Some friends and I were recently talking about how much eating healthy costs. It's true. A small carton of berries the other day was $5.00! WOW! I could have a whole meal at McDonalds for that much! I will admit, I have seen my food bill go up significantly. Especially since I live in Minnesota and in the winter, fresh produce gets trucked in from South America mostly. It is expensive. And if you want organic food, pretty much double the prices. Cheap, unhealthy food is INEXPENSIVE! You can buy carb filled sugary fatty shit for real cheap! Not only can you get it cheap, but you can get it SUPERSIZED! A family of five can eat at McDonalds for a month on what I spend in groceries in two weeks. It is insane!
BUT, let me put this in perspective for you.....and please, listen carefully.
My mother was overweight (severely obese - like 500 pounds), and she had arthritis (prescriptions), diabetes (prescriptions and blood testing supplies), heart problems (more prescriptions), and a few other prescriptions that I wasn't even sure what they were for...
She had to buy special clothes because she was SO large that they didn't carry her size in stores. Had to order it all and pay extra shipping costs. Special bras. Special shirts. Special pants. Special underwear. She had to buy a special machine to use on her legs to bring the pressure down, and had to buy special socks that were like $300 a pair.
She was so fat that she had trouble walking. She had to buy a cane. Then when that wasn't enough to help her, she had to buy a walker. Then when that couldn't support her weight, she had to buy a wheelchair. And then, when she couldn't handle that, it actually broke because she was so large, she had to buy one of those "scooters". But, she was too fat for a normal scooter, she had to buy a super heavy duty expensive scooter. She spent $3000 on a lift chair because she was so fat she couldn't stand up on her own. She had to buy a new mattress every couple years because she was SO fat that she ruined them.
She had to buy a special toilet partly to support her weight, and partly because she couldn't get down low enough to a regular toilet. She had to have her bathtub removed and get a special walk in shower. She had to pay to have special bars put in the shower to hang onto.
She had horrendous medical bills that even insurance and medicare didn't cover.
She lived with extreme humiliation due to her weight. She was ridiculed and teased behind her back. From the time I was little, people made fun of my mom. And not behind my back either. Growing up with the stigma of an obese parent is worse than you can imagine. It's like having a parent that is an alcoholic. (Gee, I must have hit the jackpot, I had one of those too.) She couldn't fly on a plane or go places she wanted because she was just too fat. She couldn't use most public restrooms. People, I could go on and on and on and on about the things she endured. I debated about using the word endured. Perhaps "brought on herself" would be better.
Yes, it is. She could have changed. She could have gotten help. She chose not to do so. And it killed her. She went into congestive heart failure at the VERY young age of 70 years old and died within days. It was all because of her weight. She left behind a family that still needed her, and 4 grand children who barely had a chance to know her....
That healthy $5 carton of berries doesn't sound so bad now, does it?
Tromping to the grocery store every 2-3 days to get fresh fruits and vegetables and spending more than I want just doesn't seem so bad...
Really my point is, the high price of the food is worth it. TOTALLY! The costs of high food are NOTHING compared to what happens to an obese person.....
Until next time!
Mrs. ChildFun
Hmm, excellent points all the way around.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm so sorry about your momma.
K-
Thanks, K, but ya know, if nothing, maybe it helped me. I hate to fall back on "everything happens for a reason" but I have to say, seeing her die, sure did spark a fire in me to not want to be like her...
ReplyDeleteBravo and well said! People don't calculate everything when calculating food costs. Ditto organics. They are worth it. Not only are they healthier for you (research shows organics contain significantly more nutrients, in addition to their lack of toxins, pesticides, antibiotics, et al), traditional farming is ruining the environment, including our water supplies. That cheap foods costs far more than any of us can really afford.
ReplyDeleteSo true, Cheri! My friend Melissa got me into organic foods when she was diagnosed with MS. She totally changed her eating habits, went organic, eliminated so many things, and it really made a difference for her.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing folks don't realize is that regular unorganic are more expensive than they appear because the government highly subsidizes them, so you;re actually paying more than what's at the store through your taxes. There are very few subsidies for organic farmers. (One organization working to change that is the Organic Consumer's Organization at www.organicconsumers.org ). It makes no sense. In Germany they actually paid farmers to go organic because it was less expensive than trying to clean the pollutants out of the water supply. But not here. These issues are no brainers, so it makes me so frutrated they we don't seem to get it.
ReplyDeleteI too have started eating healthy and lost 20 lbs in 8 weeks as a result of paying the higher prices for healthier food. The reward of coarse is feeling great and looking better. What's more expensive than the food? THE NEW WARDROBE!!!! It is so well worth it!
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