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What is this?
Paying less ends up costing more
Published Friday, July 24, 2009
How much do you pay for your calories?
It was the question that popped into my head the other evening while making a quick trip to the grocery store.
I was walking up and down the aisles looking at those little yellow stickers posted under each food item.
You know the ones. Printed in bold computer type, they tell consumers the price of each product on the shelf. Usually just to the left of the big number is more computer type that tells shoppers how much per unit certain items cost.
Introduced when bar coding became popular, these tags give consumers the ability to compare one product to another.
During these recessionary times, I have paid closer attention to these tiny little numbers. It has become a game, in a way, to see how much I can shave off the family grocery bill.
Then it came to me. What would happen if these tags revealed how much consumers were paying per calorie?
Take junk food for example.
Two hundred calories of potato chips costs approximately 33 cents. The same amount of non-diet soft drink costs 46 cents.
Two hundred calories of chocolate chip cookies cost twice as much at 83 cents.
Sounds cheap, doesn’t it?
Interestingly, the healthier the food, the higher the price.
Using 200 calories as a benchmark, here is how other products compare:
Apples will cost you $1.43. You will shell out $1.65 for bacon. Broccolli costs $1.93. Grapes cost $2.55. You will end up paying a whopping $3.19 for 200 calories of sliced turkey
Just looking at the cost per calorie numbers it’s evident that healthy food just costs more. No wonder Americans are getting fatter.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, an estimated 34 percent of adult Americans are obese, and that number is rising.
Just to the north of Adams County, sit what Time magazine has tagged the fattest county in America. At 26.1 percent, the county has more obese adult residents than any other county in the United States.
At the same time, Jefferson County remains one of the poorest counties in Mississippi with an average income of $9,709 per adult. The unemployment rate stands at 20 percent, the highest in the state.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Jefferson County has one of the highest bank card delinquency rates in the country.
How is that the poorest county in America is also the fattest.
Is this because we like to buy the cheap food?
I certainly ate my share of value meals in college because I could afford it.
I guess, if you’re hungry and broke, you just want something that’s cheap and filling. Donuts and chips sound much better than lettuce and broccoli in my book.
Maybe it is a matter of convenience and laziness. Perception is that it is far easier to pickup a hamburger and fries laden with preservatives and chemicals than it is to make a healthier dish at home.
Maybe it is that human beings are hard wired to want salt, fat and sugar over leafy greens.
Or maybe it is because the rich tend to be better educated about health and nutrition. The rich can afford to join health clubs.
There seems to be numerous possibilities as to why Americans are facing this crisis, with few answers.
One thing is for certain. People are getting fatter on the cheap.
Ben Hillyer is the Web editor for The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3540 or ben.hillyer@natchezdemocrat.com.
Comments
Posted by natchezsouthside (anonymous) on July 24, 2009 at 9:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Jefferson County remains one of the poorest counties in Mississippi with an average income of $9,709 per adult"
...and yet has the highest bank card delinquencies IN THE COUNTRY!!
The bigger question is WHY are these people who are so poor even being given credit cards???
If these folks walked in their nearest bank and asked for a $10,000 loan they would be declined. But they can get a credit card with a $10K credit limit??? It's the same damn thing!!!
Haley??? State Legislature??? Banking Committee???
Is ANYONE paying attention???
Posted by happyreader (anonymous) on July 24, 2009 at 2:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Interesting article. I think the problem has more to do with one having the "how-to" knowledge and/or the time necessary to prepare homemade meals. Canned and frozen vegetables can be bought cheaply in large quantities. Dried beans and rice are the same. Peanut butter is a relatively cheap protein. (It is high in fat, but that fat comes from a plant protein, which is much healthier than meat protein.) Eggs can be bought for less than $2 per dozen; they often end up costing a little over a dime per egg. Even ground beef can sometimes be bought fairly cheaply. And homemade sourdough bread costs, literally, pennies per loaf if you make it regularly.
I am NOT trying to deny the challenges that the poor face in getting good food. I would just like to point out that nutritious food can be bought as cheaply or cheaper than the fast-food junk that's out there. Our whole culture (and I will include myself in this) is drifting away from preparing meals from scratch, and this is unfortunately being reflected in our health.
Posted by literaturelover (anonymous) on July 24, 2009 at 5:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I love healthy food. I actually like it more than unhealthy food. However, I am a college student. Healthy food is a luxury that I can't always afford. I really hate it, but that's how it is. I wish something could be done about this.
Posted by happyreader (anonymous) on July 24, 2009 at 6:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Literaturelover, you are right that people without a kitchen, like students living in a dorm, are often at a disadvantage in trying to eat healthy food. It really does take a refrigerator, stove, pots and pans, etc. to plan and prepare healthy meals without breaking the bank. Those little low-calorie frozen dinners are expensive, and it takes several of them to fill you up.
By the way, I love literature, too! : )
Posted by Hardcorps (anonymous) on July 25, 2009 at 9:50 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by racehorse (anonymous) on July 25, 2009 at 1:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good article. Our children have been raised on McDonalds, Burger King and the likes of high calorie, cheap food. One whopper has the calories that a normal person should consume in a whole day. They have used the cheap frutose syrup in everything now. So many calories and in the long run, overweight people, heart trouble, diabetes, high blood pressure and the likes at an early age. I am amazed to see the overweight young people in the county. Just go to any of the schools and look at the kids loading on the buses. Larger than most of the teachers. They should really start educating people through the school, when anyone overweight comes through the hospitals and even to the food stamp system. Everyone should know that eating healthy is much better than all of this junk food. Mississippi should look into getting healthy. There are programs about to be in place to help overweight people.
Posted by marinefrmntz (anonymous) on July 25, 2009 at 3:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yeah I just read that Time article that said 44% of Mississippi are obese. I really don't know what to say. Its crazy because you have so many thing contributing to those factors. But I think the heat is the main cause that most people are obese right now. I might be wrong but as the years have passed I have seen less and less kids outside.
Posted by happyreader (anonymous) on July 25, 2009 at 5:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Kids are inside because they've got all these little gadgets they're playing with now, instead of running around outside and climbing trees. They haven't learned how to have fun without something that plugs in or has a battery. It's sad. And you're right - there's no doubt that their lack of activity (except for finger movement on their various toys) has got to have a huge impact on their weight.
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