Why is healthy food expensive and junk food cheap?

I have always been interested in how eating healthy is so expensive. The topic first came to my head, when my aunt was going organic. I know that companies make money by replacing real ingredients with cheaper artificial flavors. They use cheap packaging, and then use illegal workers so that they can pay them the minimum salary or less.

There are some things I know about organic much healthier food. I know that eating healthy helps with energy; Eat more natural and organic foods helps students stay aware and awake in school. Natural food helps keep your body balanced and healthy, and natural foods also help our immune systems, in fact all our systems.

I’ve taken the time to research the topic of the price of healthier foods, and I’ve come across a quote by Erica Nicole Kendall. Erica Nicole Kendall says, “Well, instead of using actual cheese, I can find a company who creates powdered “natural flavors” to give my food that cheesy flavor. Instead of cream, I can use some kind of water and cheap enriched flour combination to give the potatoes that kind of creamy allure. I’ll add some salt – hell, salt is super cheap – to still give it that “yum factor.” I’ll use the cheapest packaging possible – a cardboard box and a couple plastic bags. I’ll make a deal to only get my potatoes from one place, so I’ll ensure that they’ll always be cheap..., and before you know it? I’m making my product for a dollar and a nickel, selling it for $2.50 and you’re buying it for $3.25. Money is made. Everyone is happy. Capitalism succeeds.” I completely agree with this quote. Most People that sell goods only worry about making money not spending. They are worried about using cheap products to make the most money.

In an article I read: “A High Price for healthy Food,” the author Tara Parker-Pope mentions many valid statements. One of her statements was: “The survey found that higher-calorie, energy-dense foods are the better bargain for cash-strapped shoppers. Energy-dense munchies cost on average $1.76 per 1,000 calories, compared with $18.16 per 1,000 calories for low-energy but nutritious foods.” I amazed by this statement with this statement, because at a young age we tilt toward the cheaper better tasting “munchies” than fruits or veggies. Raised to see things differently than other people, we have our own thoughts and ideas. There are times where we feel alone in a crowd full of people. Another statement the author stated was: “Step back in time and see yourself as that tiny innocent baby you once were.” I believe this is something we should all do; this was the time where we didn’t have a care about anything. We weren’t worried about how we looked, and who was better than us. We loved ourselves for who we were, because we weren’t fed into society’s ideals.

With such topic on my hands, I decided to dig a little deeper. I came across an article that may or may not be true about healthier living. It states: “ In a 2007 study, he reported that calorie for calorie, junk foods not only cost less than fruits and vegetables, but junk food prices also are less likely to rise as a result of inflation..” This to me, seems a little untrue . America's junk food prices are rising, yet they are still cheaper than fruits and veggies. This is outrageous being healthy should be a priority, and if government did care this wouldn’t happen.

After digging deeper and deeper into the topic of health and prices, I was mouth opened when I read this post by David W. Boles “We are slowly becoming a nation of massive guts — egged on by cheap sugar and dollar menu items soaked in saturated fat.” I was thrilled when I read this. This is what I believe, why? because no one realizes what is happening to america slowly. And if Americans keep on living off of all of this junk in maybe 15 years I highly doubt that america will be making anything naturally, and in 30 years we would probably look like the humans in the movie “Wall-E”.

I also found this very interesting statement made by Andrea Karim “if you look to what a lot of us secretly think, the poor are simply too dumb to eat salad, too simple to know that Twinkies do not make a healthy meal” and I find this sort of disturbing because a lot of times is not that they are “too dumb” but is that they look for things that would satisfy the momentary hunger. I also found this “poor people eat more crappy junk food than rich people.” this makes me upset because usually rich people are seen as “fat cats” so is not just poor people is also rich people doing this.

We are country that is slowly decaying, why? because of our selves. This is no ones fault but our own we need to better our diets, think healthy, exercise ; but all this fast food restaurants are making us believe that what we are getting is natural and organic, but is sadly not and we act like is ok, but we are being lied to because we don’t want to pay a little more. What we don’t realize is that on the long run we lose more money because we have to pay more to fix our health issues.

Works Cited:
-ERIKA NICOLE KENDALL. "Why is eating health so expensive: the price vs. the cost" blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com. Monday, May 17,2010
-TARA PARKER-POPE“A High Price for Healthy Food”The New York Times.com. December 5, 2007, 12:46 pm<
-by Andrea Karim “Why is it so expensive to be healthy?”Wisebread.com on 24 April 2007

-Is Healthy Food Really More Expensive?
JANUARY 18, 2012 BY Andrea Karim

-Why is Eating Healthy so Expensive?
Posted on August 11, 2011 by David W. Boles