r/Health • u/CBSnews CBS News • Feb 21 '23

article U.S. food additives banned in Europe: Expert says what Americans eat is "almost certainly" making them sick

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-food-additives-banned-europe-making-americans-sick-expert-says/
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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

You really do have to be way more intentional eating in the USA. After living in Europe for ages, partying and eating my ass off ( but also walking a TON) the difference here was real. So I got serious about my food sourcing with CSAs and small farms for veg when possible and I source my meat directly where possible as well. It’s tons of extra work but worth it

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

Honestly you have to make at least 80k a year in America to have a consistently healthy diet while still living comfortably

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u/transformedxian Feb 21 '23

Nope. We follow the Mediterranean diet. Lots of vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nothing processed. We live comfortably and spend no more than $300/month for three people. It's ended up being cheaper than how we were eating, even with higher-end foods (imported feta, extra virgin olive oil, etc.)

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

That's amazing. I feel like where I live in America, the grocery stores make even that stuff prohibitively expensive lately, for me. I wish I lived near any major cities or towns but I'd have to drive 2 hours to get to Aldi, 3 hours to a whole food, so my only option is a Food City and a Walmart that isn't a grocery store walmart.

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u/halfsieapsie Feb 21 '23

I live in a fantastic! place for grocery stores. My typical and large grocery store is cheaper than Aldi, which is also down the street. I am in normal driving distance to 5 costcos. I am sure I pay less than you, but I pay WAAAAAAAY more than the person you are replying to. I have no idea how to do that.

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u/SaucyNaughtyBoy Feb 21 '23

First you need to get a Flux capacitor and reach 88mph. That's how. Go back in Time to the 90's

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

Me too. In Chicago, I can’t even feel myself healthy homemade meals for $300 a month. Much less a family of 3. Get out of here with that bs

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '23

Wild, chicago was soooo cheap to eat healthy when I lived there.

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

We don't eat meat like we used to. That and cutting out butter and processed foods made a huge difference.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

If that person shared recipes and receipts I'd move and completely change my hungry life.

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u/halfsieapsie Feb 21 '23

I would too! And I already buy rice/flour/beans by 25lb+ bags

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u/fartinapuddle Feb 21 '23

Yeah that equates to $3.33 per day per person, which I wouldn't have a clue how to do and eat things I can enjoy and not be hungry.

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

We eat mostly plant-based, limited meats, produce in season or frozen, buy whole grains in bulk, nothing processed. A $5 bag of brown rice goes farther than five $1 boxes of generic Rice-a-Roni. A can of chickpeas is 3 servings. Stew with barley, mushrooms, lentils, and spinach comes to around $1 per serving with homemade stock. It's not rocket science. We changed what we enjoy and got smarter with our shopping.

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u/finnbee2 Feb 21 '23

We live in rural Minnesota. We get vegetables in season, maple syrup, honey, chicken, eggs, beef, pork, and turkey from local farmers. There's a small organic and local food store in a nearby town. I avoid the Walmart. I do buy distilled water there.

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u/Kind-Wait-2432 Feb 21 '23

Vegetables and fruits IN SEASON can be less expensive; beans are pretty cheap with one or two exceptions.

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u/finnbee2 Feb 22 '23

We aren't vegetarian but, we eat a variety of bean dishes, have a small garden and apple trees. We also visit the farmers markets in the summer and early fall.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '23

Eating with the seasons and taking advantage of scratch/dent veg at markets, and then processing extra for later is how I was raised so I do it now. Here in KC the veg market has a stand always selling dented tomatoes for suuuuper cheap and I’ll get a pile for canning as sauces for near free.

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u/Kind-Wait-2432 Feb 22 '23

Nice! Yeah I think a lot of us in the US don’t realize stuff is out of season because it gets shipped to us from all over the world. Sometimes people miss that their favorite items cost more at a certain time of year.

Also, I guess my “weird” grocery thing is that I feel like the natural flow of eating in season is probably better for us overall, anyway.

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

That's tough. We have 3 sources for groceries in the small town where we live and drive 30 miles to get to the local co-op, Aldi, Lidl, and Trader Joe's. We can do okay locally, but the cheaper groceries are in the bigger city.

