me that the majority of people ate 3-5 meals per week from fast food restaurants. The last question I asked played a big role in my research. I asked participants how often they cooked their meals without using instant food. The results of this question showed that an overwhelming 55% of participants only cooked 1-2 meals per week. In addition, 34% of participants only cooked 3-4 times per week, 3% 5-6 times per week and 11% 7 times per week. These results showed me that the majority of participants cooked very little other than instant foods like ramen noodles or Kraft Easy Mac.

Based on the data I collected, I was able to determine from my participants that healthiness was the third most important factor when shopping for groceries, even though the majority claimed that healthy foods were more expensive. I also noticed that the majority of participants did not cook their own food and ate fast food 3-5 times a week. Since the majority of people don't cook 3-5 times a week and eat fast food, the cost of a healthy diet would be more expensive. If you don't know how to cook, finding healthy instant foods at a good price would be a challenge in itself. On the other hand, if you know how to cook, it's much cheaper to buy groceries and prepare meals that are healthy and save money in the long run with leftovers.

Many people get caught up in the Whole Foods shenanigans and believe that the only place to get healthy food is a place called Whole Foods. You don't have to shop in the organic aisle at Whole Foods to be healthy, despite what many people think. Eating healthy means making good choices over poor ones. For example, a 21-ounce box of Cheerios costs $3.98 and a 20.5-ounce box of Lucky Charms costs $4.18. One is a healthy choice, the other is not. Another example would be Quakers Instant Oatmeal over Poptarts. PopTarts are $3.68 for 8 packs of 2 and oatmeal is $3.65 for 22 packs. I could literally do anything. A McDonald's Big Mac combo costs about $7, while a 4-pound bag of chicken breast is the same price. A Hot N' Ready Little Caesars pizza is $5.45, a fried chicken from Walmart is $4.95. Healthy choices are everywhere if we are willing to look for them. A bag of frozen vegetables costs $1.98 while a bag of chips costs $2.00. The only time unhealthy foods are more expensive is when you eat out, and because that's apparently where the majority of people eat their meals, they blame the price for their poor eating habits. You can find healthy foods almost anywhere and you don't have to be rich to do so. In some cases, healthy foods may be more important, but not as important as people claim.

In summary, I think people believe that healthy foods are more expensive because they don't prepare the food themselves. Since health is not a top priority when it comes to eating, people are unlikely to be inclined to eat healthily. When you walk into a grocery store and first look for cheap foods, look for good, cheap foods that you don't have to cook. You probably won't find very healthy foods in this aisle, and you probably won't throw away your first two criteria for the third, which is health. People buy what is cheap, good and instant. This is the cause of the problem, which can only be resolved through the actions of consumers.