Paying the real price…

I was reading an article about factory food and the new movie Food, Inc. There was a section that really struck a cord with me about paying the real cost of food…

Paying the real price
One of Food, Inc.’s most frustrating scenes follows a family of four to the produce section of the supermarket. Says the mother: “Sometimes you look at a vegetable and say, ‘Okay, well, we can get two hamburgers for the same amount of price.’ ”

As Pollan points out in the film, that’s no accident. “Bad calories” are cheaper because “those are the ones we’re heavily subsidizing” via farm policies that favor crops like corn and soy. It’s no accident either that the biggest predictor of obesity is income level. Or that diabetes is an epidemic.

“You’re not seeing the real price tag when you go to the supermarket,” says Kenner, who points out that an uninsured person with diabetes “could be paying $1000 a month for medicine. Is that ‘cheaper’ food?…”

One of the many reasons I eat as healthily as possible and stay fit is the high cost of getting sick. I just can’t afford to get sick in this country.

Have you ever wondered how much each additional pound of weight you carry over your ideal weight costs you? There must be figures somewhere but…

It cost you time and money to accumulate that extra pound. Now you have to lug it around and that costs you extra physical effort. That pound will eventually get sick and you will have to take it to the doctor, which costs money. The doctor is going to send that pound to the pharmacy to get some medicine that costs you more money. Then your health insurance company either drops you or raises your premiums.

I think it would be interesting if food companies had to also put on their labels what their food was additionally going to cost you in ill-health and medical costs down the road. I think a lot more vegetables would be sold.

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