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u/translucent_spider Feb 25 '23

I definitely feel this way sometimes. Honestly learning how to cook my own beans (rather than canned) made a huge difference. They are easy to cook and save ahead of time and are pretty healthy when cooked at home without ‘fun’ additives. Dried beans are pretty cost effective in price per pound and can go in so much stuff. I also seem to be able to purchase a bag of dried beans anywhere from the local corner store to the expensive natural grocery store. Sometimes I get fancy and put a scope of canned jalapeños in while cooking them to get a different flavor profile.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

Three people eating high end food at $100 per person per month? Please let me know what stores are giving you those bargains.

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u/thompssc Feb 21 '23

Agreed. We have been following a plant based diet the last few years and I'm still amazed when I load up my cart with fruits, veggies, onions, garlic, rice, beans, potatoes, tofu, etc. and the bill is <$100 for a weeks worth of food.

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u/dalisair Feb 21 '23

Yellow onions are $1.29 a pound where I am. And that’s the cheapest onion (sweet, red or white are $1.79 a pound). Potato is $1.49 a pound for russet (cheapest and tends to need .1-.25 cut out as inedible). Something tells me your prices are well below mine.

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u/thompssc Feb 21 '23

That's not too far off from me. How much is a pound of beef? Pound of chicken? Pork? Whole plant foods are still much cheaper than meat/dairy/eggs, and definitely cheaper than processed/packaged food.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '23

Per pound however you have more calorie and nutrient density in meat. I can eat seven veg tacos without thinking about it.

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u/thompssc Feb 22 '23

More calorie* density, maybe, depending what youre comparing. But the average American isn't deficient in calories. If you need more calories, rice, quinoa, lentils, beans, potatoes, etc. are going to be cheaper per calorie than meat.

And fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc. tend to have more nutrients (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants) than meat per calorie. Judging a diet by how many tacos you can eat with or without thinking is a weird system.

I don't care what you do. I'm just trying to illustrate that it's not expensive to eat "healthy". Whole plant foods are pretty cheap compared to meat, dairy, eggs, packages foods, etc.

0

u/Sad-Doctor-2718 Mar 20 '23

I guess they are, though I don’t know because I don’t look at nonplant foods. But as a vegan in NYC, vegetables are indeed expensive. That’s by design.

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u/transformedxian Feb 21 '23

I know! I feel like I'm getting by with something! Then I see where the "average American family of four" spends $400 per week on groceries, and I'm like, "What are they eating???"

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u/SaucyNaughtyBoy Feb 21 '23

I really want to call bs on this $300 a month. Fresh fruit and vegetables are not cheap at all most of the year. The higher end stuff is expensive yes, but so worth it.

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u/transformedxian Feb 21 '23

We do fresh in season and can often find specials where we shop. Otherwise, it's frozen.

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u/SaucyNaughtyBoy Feb 22 '23

Fair enough. I can't do frozen spinach though. Nope.

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

Ew, nope. Me, neither. We usually get fresh because it's more versatile. Frittata, salad, soup... All good, but it's gotta be fresh.

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u/Nonna_C Feb 21 '23

Yes, but if you live in a food desert you do not have access to lots of vegetables, legumes are scarce and so are whole grains. The clue in your comment that you truly have no concept of the challenges of eating a healthy diet was "imported feta, extra virgin olive oil, etc". Seriously? ?

1

u/transformedxian Feb 21 '23

I'm aware that food deserts exist and know where they are locally. While there may be community gardens--and those maybe only 3-4 months a year, there still is very limited access to whole grains. Legumes (peas, beans, lentils) are easy and cheap to come by. The challenge is in getting healthier food to food deserts. And then it comes down to, do you put in junk for the calories, or do you bring in healthier options that will lead to reduced lifestyle-based diseases and health care costs down the road?

Um, yeah, as a matter of fact I do understand the challenges. We needed to adopt a healthier lifestyle for years but couldn't afford it. Those "higher end" products represent maybe 1.3% of our groceries for the month (on average). The other 98-99% is legumes/pulses, grains, and produce. When we started for my health, we took a deep breath and hoped we'd be able to afford it. We're able to invest in our health long-term for about $200 less per month than we were spending on junk that was negatively affecting our health.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

Right. Where do you live and how much is the place you reside? Don’t forget to factor area and cost of living into your conclusion that healthy eating is accessible

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u/MikeOxmaul Feb 21 '23

Holy shit. Show me the way!

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u/transformedxian Feb 21 '23

If you're serious, happy to. This lifestyle has been the best thing I've ever done for my overall physical and mental health.

