Is money the problem?

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Yaasmyn Rodriguez, Staff writer

When eating, do we really think about the nutritional benefits fo what we are consuming, or do we look for the cheapest thing to buy? This may be a way to avoid spending money or just to find the easiest thing to munch on. With the problem of eating healthier, can money really be considered the problem?

Most people don’t care about the nutritional value of their food which can lead them to buy whatever is easiest. Whether that is true or not, it is safe to say that people often choose to order fast food over making their own meals. It can be much easier to go through the McDonald’s drive-through and buy a full meal off the dollar menu rather than going to the store to pick up some fresh ingredients and taking the time to cook a proper meal.

When at the store, you see many things for many different prices. That’s obvious, but why does it seem like the fresh things, the things that are good for you, tend to be more expensive than a regular bag of chips? Looking at the Safeway website it shows that you can buy 16oz of fresh strawberries, frozen mangos, and peaches for almost $5. You can buy a 6oz box of blueberries for $4. At Safeway, a normal bag of Doritos costs the same as the fresh strawberries, but at Dollar General, you can buy the same bag of Doritos for less than $2. This is where the problem begins.

It is normal to see chips being sold for $1 or less and to see a bag of frozen fruit costing anywhere from $3 to $5, but what is it about these items that make them more expensive? Fresh fruit requires manual labor to grow and typically takes more time and effort to make them. These junk foods often contain lots of added sugar that can be very bad for your body. It’s also much easier to make these manufactured goods. They take a small amount of time to make and they can be produced in larger quantities, which means more money comes in than out. 

Knowing the reasons as to why everything costs what it does, makes it simple to see that money is probably not the problem. In fact, people tend to choose to take the easy way out, but the easy way out can often lead to horrible consequences. Being obese or overweight can lead to many different health problems such as: cardiovascular disease (mainly heart disease and stroke), type 2 diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders like osteoarthritis, and some cancers (endometrial, breast and colon). A news report done by the American Heart Association states that one in three U.S. children and teens are now considered overweight or obese.

Money can some times be the problem but its more of the fact that people want to take the easier route. It’s easy to avoid these problems by making healthier choices, by adding exercise to your everyday life and taking the time to choose your next meal properly. It is much easier to be healthy than most people think, and it is not that much more expensive.