It is NOT Cheaper To Eat Unhealthy than it is to eat Healthy!!! (low carb, lose weight)

[imcurious]

Originally Posted by LaoTzuMindFu

A common complaint you hear from people is that "Oh, its too expensive to eat healthy...." which is nothing but bull-oney-ish!!! People who say this are FLAT OUT LAZY A$$ES!!! Its a LOT easier for lazy folks to go through the drive through at Taco Bell and order their $5.00 meal that contains a cheesy burrito melt, a taco, a burrito supreme and a coke than to spend that same $5.00 (or in most cases LESS) on buying food from Ralphs to prepare.

A Quarter Pounder meal deal at McDonalds costs about $9.00 with tax. I know because I saw it on the menu at a local McDs. The Taco Bell deal IS $5.00 and change plus tax. If you average that out over the course of a 5 day work week, then you spend $28.00 - $45.00 for lunch. I can take $20.00 and buy lunch for an entire week easily.

Whole Wheat bread
small cans of tuna
banana bunch
small cans of kidney beans
small cans of corn
Romaine lettuce
Bag of frozen chicken breasts (could last more than two weeks)

Monday - chicken breast on whole wheat sammich w/banana
Tuesday - tuna mixed with kidney beans and corn w/2 slices whole wheat
Wed - chicken again
Thus - tuna again
Friday - chicken

That bag of chicken breasts can also be added to dinner menu.

Bottom line is that those who say its more expensive I believe are JUST LAZY. Im not saying go out to Whole Foods and get ONLY organic foods, because really unless you are a pro/semi pro athlete or one of those "Topanga Canyon, of the earth, yoga types", you can get by with non-organic vegetables and fruits.

Those of you who are thinking "Oh, I'll get bored with that real fast" need to change your thinking/mindset of eating for pleasure to eating for fuel or eating to LIVE!!

You do realize that canned foods have BPA in them and that tuna is polluted with mercury, right? I don't think that is too "healthy."

[chmcke01]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

In the time it took you to write this post you could have made some vegetables. How long does it take to cut up a stalk of broccoli and cook it in some water on the stove? About 5 minutes. Nobody, doesn't have the time for that. Sounds more like an excuse from someone who likes the taste of junk over healthful food.

I don't have the time during the week. I work 12 hours per day Monday through Friday. I don't eat fast food, and I drink mostly water. Yes I would be healthier to avoid pre-packaged foods but to cook A WHOLE MEAL takes a lot longer than to make a meal from a bag. Some "skillet dinners" can even be made in the microwave now in under 10 minutes.

Is broccoli a whole meal for you?

[Pierce2011]

Originally Posted by chmcke01

I am all for eating healthy, but the issue is that the cost healthy eating IS higher than less healthy eating, at least for me. By cost I am referring to the additional expense, the additional time needed to cook it (45 minutes for dinner? If it took longer than 20 minutes to make dinner I wouldn't have time to eat at all), and the cost of having to do the work. If the health foods were priced, for example, 10% higher than their unhealthy counterparts then I would gladly pay the extra for the healthy food, but if they require extra time and more work than just turning on the stove and throwing the food into the skillet then that is a price I could not pay even if I wanted to.


I genuinely wish I could eat healthy fresh vegetables but with my hectic schedule that is just impossible...unless I allow my entire life to revolve around work, working out, eating healthier, and sleep...and nothing else. I just won't do that.

And that is why most American's are unhealthy and/or overweight.

I don't know why you keep saying it's "impossible". When it isn't. I'm assuming because you lack the experience of finding that it is possible, is the reason why you think that way.

I am on a very tight budget this year. What I don't get from our garden, I shop at 3 different stores to get my bargains. I compare prices, cut coupons, search the newspaper inserts, take the free flyer's offered at my stores for the week ahead and see what's on sale. If it's not on sale, then I don't buy it. I'm not super organized either, but I try really hard to at least write stuff down for meal ideas and I try to make a plan. You are in control of how easy or how time consuming you want your meals to be.

Frozen veggie stir fry takes less than 10 minutes from the freezer, to the pan, to my plate. Cook your minute rice at the same time. If you're a meat eater, toss in some frozen grilled chicken strips. When you buy it in bulk, it's cheap.

If I'm super tired and I don't feel like cooking at all, I throw a frozen Boca burger in a pan. Again, I buy that in bulk. So the cost of one patty (which is really good BTW) is $.62 each. And sometimes I put that on Carb Helper whole wheat bread at $2.99 a loaf. Very reasonable for quality bread. But most of the time I just cut it into pieces and put it on top of my salad.

There are so many things you can do that is cheap, fast, and healthy. You just need to do a little research. Which is probably the reason why we are all on this thread in the first place. Right?

[chmcke01]

Originally Posted by Pierce2011

And that is why most American's are unhealthy and/or overweight.

I don't know why you keep saying it's "impossible". When it isn't. I'm assuming because you lack the experience of finding that it is possible, is the reason why you think that way.