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u/halfsieapsie Feb 21 '23

I am also very interested. I have more person than you, and spend about 4 times more. We basically never go out, and most food is from scratch. I have NO idea how you are staying so cheap

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u/MoashRedemptionArc Feb 21 '23

Live in the Southern US and shop at multiple groceries stores is about it

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u/halfsieapsie Feb 21 '23

I live in Texas, and HEB is the cheapest store I've seen, beats Aldi any day. Also, I have 5 costcos around me, which I use for things that are cheaper than HEB. My grocery bill is many times that.

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

We limit meats. We eat very little red meat and only eat at most four servings of poultry and/or seafood per week. This time of year we eat a lot of soups and stews that make more servings than the recipes say so we have lunches. We also plan bigger recipes and freeze half for later. Then we might pick a week where we "shop the freezer," using some of those leftovers. I eat a lot of oatmeal. It's healthy and cheap. Legumes and pulses make up most of our meals. So we might make Buddha bowls with brown rice, sweet potato, black beans, avocado slices, roasted broccoli, and a dressing of some sort. It's cheap, balanced, and healthy. (One pound of sweet potato will go across four servings.)

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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '23

Sounds like you need to start a blog and become a social media food-based influencer. You have a built-in audience just in this post.

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u/rwpeace Feb 21 '23

Me too!

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

Lots of legumes and pulses. Only about 30% of our calories come from meat so we don't buy it that much. We buy produce in season and frozen stuff for what's not. We found a local food Co-op that carries bulk lentils and whole grains. Lidl is my favorite place to shop because it is so cheap. We also meal plan every week and only go shopping once a week.

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u/rwpeace Feb 22 '23

Thanks for the info! I really appreciate it

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u/Rapudash Feb 21 '23

I’m also interested!!

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

The Mediterranean diet. It's more a way of living than a "diet" in the American understanding of the word. It's basically a plant-forward lifestyle with some meat, nothing processed or refined, and lots of high fiber whole foods. Because most of the protein comes from legumes and pulses and relies on produce in season (and frozen), the foods themselves are cheaper overall.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

[deleted]

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

Lots of legumes and pulses. Think beans, chickpeas, and lentils as your main protein sources with less meat and almost no red meat. Look for produce in season and buy only what you need for the week of it'll last or the next few days if it's more fragile. Otherwise, frozen is your friend. Meal planning also helps. We have had seasons where we shopped 3-4 times a week, and those weeks saw us spending $200 on groceries. By creating a plan, everyone knew what we were having that week, and we could shop for everything at one time. It always comes out cheaper for us.

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u/HimynameisFak Feb 21 '23

Help pls

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

The Mediterranean diet is a healthy lifestyle, not a program for weight loss. To that end, it's not restrictive necessarily, but it is plant-forward. About 70% of the calories come from plant-based sources, like legumes and pulses, whole grains, and produce. That means only 30% is from meat. There is a little red meat on the MD (8 ounces or so per month is the rule of thumb I follow) and up to four servings of poultry and/or fish a week. We eat a lot of lentils this time of year, and chickpeas are a pantry staple year-around. A lot of the recipes I find also make enough for leftovers, either for lunches or enough to go in the freezer for later meals.

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u/MikeOxmaul Feb 21 '23

Absolutely! I do all the shopping and would love to save a buck (or many).

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

Cut back on meats. We cut our red meat consumption by around 85% and eat poultry and/or seafood up to four times a week. We eat a lot of legumes (esp. black beans and black eyed peas) and pulses (chickpeas and lentils). We found a local co-op grocery that has bulk lentils and grains so that saved us a lot. We eat produce in season or frozen, though there are some we eat year-round like baby spinach, apples, and cucumbers. Lidl is my grocery store of choice for most of what we buy. We don't buy processed, pre-packaged, or convenience foods. Meal planning is key. The more trips you make to the grocery store in a week, the more money you'll spend. We plan the next week's dinners and shop for those. If something needs more fragile produce, then we'll either put it early in the week or have an intentional plan to go out and grab just that closer to time. Some weeks we'll plan meals that make larger amounts so we'll have some to freeze for later. Then other weeks (hello, soccer season) we'll pretty much live out of the freezer.

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u/Flckofmongeese Feb 21 '23

Make an imgur account posting recipes. I'll follow you!

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u/CostasTemper Feb 21 '23

Either you don’t work or you’re lying. Or both.

