Think, Eat, Be Healthy

The Two Biggest Excuses For Not Eating A Healthy Whole Food Diet Make No Sense

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A whole food diet is the proven foundation of a healthy body and a healthy mind.

The two excuses

When people talk to me about why they don’t eat a healthy whole food diet, cost and time are always at the top of the list. People seem to be convinced that eating healthy whole foods is both more expensive and takes longer than ready-to-eat packaged food. I want to argue that neither of these points is true. Increased cost and time are false excuses when it comes to eating a healthy diet.

The two diets

To be clear about this comparison, here are the two choices:

1. A healthy whole food diet consists mostly of fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, nuts, dried beans, fresh fish, meat, poultry and dairy. As much of the food as possible should be organic and as much of the beef and dairy as possible should be grass-fed. This food is mostly free of labels or the label lists only one ingredient.

2. A packaged-food diet consists of ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat food items made in factories and containing multiple ingredients. White wheat flour, soy, sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives, conditioners, anti-fungal agents, colorings and genetically modified products are endemic in these foods. Many commercial breads list 25 or more ingredients on the label(in a product that really needs only flour, water, salt and yeast). Most restaurant sauces, salad dressings, breads and desserts are also in this category(“fresh-baked bread” is almost always from frozen mass-produced dough).

Why cost is a false excuse

If you only food shop at a single chain supermarket, buying fresh vegetables, meats and dairy equivalent in meal number to packaged foods will cost just about the same or slightly less. Upgrading to whatever organic whole foods are available will increase this cost significantly. Adding  a stop at a “health food” store to increase the amount of organics and upgrade to grass-fed beef and dairy will increase the cost yet more.

There are partial solutions to these increased expenses for healthier foods. One way is to find a farmers’ market or small produce stand that is not too far off your normal routes. The prices should be noticeably lower for conventional and organic items and many of the conventional items might actually be grown without pesticides or herbicides(It is always worth asking about this as well as where the produce was grown). Another way is to join a farm-share plan to get a certain amount of produce each week or month at a hefty discount from supermarket prices(though you might not get to choose the veggies). A third course for reducing costs is to reduce meat portion sizes(a good idea anyway) and frequency, eating more high-protein vegetables instead. The savings can go towards upgrading to organic/grass-fed meats that are healthier.

But money spent at the store on food is not nearly the entire cost of a diet. The evidence is becoming pretty conclusive that eating a typical American packaged ready-to-eat diet, high in wheat, corn, soy and sugar, leads to the chronic diseases of high blood pressure, heart disease, fatty liver disease and diabetes. How much more will you spend at the doctor’s office and for prescription drugs a few years down the road, even with a great health insurance plan? Can you put a price in dollars on how much staying healthy into your 70’s and 80’s is worth compared to suffering from all the various symptoms of these chronic diseases? Do you think you are so special that you can eat whatever you like without suffering health consequences?

Keep in mind that a healthy whole food diet was the norm before the “modern” chronic diseases became endemic. It was the only diet. Processed, packaged, ready-to-eat foods and the chronic diseases rose together in popularity and this is not a coincidence. As the “modern” western diet has spread around the globe, the chronic diseases have followed closely behind. There should be a lesson here for all of us.

Are you willing to give up your old age to illness and misery in order to save a few dollars(maybe) on the food you buy today?

Why time is a false excuse

Many people want to try to split the difference. They want to continue buying ready-to-eat food products, but they want to buy packaged foods that won’t lead to chronic disease. This leads to a lot of time spent carefully reading labels and making a lot of compromises. This approach greatly limits the variety of the diet because there are so few packaged products available that really fit into the “healthy diet” category.

We know what a healthy diet is: whole foods, mostly vegetables and fruits. There are no labels and you know exactly what you are getting by looking at it. Shopping is much faster and easier. A lot of time is saved shopping for a whole food diet.

The most serious time complaint is preparation time. People say they just can’t find the time to prepare and cook meals from whole foods. To me, this is like saying you are so busy that you just can’t find the time to pay the electric bill, or you are too busy to fill the car up with gas, or you stink because there just isn’t enough time to wash your clothes or take a shower.

Everybody is busy. There is enough time. It is a matter of setting priorities, not of time. If you don’t have enough time to prepare and cook a healthy meal, what you are really saying is that watching your favorite television show or going to Sue’s birthday party is more important than your health.

Health should be the top priority

Without a healthy body, a healthy mind is very difficult to preserve. Without a healthy body or a healthy mind, what good are we, even to ourselves? A healthy whole food diet does not need to be lavishly expensive. It can be managed for less than the price of eating fast-food take-out every day. And it will keep us healthy and active into old age. This difference between the two ways of eating is priceless.

Don’t be lulled by the ease and apparent low cost of packaged, ready-to-eat foods. They are dangerous, but the danger is hidden and sneaks up very slowly before striking. The ultimate cost of processed foods is extremely high and even the healthy have to help pay the bill.

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