I am on a very tight budget this year. What I don't get from our garden, I shop at 3 different stores to get my bargains. I compare prices, cut coupons, search the newspaper inserts, take the free flyer's offered at my stores for the week ahead and see what's on sale. If it's not on sale, then I don't buy it. I'm not super organized either, but I try really hard to at least write stuff down for meal ideas and I try to make a plan. You are in control of how easy or how time consuming you want your meals to be.

Frozen veggie stir fry takes less than 10 minutes from the freezer, to the pan, to my plate. Cook your minute rice at the same time. If you're a meat eater, toss in some frozen grilled chicken strips. When you buy it in bulk, it's cheap.

If I'm super tired and I don't feel like cooking at all, I throw a frozen Boca burger in a pan. Again, I buy that in bulk. So the cost of one patty (which is really good BTW) is $.62 each. And sometimes I put that on Carb Helper whole wheat bread at $2.99 a loaf. Very reasonable for quality bread. But most of the time I just cut it into pieces and put it on top of my salad.

There are so many things you can do that is cheap, fast, and healthy. You just need to do a little research. Which is probably the reason why we are all on this thread in the first place. Right?

There is nothing wrong with refusing to spend the time you don't have. If you do all that coupon cutting and searching for deals while working 60 hours per week and still finding time to spend with your spouse?

We actually do make that meal. We get the frozen stir fry vegetable mix and cook it on the skillet over rice. Sometimes we add lean beef strips and sometimes we add chicken. The problem is that its hard to eat that way without some kind of sauce. I found a low sodium teriyaki sauce that I really like but then that seems to ruin the nutrition value. Do you just eat it "dry"? If not, what do you use as a flavoring?

As for the bread, I would like to get that but I went today and specifically asked every grocery store in town if they had low carb bread and nobody had any so I just got whole wheat.

I had never heard of Boca Burgers before but when I go to their website the package looks so familiar so maybe they have that at my local super Wal-Mart (the only grocery store in my town that has a decent selection).

I was thinking of getting a George Foreman grill to make it easier to cook things like chicken breast or a burger or something like that. Do those really help make the food healthier by allowing the juices to drain? Does it really make it that much easier or quicker? My mother-in-law swears by them and says that she can cook most things in half the time it would take in a skillet because you are cooking both sides at once.

Is it a good buy if it will help us to eat more lean protein such as chicken?

[AnonChick]

You know, you can make a delicious, nutritious healthy meal in advance, say, on a day you don't have to work at all. Like, Sunday. Make a whole roast chicken for an early Sunday dinner, with salad and a little roasted new potatoes and mushrooms and onions with olive oil and garlic for seasoning. And then, after dinner, you can dice up the leftover chicken and add it to the leftover potato stuff, and make yourself a cold chicken/roast potato salad to serve as your lunch for the next three days.

No cooking necessary, once the initial meal has been done.

Make leftovers. My mom called them planned-overs. Pretty much anything you make on Sunday, served on Tuesday with a salad on the side, will be healthier than whatever you nuke out of a box from the grocer's freezer section.

You can broil up some fish too - broiling takes only minutes and doesn't involve much prep time as long as you get the fish already filleted. Just sprinkle some black pepper, chop an onion and a green pepper, toss some minced garlic or a pinch of dill weed (or both), squeeze a quarter of a lemon over the whole thing, shove it in the oven, and take it right back out 3 minutes later. During that 3 minutes you're waiting for the fish to broil, toss some baby greens in a bowl with more lemon juice and olive oil and a fistful of croutons. BOOM. Supper. And leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.

Healthy and inexpensive, and most importantly, FAST. And, if you line your broiling pan with tin foil, there's hardly even any cleanup time needed.

[chmcke01]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

Make a whole roast chicken for an early Sunday dinner, with salad and a little roasted new potatoes and mushrooms and onions with olive oil and garlic for seasoning. And then, after dinner, you can dice up the leftover chicken and add it to the leftover potato stuff, and make yourself a cold chicken/roast potato salad to serve as your lunch for the next three days.

I have never heard of mixing chicken with potato, but after reading this that sounds pretty good. I may try it. How do you roast chicken and potatoes, etc.?

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by chmcke01

I have never heard of mixing chicken with potato, but after reading this that sounds pretty good. I may try it. How do you roast chicken and potatoes, etc.?

Sounds like your problem isn't a lack of time so much as a lack of skill and planning (this may extend beyond cooking). I can whip up a tasty 3 course dinner from scratch pretty darn fast. A steak can be grilled in under 10 minutes. While it's grilling you can steam or sautee some vegetables and slice up a tomato and sweet onion for a salad. Leftovers can be reheated in a microwave in a minute. I'd suggest you teach yourself how to cook and shop, maybe during your next vacation.

[SkiScree]

I'm one of those rare people that couldn't care less what you eat. You are ultimately responsible for your own health so eat what you'd like and as long as your happy with yourself who really cares what others think?