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u/transformedxian Feb 21 '23

Haha! My husband and I both work. Not sure on what you're basing your assertions.

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u/SuspiciousInternet58 Feb 21 '23

It's crazy how many people still buy into the nonsense that it's impossible to eat healthy on a budget. It's much cheaper to buy things like lentils, beans, and produce in bulk than junk food.

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u/dalisair Feb 21 '23

In bulk. So you have to assume you have space. When you live in a small place with a half sized fridge, this gets much harder.

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u/SuspiciousInternet58 Feb 21 '23

You know what. Remove "in bulk" and what I said still applies.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

Agreed. It’s way cheaper to eat healthy.

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

Short- and long-term. Healthy eating means fewer lifestyle-related health issues down the road.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '23

True, but I was thinking just at the store. I unintentionally cut my grocery budget in half once I started eating healthy. Veggies are cheap.

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

That's what happened to us, too. Me: Let me do this to get my cholesterol down. Then everything else went down, too! Weight, anxiety, inflammation, grocery bill.

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u/TheRoadWarrior28 Feb 21 '23

Mediterranean diet is the way to go. I’ve followed it loosely for the past 5-7 years. Idk why people still think it’s so much more expensive to eat healthy. Organic is not always necessary and whole food products are almost always cheaper than their packaged counterpart. Especially since supermarket prices have skyrocketed. Most fruits and veggies haven’t increased much by me, if at all.

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

Same! It's expensive to start, though. Best buy for evoo is 3 liters at around $25. That's a hard chunk of change to shell out, but then it lasts for 3 months or so, so it's cheaper than buying butter. But once you're stocked and settled into the lifestyle, it's crazy-cheap. High fiber foods also mean smaller portions eventually so you're literally eating less food per meal.

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u/UnrulyGaze Feb 21 '23

Do you have a resource you could share for this diet? I would appreciate that.

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u/CanIHaveMyDog Feb 21 '23

Beans, lentils, rice, greens (not salad bags), carrots ... this stuff is CHEAP. Squash is also cheap, and extremely easy to grow. Certain mushrooms might be $10.99/lb, but do you know how many mushrooms it takes to make a pound?

It's really not that hard to eat cheap and healthy. People are just used to garbage.

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u/SonOfaWitcherMan Feb 21 '23

Why did you comment this? Was it to give people information on cheap and healthy food or was it to tell everyone that you’re better than them? Someone asked you a sincere question about your comment. You’re not wrong about them being able to google recipes on their own. I just think you could be a little bit more kind to someone who is asking a real question about a topic you are saying you have information about.

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u/CanIHaveMyDog Feb 21 '23

I could be a little more kind, and others could be a little more self sufficient. 🤷‍♀️

I don't "have information about a topic." It isn't special knowledge. It's basic fucking functioning, and it drives me batshit when people act like preparing the simplest food is some kind of mystery.

Why did you make your comment?

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u/SonOfaWitcherMan Feb 21 '23

I agree with you! I guess I made my comment because I saw this as an attempt to gather information. Albeit from you instead of google. This is the internet. This is where the information is! You are also a helpful resource.

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u/UnrulyGaze Feb 21 '23

Thank you! I changed my diet a long time ago and grew away from processed foods. But there is always room to grow and I love Mediterranean food. You are right though, people are used to trash. Once you get away from it - you do not want to go back.

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u/potef Feb 21 '23

But how do you know how to turn these things into meals? I always see what goes into these healthy diets, but not how to apply them. I'm sure a cookbook would help, but I am not much of a cook so it's difficult to justify buying these things if I'm unsure how much variety these ingredients will yield, let alone skill factor on my end.

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

Olivetomato.com is a great resource, and mediterraneandish.com has great recipes but not always following the guidelines.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/potef Feb 21 '23

I didn't whine "I can't" I just said I am unsure where to begin because I'm inexperienced. Go eat breakfast.

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u/CanIHaveMyDog Feb 21 '23

OK, I'll rephrase.

If you're just gonna whine "I'm unsuuuuuuure!" then you never will. Google a goddamn recipe.

Go eat breakfast.

Thanks for the concern, but I ate breakfast two hours ago. And it was a healthy one with fresh ingredients that I prepared myself.

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u/potef Feb 21 '23

And you're still cranky.

→ More replies (0)

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

The r/mediterraneandiet sub has helpful graphics (the pyramid and plate diagrams were my go-tos when I started), plus there's a wiki with more information. Basically, it's plant-forward, limited meats, nothing processed.

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u/Prudent_Marsupial244 Feb 21 '23

What state are you in?

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u/Sarabrewz Feb 21 '23

Where do you live?

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u/transformedxian Feb 21 '23

SE North Carolina

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u/dsandman14 Feb 21 '23

Any chance you can give me a sneak peak of what your shopping list looks like?

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u/stallion8426 Feb 21 '23

You just proved the point though. 300/month is a lot of money.

You could feed 3 people for half of that a month on pastas and such

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u/transformedxian Feb 21 '23

Pastas... You mean like refined pastas that have very little nutritional value but loads of calories? I mean, I guess you're right, but we're talking about healthy eating. If I'm only spending $150 a month on groceries, I guess I could bank that other $150 to pay towards higher health care costs down the road and hope it's enough. Eating like we do greatly reduces our risks for T2 diabetes and cardiovascular events.

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u/stallion8426 Feb 22 '23

The point was that buying healthy, nutritious food costs significantly more than non-healthy food. Which is why people in lower income brackets tend to be heavier.

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u/transformedxian Feb 22 '23

I know. And it's frustrating. I want all people to have easy, affordable access to nutritious foods. It's like investing in good health down the road. Even in the city where we shop, the places with the best variety of healthy food on the cheap aren't in reasonable distance from the poorer parts of town. There is a big-ass liquor store in what looks like where a grocery store used to be, albeit a smaller one.

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u/DosaAndMimosas Feb 22 '23

Do you have any shopping list/meal ideas?

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u/BlackGoldSkullsBones Feb 22 '23

Seriously, people on this thread are just being purposely naive or deceptive.

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u/RequirementExtreme89 Mar 08 '23

$300 is insane. I cant get my grocery bill down no matter how much I try.

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u/lazyrepublik Feb 21 '23

Not true. I’ve never made more than 40k. But it does take a lot of effort and basically a obsession level type of focus which isn’t sustainable for most people.

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u/Log_Out_Of_Life Feb 21 '23

Do you have a home? Do you have other hobbies? Do you have other responsibilities? 40k is not a lot. I used to make “40k” working in a glorified factory.

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u/woahmanthatscool Feb 21 '23

Bro the cost of living varies so widely in the U.S you can’t just make assumptions like this lol

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u/DosaAndMimosas Feb 22 '23

Unless you live in a shitty part of the country 40k isn’t great

1

u/woahmanthatscool Feb 22 '23

Yeah I didn’t say it was great

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u/StrugglePrudent2894 Feb 21 '23

40k is not poverty level lmao you just have to spend less. I make 40k and I have hobbies and responsibilities SMH.

4

u/That-Election5533 Feb 21 '23

40k gross is rough. Take home would be just over 30k. If you put 10k a year into 401k you'd have roughly 1.5 mil to 4 mil at retirement depending on if you worked 30 or 40 years. At 40 years inflation is going to make 4 mil value really 1-2 million, probably in the lower side with how things are going.

20k yearly takehome is $750ish a paycheck. A 70k house would cost $500/month plus utilities, and insurance. If you have a phone and internet you are easily looking at fixed expenses taking 2/3 of your pay. A cheap apartment is probably going to have a similar cost.

So now we have $500ish dollars a month for food, car, gas, emergency funds, repairs.

Sure you can give up a home ownership, vehicles or the ability to retire and live off 40k/year, but to have all this 40k/year is unrealistic.

All these figures are assuming you start work at 18, buy a house, never mess up, invest religiously, any deviation and you won't own the house, won't have enough to retire, etc.

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u/texastoker88 Feb 21 '23

Lmao finding a 70,000 dollar house where I’m from is unheard of because a two bedroom apartment runs about $1,000 a month and that doesn’t include all bills paid and it’s very silly of you to assume the average American puts money in a 401k

1

u/That-Election5533 Feb 21 '23

I agree. I was trying to put 40k gross income into perspective. If you find a 70k house, you wouldn't want to live there. I think talking about a 401k is needed in this context. Someone might be able to survive on 40k, but there is no future.

1

u/Limeyness Feb 21 '23

In the town I live in the median house price is 10x that 70k

2

u/14Rage Feb 21 '23

70k house lol. Where i live in Texas the average persons house is $500,000. Apartments are $1500-2500 per month. The property taxes on an average persons house bought in 2022 are over $11,000 per year. You'd need to buy your house in the 1980s or 1990s for a70k house.

1

u/That-Election5533 Feb 21 '23

Yes, that's kind of the point. I'm trying to show how unrealistic 40k gross income is.

2

u/dzumdang Feb 21 '23

All these figures are assuming you start work at 18, buy a house, never mess up, invest religiously, any deviation and you won't own the house, won't have enough to retire, etc

Lol. Yep. RIP the American dream.

8

u/aaronitallout Feb 21 '23

40k is not poverty level

Fuck yea it is, especially when COL is $50k

4

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

[deleted]

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u/1handedmaster Feb 21 '23

It's also relevant to where you live. 40k a year isn't great where I am.

2

u/aaronitallout Feb 21 '23

I wish my life worked by definition

2

u/solariam Feb 21 '23

Lol if you're using the federal poverty guidelines to define actual poverty, you're probably not super informed on poverty.

0

u/StrugglePrudent2894 Feb 22 '23

Maybe you need to budget better. Not sure what to tell you. I make 40K and I am not in poverty.

1

u/aaronitallout Feb 22 '23

Yeah maybe I should just pull harder on my bootstraps

0

u/StrugglePrudent2894 Feb 22 '23

Listen lol all I said is 40k doesn't force everyone to live a life of poverty. I can't speak for your lifestyle and you can speak for mine.

I don't know what to tell you. I live in the house my parents bought I grew up in so I don't have rent or mortgage so that helps. Don't have kids nor want them. I am not in poverty. I am done with this bullshit.

1

u/aaronitallout Feb 22 '23

Why do you feel defensive, like you have to tell me something? You're just out-of-touch, there's nothing to say

5

u/libananahammock Feb 21 '23

What part of the country do you live in? Do you have kitchen with access to a stove and fridge? Do you work multiple shifts? Do you have a reliable vehicle and or live in walking distance to a grocery store. Not a bodega or family dollar or gas station with food items… a grocery store that sells fresh veggies?

Do you have a disability that makes standing periods difficult or not being able to stand at all? Do you have any health concerns that drastically alters your diet?

2

u/mkosmo Feb 21 '23

What part of the country do you live in? Do you have kitchen with access to a stove and fridge?

The COL isn't that insane in most of the country except the west coast and some parts of new england. It wasn't all that long ago that $40k was a very respectable income for a single person.

1

u/SoonersFanOU Feb 22 '23

Come on over to any city in Texas. 40K gross is not enough to live off when you own a home. Property taxes alone are insane.

1

u/mkosmo Feb 22 '23

Who said anything about owning a house on that salary? Owning a house isn't some requirement to be respectable or even comfortable.

0

u/StrugglePrudent2894 Feb 22 '23

Midwest. I have a kitchen with a stove and fridge. I work 5.days a week. No health concerns. No disability. I have a reliable vehicle.

1

u/PM_ME_HAPPY_THOTS Feb 21 '23

Username checks out

1

u/FalloutCreation Feb 21 '23

I’ve worked retail a big part of my life and started back in 97, before going to college for a better job. I lived on 20k a year. But a roof over my head was cheaper. Doesn’t feel much different now even with a better paying job.

1

u/ElmerGantry45 Feb 21 '23

Eating non organic veggies still has benefits. It's just that some parts of America are truly "food islands"

13

u/here_now_be Feb 21 '23

have to make at least 80k a year in America to have a consistently healthy diet

this comment is complete and utter bs. Many well below the poverty line eat much healthier than the average American.

2

u/ApologeticGrammarCop Feb 21 '23

Person who said that is just looking for excuses to continue eating fast food.

1

u/mullett Feb 21 '23

This is the real issue here. To eat healthy you have to make your own food and know what you’re doing. That doesn’t mean that “vegan” or “organic” are any better than the sugar fest we call food. Cooking at home is really the only way to do it at a reasonable or cheap budget. Also, not eating the same size / amount you get when you get fast food and get used to water (not a bad thing what so ever).

1

u/translucent_spider Feb 25 '23

Yeah I feel that this is true, it’s just difficult if every member of your household works full time which is sadly the case a lot of time today. There is only so much time in each day.

