I read this article today. Growing up in southeast Ohio, it's pretty accurate about the general sentiment on people's attitude toward health, "I have bigger issues than my health." I was sent to work in London for two weeks last year and, upon my return, noticed the same thing someone in the article mentions, people here are fatter (me included). I don't know what exactly is the cause, but for me it has always been so convenient to eat whatever I wanted (junk food is very affordable and easily available... especially compared to fresh fruit and vegetables... why is that?), drive wherever I need to go (there aren't even sidewalks in the part of Dublin where I work!), and find entertainment around home instead of doing any real activities outside.
The article's point about the $9.99 Kentucky Fried Chicken challenge (buy a family meal for $9.99 at the grocery store vs. the $9.99 KFC meal deal) is also alarmingly accurate about how people eat as well (people like me before 7 weeks ago...). When money is tight and you aren't paying much attention to your health anyway, feeding your family deep fried food with a lot of extra carbohydrates (mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits, etc) for $9.99 is a tempting offer.
In the past I've felt the same way as one of the people they interviewed, "I need to make more money so that I can eat healthier." Assuming (hah!) that what I know about eating properly now, based on the Zone diet, is valid I think it is possible to eat healthy meals on a tight budget. I don't think I'd be able to eat so much fresh fruit, or even the types of meat that I currently enjoy though. Rice is very cheap to buy large amounts of and bread is similarly cheap. Unfavorable carbohydrates to be sure, but by controlling portions it would be possible to get the necessary carbohydrates for meals easily and affordably using those two foods. I think it might be a challenge to constrain fat intake as opposed to getting enough when shopping on a budget. I think protein would be the most expensive part, meat is just expensive.
Maybe I'll try my own little experiment in the weeks ahead of shopping for food in the Zone while on a tight budget and post my results.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment