3 ms·

> Part of it is cultural, but part of it is economic. Healthy food is simply more expensive, especially if you want it to taste good. This canard keeps getting

> Part of it is cultural, but part of it is economic. Healthy food is simply more expensive, especially if you want it to taste good. This canard keeps getting thrown out, but it is absolutely not more expensive to eat healthy, apart from needing to have some tiny semblance of skill in the kitchen. Buying real food is cheaper than buying processed garbage, and it's not like an EBT card only works for buying eggo waffles and Doritos, rather than frozen peas and porkchops. It's entirely cultural.

asdff 7y ago
Healthy food takes time to prepare and make as well, which is hard when you work 60 hour weeks to make rent before any other expenses.
- P_I_Staker 7y ago
  That part is somewhat true. It's the illusive cheap, healthy, tasty, fast combo that's so hard to achieve. I have to agree with OP about cost though. There are even decent healthy frozen products that are affordable (most people could spend $1 on veg; they wouldn't think twice spending that on a drink) and take no effort. Frozen chicken breasts can be thrown directly in oven and eaten with mixed spices and/or sauce. It is doable.
  - _bxg1 7y ago
    > There are even decent healthy frozen products that are affordable Most of them cost a dollar or two extra, though. The people on HN probably have a skewed perspective on what amount of money starts to matter; for some people $1 more for a meal really does matter.
    - P_I_Staker 7y ago
      Nope. I'm aware of this. It depends what you get; I've done it. There are absolutely low cost, high nutritional options that don't require effort. Some of the cheapest frozen food is high in nutrition. You can get frozen chicken breasts cheap, not necessarily as cheap as fresh, but much less than the unhealthy options. Frozen vegtables are purchased on sale and cost 50c per serving. There's cans too. Carbs are easy. If you manage your kitchen correctly, you don't even need to go frozen. Honestly, even the "banquit"/healthy choice options aren't always that much, and can be worked into a healthy diet. Fruit isn't that expensive either, if you buy in the right season and don't get something exotic. I understand obesity is correlated with poverty, and don't blame anyone for it (I don't consider it their fault). The reality is that you can eat healthy on a budget, and nutritious food doesn't need to cost anything extra. Unfortunatly, many of these people are living in "food deserts" and good supermarkets aren't always available.
- war1025 7y ago
  Fancy food takes longer to prepare. Healthy food is pretty easy. Hell, dog food is healthy for dogs, and you can't get any easier than that. It's not a matter of being hard / easy, it's a matter of highly processed foods being addictive even when they are actively bad for you.
war1025 7y ago
A thing that always gets me when you see interviews with people that fixed their diet to be nominally healthy is how they always say something to the effect of: "I didn't realize you aren't supposed to feel terrible all the time" Somehow that loop gets broken in people's heads (possibly because they've never been exposed to what its like to actually feel good), so they keep doing things that make them feel terrible hoping it will somehow make them better.

asdff 7y ago

Healthy food takes time to prepare and make as well, which is hard when you work 60 hour weeks to make rent before any other expenses.

P_I_Staker 7y ago
That part is somewhat true. It's the illusive cheap, healthy, tasty, fast combo that's so hard to achieve. I have to agree with OP about cost though. There are even decent healthy frozen products that are affordable (most people could spend $1 on veg; they wouldn't think twice spending that on a drink) and take no effort. Frozen chicken breasts can be thrown directly in oven and eaten with mixed spices and/or sauce. It is doable.
- _bxg1 7y ago
  > There are even decent healthy frozen products that are affordable Most of them cost a dollar or two extra, though. The people on HN probably have a skewed perspective on what amount of money starts to matter; for some people $1 more for a meal really does matter.
  - P_I_Staker 7y ago
    Nope. I'm aware of this. It depends what you get; I've done it. There are absolutely low cost, high nutritional options that don't require effort. Some of the cheapest frozen food is high in nutrition. You can get frozen chicken breasts cheap, not necessarily as cheap as fresh, but much less than the unhealthy options. Frozen vegtables are purchased on sale and cost 50c per serving. There's cans too. Carbs are easy. If you manage your kitchen correctly, you don't even need to go frozen. Honestly, even the "banquit"/healthy choice options aren't always that much, and can be worked into a healthy diet. Fruit isn't that expensive either, if you buy in the right season and don't get something exotic. I understand obesity is correlated with poverty, and don't blame anyone for it (I don't consider it their fault). The reality is that you can eat healthy on a budget, and nutritious food doesn't need to cost anything extra. Unfortunatly, many of these people are living in "food deserts" and good supermarkets aren't always available.
war1025 7y ago
Fancy food takes longer to prepare. Healthy food is pretty easy. Hell, dog food is healthy for dogs, and you can't get any easier than that. It's not a matter of being hard / easy, it's a matter of highly processed foods being addictive even when they are actively bad for you.

war1025 7y ago

A thing that always gets me when you see interviews with people that fixed their diet to be nominally healthy is how they always say something to the effect of: "I didn't realize you aren't supposed to feel terrible all the time" Somehow that loop gets broken in people's heads (possibly because they've never been exposed to what its like to actually feel good), so they keep doing things that make them feel terrible hoping it will somehow make them better.