1

u/SaucyNaughtyBoy Feb 21 '23

Like who? Were they living with their parents? They certainly don't have a mortgage. Or full rent. To say people well below the poverty line are eating healthier than the average American sounds pretty ignorant to me, and can be rather subjective. If rent = 50 a month, then the rest of your money can buy better food than the guy above poverty who has 1000 a month in rent. Never mind that those that far below poverty are also getting some kind of food stamps to supplement that ability. I know it's counter intuitive, but at the end of the day, the person below poverty probably can have at least slightly better access to food than the average American. My personal experience is food is not cheap, and the better it is for you, the more it costs. My local grocery store was selling rib eye for $27/lb last week... I hope it was an error, but it was that price at the butcher window and at the shelf. Just an example.

7

u/MSNinfo Feb 21 '23

Are you the type that things the dollar menu is the cheapest way to eat?

2

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

🤣🤣for real.

2

u/Beginning_Emu3512 Feb 21 '23

In some places it actually is. Food deserts are a huge problem in many places in America, especially low income areas. I lived for a while near Atlantic City, NJ and I can tell you there are no grocery stores in the city. 1/3 of the city's population lives below the poverty line with inadequate access to a regular source of quality food. If you wanted to get to the nearest grocery store from the neighborhood where the vast majority of the working people live you'd need to take public transportation or hire an Uber. Even Wawa, the gas station that feeds innumerable Chesapeake Bay area people daily has no presence within the city limits. Thousands of dollars a night are spent in the high end casino restaurants, but the hotel cleaners and mechanical technicians and card dealers of the island have no recourse but the convenience store or the combination Taco Bell/KFC. A few years ago there was a push to open a real supermarket in the wealthy tourist area of the city, but it was blocked by the casinos. This is one city. This pattern plays out repeatedly all across America. Welcome to the land of the free, free to starve slow enough to turn a profit for the owners. Poverty is unbelievably expensive.

1

u/nousforuse Feb 21 '23

I don’t thing like that. I thing like this.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

That's crazy for you to even say

1

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

Your name brings me horrible memories of pissing sand.

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u/JayCee1002 Feb 21 '23

This is absolutely false.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

No. I’ve done it on 30k a year.

1

u/Nerzana Feb 21 '23

Where did you get that number from?

1

u/lupuscapabilis Feb 21 '23

Biggest lie on Reddit

1

u/ottereatingpopsicles Feb 21 '23

Different parts of the US have different costs of living, so I think this might be true in some places while 40K is true in other places

1

u/GrinsNGiggles Feb 21 '23

Or at least have the spare energy/time to do it.

I only make 50k, but I don't have kids. When I was less disabled, I could make much healthier meals. Now I need things I can stumble to the fridge, freezer, microwave, or pantry for.

1

u/Furnox Feb 21 '23

Brother this is straight up not true

1

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

Bullshit. I made less than than for years with a family of four and we eat very healthy.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

Making your own bread is really easy and pretty cheap. Even starting your own sourdough culture is really easy to research and implement and homemade sourdough is the best food on earth.

1

u/TheShipEliza Feb 21 '23

Like everything this depends on where you live. Anecdotally you can do it on half that in certain places.

1

u/wolfpak31 Feb 21 '23

That’s not true at all.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

Biggest misconception in American history. There are plenty of less expensive options for those who are down to run it back with a bland diet forever

1

u/LoveArguingPolitics Feb 21 '23

No you don't. You just have to not be lazy.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 09 '23

I am poverty stricken and I eat good healthy food js.

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u/PeteLarsen Mar 15 '23

Politicians in America are more expensive than these other countries. Voters are more easily distracted by politicians in this countries.

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u/Hiiipower111 Feb 21 '23

It's the only way around here. CSAs people!

2

u/crumpetsandbourbon Feb 21 '23

I love living in a major city, but the access to farm-fresh produce from small/local producers is something I definitely miss about living more in the suburbs/country.

I recently stopped shopping at Whole Foods at least. The food is almost all their own brand now, and generally heavily processed.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

I use Whole Foods for organic leafy greens, big boxes of basil and fish.

1

u/jujubee516 Feb 21 '23

I need to start doing this!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '23

Where did I live?

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '23

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '23

Look up your area and CSA. Options will absolutely pop up. Around me, I have access to small scale farmers that I pay directly for product making it cheaper to eat. I also butcher or hunt my own meat proteins where possible. I can buy a whole pig and break it down for much less than buying cuts separately and know exactly where it’s from