Don't get me wrong....I know there are many benefits to eating healthy and exercising...for ONE, YOU WILL LIVE LONGER!! But this morning, as I was munching, kinda like a cow grazing on grass....my jaw started to hurt....this healthy cereal was causing me pain. Too many bits of seeds/clusters of oats and thick hearty flakes(which reminds me, must buy more toilet paper....going healthy has its ups and downs). But I felt healthy...munching away! It then got me thinking....I only bought this cereal cause it was on SALE...normally I don't buy it....I stroll past the HEALTHY cereals and wait for another week, wondering if it will be on SALE. This then made me ponder on other areas...like a banana, peeling back the layers of HEALTHINESS! If I did everything that the media/professionals told me.....I would need to be a MILLIONAIRE! There is no way, a family of five, on one income can afford to be TOTALLY HEALTHY! If you can, let me know....please!!
Every Friday I do our weekly shopping, having browsed through flyers before hand, I know where to go and I usually stick to that ONE store!! I try to keep within a BUDGET...now our budget is $200! That might seem like a lot...but after you have everything in your cart and a few treats(cause its the weekend and you have three kids, OK four, if one counts their Hubby) there goes the BUDGET! (Most of the times...) Four bags of MILK alone is $18......then there is Bread, a STAPLE.....but what KIND do YOU BUY!? You can go CHEAP(No Name) for 2.99, slightly more for 3.49(slightly healthier) or 4.99 for a REAL HEALTHY LOAF OF BREAD...full of grains, and seeds/nuts(but then with this, you cant make school lunches). I understand eating the HEALTHIER OPTION makes you FULLER, and so it should...it takes you about twenty minutes longer with all those grains/seeds.....but with OUR family, a LOAF CAN (sometimes) LAST JUST A DAY! Hubby has two sandwiches to last him his shift at work, then there are sandwiches for all three kids, and even at times they want toast and peanut butter for Breakfast!! So...you get idea! HEALTHY FOOD IS EXPENSIVE!
But we try our best, thankfully I shop in order of the store....I start off at Fruit and Veg(and shake my head at the prices), move onto Bread, Meat(not the processed stuff), move down towards Dairy and then I start the aisles...the aisles of temptation!! What I found, in all my years of shopping(lol) is that they(being the government/media/health professionals) want YOU to be HEALTHY and LEAD A HEALTHY LIFE(which I have nothing against) and they should REALLY drop the PRICES of the HEALTHY FOOD, giving the AVERAGE JOE a choice in being HEALTHY! Why are chips, cheesies, cookies and various snacks foods and processed foods and ice cream and pop ALWAYS on SALE!! They are cheaper than the healthy food. If more health options were available to the average joe....things might change. To be healthy is expensive...and with society and the world as it is as a whole, its hard to afford the multi-grain jaw breaking cereal.....
For us though, its all about give and take...I try to opt for healthy breads, but I will buy the WHITE PASTA(ohh I can hear my Mom shutter at this..) and it will last longer than the smaller, higher priced whole wheat pasta.....and lets be honest, I tried it once....I hate tasting whole wheat goodness in my pasta! Just doesn't fit! Its like biting into a chocolate chip cookie...all ooey and gooey and buttery, you don't want to bite into it and taste wheat germ and flak seeds.....do YOU!? Well.....I don't! So its a BALANCING act.....but those scales could be tipped more into the HEALTHY category, if PRICES were LOWER!! Just saying.....YOU want US to be HEALTHY....then LOWER PRICES!!
So...that is my RANT for the DAY! I want to be healthy and try to buy healthy...but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way. I avoid MOST COOKIES/MUFFINS and make my own...at least that way I know what goes onto them and an added benefit is that my KIDS get to help in the process! I am broadening their horizons......educating them that making treats is better than buying ready made ones. YES I know, not all can bake or let alone have the time to bake, but if you can...do it!! I also make my CLAN aware of bad choices, good choices and that sometimes it is OK to have that BURGER and FRIES!! It's all about BALANCE!!! But also....if we want a HEALTHIER SOCIETY, things need to change!
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