Why Is Being Healthy so Expensive

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Lameec Gerald We live in a time where overweight and obesity is the 2nd most cause of preventable deaths in America. (“The Most Preventable Causes of Death in the U.S”) The way to prevent these deaths are exercising and eating healthy . However Approximately 1 out of 2 Americans are low income or poor according to the census bureau.( WASHINGTON AP) Food prices are continuously rising, especially healthy food. How can the average American be healthy when they can't afford healthy food and if they can how do they what is healthy . Informing people on their options is the only way to help combat this epidemic. 97.3 million Americans fall into this low income category. If not for food stamps many of these people would go hungry. With these limited resources families must be smart when shopping. The average American spends $7 on food per day, while low income spend on average $4 per day.(DR. Drewnowski). The University of Washington did a study of where they compared the prices of high calorie energy dense food(junk food) and low-energy but nutritious foods. The finding was that on average energy dense food cost $1.76 per 1000 calories, while low energy nutritious food cost $18.16 per 1,000 calories.(“Dope, A High Price for Healthy Food”) This basically shows that unhealthy food are a better bargain for people who are tight on money. The bad thing about it is that the prices for healthy food are continuing to rise while “junk food” is relatively the same or a tad bit lower. America's low income families are therefore In a cycle where since they can't afford healthy food they eat bad, which in turns leads to bad health which leads then leads to high insurance and medical bills which ultimately causes them to get poorer or remain at the bottom of the pyramid. Why is healthy food so much more expensive than regular food? Well for starters sugars like high fructose corn

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