Healthy Eating Is NOT Expensive

As I’ve been making my way through my extreme grocery budget challenge this year I feel I can vouch that eating healthy is not an expensive venture, contrary to popular belief.  In fact, I think it is quite the opposite and I’ve proved that time and again throughout my lifetime.  I also feel very strongly that to not eat a healthy diet is extremely expensive, in more ways than one.  On the front side when you purchase the UPFs and on the backside when you seek medical attention for your diet induced ailments.

 

Ultra processed foods (UPFs) are not only filled with chemicals, additives and preservatives that our bodies were never meant to ingest, but they’re really expensive, especially these days with the hyperinflation we are seeing in the grocery stores.  However, if you get back to the very basics and only purchase and eat REAL food it makes a world of difference, not only in how we feel and how our bodies respond, but to our wallets as well.

 

For the most part I am a seasonal eater and shopper.  I consume fresh produce when it naturally occurs in nature.  In the spring I look forward to strawberries and asparagus, summertime I partake of a vast array of fresh vegetables, berries, plums and peaches.  In the fall I enjoy the pears and apples.  Wintertime it is the hearty root vegetables and pumpkin I crave most.  During each season I preserve a lot to enjoy off season which not only gives me variety, but also boosts my nutrition.

 

Instead of buying processed cereals I will simply buy oatmeal and make my own porridge or granola.  A box of cereal runs about $5 a box and would only last a week while a tub of oatmeal is $3 and lasts much, much longer and is much more versatile.  I can bake my own breads and rolls from scratch for mere pennies while the average loaf costs $4 and the ingredient list is rather lengthy with items I don’t recognize.  I can buy organic milk and make my own yogurt for less than what it costs to buy a carton or pack of the individual cups and it tastes better.  For variety I just add in my own fresh or frozen berries or fruit.

 

There is a reason we all look forward to those homemade dinner rolls at Thanksgiving.  They just taste better than store bought.  In fact, REAL food just tastes better in general and it is better for us.  Right now I can grill a steak and prepare a nice green salad for less money than I can buy a burger meal at a fast food restaurant and I won’t feel sick after eating it, but rather I will feel energized.  For what it would cost to have a steak dinner at a nice restaurant I can buy a month’s worth of groceries.  I buy my own clean ingredients and make my own food.

 

I would strongly encourage anyone who is still regularly consuming UPFs to stop.  Buy and eat healthy fresh foods and see what a difference it makes in how you feel, how your food tastes and how it affects your wallet too.  You just may be surprised.  Healthy eating is not expensive.