I eat Mcdonalds, Taco Bell, Wendy's, and all of the other awesome food you can think of. I also mountain bike, climb 14ers, ski instruct, hike, play rugby and can run circles around my cousins who exclusively eat "organic" and "healthy" and have no problem pissing away hundreds if not thousands of extra dollars a year shopping at Whole Foods. Those little hipsters just can't understand that the farmer's markets around the area provide fresher and cheaper produce, God bless 'em.

Stay active and eat what you want. Best action to take.

[tigerlillydownunder]

I think it depends somewhat on location. In larger cities, yes, I can eat heaps cheaper each week by buying at farmers markets and the butcher, than I can if I hit a drive thru.

But where I actually reside, an extremely remote outback town, it's actually cheaper to grab something from the take away shop every day for lunch than it is to buy enough fruit and veg to last the week--if it lasts that long, because it's already partially inedible by the time you get it. A lot of it goes to the chooks. The mark up is HUGE, and as there aren't any other options, if you want it, you pay for it. End of story. That said, a LOT of frozen meals go through checkout. (not many by me, I don't really like them that much, but I do keep a few in the freezer if I'm in a pinch).

I actually prefer to grow my own, which taste heaps better, I know what went on 'em to grow 'em, and you get exercise by tending to the garden. That said, I can not wait to get back to rural Victoria so I can actually have truly fresh veg and home raised meats.

[TreasuredJewel]

Originally Posted by ladybug07

Seriously?!?! First, if you eat a complex carb and protien each in serving sizes you do not get hungry.

Yeah I will try that then I guess.

There has been times I get hungry after eating fast food...and also feel pretty crappy. Oh...here's something that will make you think twice about that McDonalds meal too! Biochemísta.com: Science/Medicine

I've had big burgers from fast food places like quarter pounders, big macs, etc and had always felt full for 5 hours+. However whenever I eat a salad or something "healthy" for my dinner I always feel hungry when I go to bed. I wonder why that is.

I challenge you to grab that bag of potato chips and really research the ingredients (you know the ones that you cant pronounce) and then tell me if you like what you see.
Subway has HFCS in their bread so its really not that healthy. Diet soda..yeah just as crappy for ya!

I'll take one of my most favorite chips to snack on Lay's Sour Cream & Onion chips. They claim they use 'natural" ingredients. I bolded the ones I have never heard of then looked them up..

Ingredients
Potatoes, Sunflower Oil, Sour Cream & Onion Seasoning (Nonfat Milk Solids, less than 2% of the Following: Maltodextrin, Onion Powder, Whey, Salt, Sour Cream [Cream, Nonfat Milk, Cultures], Dextrose, Monosodium Glutamate, Palm Oil, Parsley, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Lactose, Whey Protein Isolate, Buttermilk Solids, Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Lactic Acid), and Salt.


Maltodextrin - an example of dextrin products that are derived from a natural source. While maltodextrin is a processed additive, the natural basis for the product helps to make it easier for the body to digest than many other forms of sugar substitutes. Also, anyone who wants to watch their intake of carbohydrates or sugar will find that maltodextrin is a very helpful substance to have around the house.

Dextrose - Better known today as glucose, this sugar is the chief source of energy in the body. Glucose is chemically considered a simple sugar. It is the main sugar that the body manufactures. The body makes glucose from all three elements of food, protein, fat and carbohydrates, but in largest part from carbohydrates. Glucose serves as the major source of energy for living cells.

Whey Protein isolate -
Whey Isolates are filtered milk proteins. Whey is a by-product of the cheese-making process. Its protein-rich contents can be filtered to yield a concentrated or isolated whey protein.
Whey protein typically comes in three major forms: concentrate, isolate, and hydrolysate.
Whey Proteins are highly bioavailable, are very quickly absorbed into the body, and have a high concentration of Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) which are highly concentrated in muscle tissue, and are used to fuel working muscles and stimulate protein synthesis
Buttermilk Solids - buttermilk solids possess significant antioxidant activity, thereby suggesting potential use as a value-added ingredient for stabilizing food matrixes against lipid peroxidation reactions



The ingredients don't look too bad some even seen somewhat healthful to your body. I think its weird that some people are deathly afraid of food and eating.

If you want to lower your BP cut out the processed food (like McDonalds, subway etc because they are FULL of salt). A little salt is a good thing but too much is bad. Try cutting it all out. I have had a container of salt that I've had for almost 2 years now. I might use 2 tablespoons of salt a week in meals that I cook for my family. I actually have a recipe for Taco Seasoning that does not have salt in it at all. Ms. Dash has a wonderful line of different spices that dont have salt in them that are great. Also use a bunch of spices!
Its basically going to boil down to you reading your labels and becoming aware of what the ingredients are.

Thank you for the tips I also love Mrs. Dash seasonings brand. I am a homecook and mostly cook meals at home anyway and I do limit salt. I take my cooking seriously, they are waaay more other seasonings to put on your food then salt. For us a container of salt can last for up to a year or a year and a half. I eat homecooked meals everyday (fast food on occasions) and I still have high bp, I do not like when people blame fast food companies for getting them obese.