Is Eating Healthy More Expensive?

Joel Younkins

Have you ever thought eating healthy was so much more expensive? Do you feel that way right now? Well if you said yes to either of these, I'm going to help you realize that this statement is very inaccurate. Before I explain to you why this isn't true, I'm going to first help you realize what healthy eating really is, because a lot of people don't really know what the concept eating healthy actually is.

Eating healthy is eating whole foods, very few processed foods, and foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. We're eating Lean Protein, Clean Carbs, Healthy Fats, Fruits, and Vegetables. It's focusing on not neglecting any of these areas and eating till your full, not stuffed. Also, it's about eating enough to support your lifestyle and goals!

Healthy eating is not...

• Eating a salad at McDonalds
• Taking Supplements and Cleanses
• Eating Nutrition Bars
• Eating no carbs
• Eating no fats
• Eating only organic
• Eating gluten free

Now, this is the point where we speak numbers and cost. First off, wherever you grocery shop, is up to you. Supporting your local butchers and local farmers will give you a great bang for your buck in regards to price to quality of food ratios. But as far as groceries stores go, I prefer to grocery shop at Aldi's. For 2 reasons...
1.) There's less choices of foods, so this makes for simpler decisions and less temptations in the store.
2.) You save a lot of money. I estimate that I save $400/month by shopping at Aldi's in comparison if I shopped at Giant Eagle every weekend.

To bring in my point about this Lifestyle Blog, I wanted to give you some examples of some Healthy Foods that you can prepare in bulk that will cost you very little for yourself or even better for a family. These foods will be even cheaper than the dollar menu at Fast Food joints. So instead of comparing a bunch of things, I'm going to give you a few thoughts and you will see how non expensive healthy eating has to be.

• Oatmeal: $2-4 and can give you up to 30 servings
• Bag of Rice: $4-10 and can feed a whole family for days to weeks
• Produce: You have to eat 4 apples to equal the amount of calories in 1 bagel
• All Vegetables: Broccoli, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes will go along ways for what you will have to fork out
• 90/10 Ground Beef: Versatile meat that is lean and not as much money as steak
• Eggs: $2-4 for 12 eggs that will provide protein and good fats
• Milk: Organic or not, only $2-4 for a gallon of milk
• Water: It's free last I checked

Now, do you want to know what is really expensive? 

• Spending over $5 at a Fast Food place very little nutritional value
• Buying an Ice Cream cone (god I love ice cream too)
• Buying baked goods

I hope you can see that eating healthy doesn't have to be this crazy expensive journey that you have to go down. You don't even have to shop at high end grocery stores or food markets. You just need to be eating real foods. If your budget allows for organic, and you like organic products better, than that's fine. If you want to add some supplements like protein powder and a multi-vitamin (even though these are processed) that's fine too. But there's no need to go crazy. A recent meta-analysis says that eating healthy is only $1.50 more a day. And that's a small trade off for big results. And, I'm very confident that you could easily save a lot more money if you shopped correctly! 

Talk soon!

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