Is Junk Food Cheaper Than Healthy Food?

Most of us may benefit from consuming more nutritious foods.

Unfortunately, when you’re busy, eating junk food or eating out can frequently seem easier.

It is generally accessible, palatable, and typically doesn’t need to be prepared.

Ordering junk food for home delivery makes it even more desirable as people become increasingly lazy.

In addition to all these things, people believe healthy foods are more expensive than junk food.

Therefore, affording healthy food on a tight budget seems impossible, especially when feeding more than yourself.

Ordering 2 large pizzas for a family of 6 seems cheaper than buying ingredients for a well-balanced dinner.

Many of us have heard this before and may use it as an excuse to choose less healthy foods. But is it true?

Is it more expensive to eat a diet of healthy foods than one mostly made up of junk food?

This blog post will attempt to address this question.

First Off, What is Considered Junk or Healthy?

Junk foods are processed foods with many calories, but that definition is merely general.

These foods taste good and look appealing that you are biologically wired to want more.

Junk foods are commercial goods with little or no nutritional value but are heavy in calories, salt, and fats.

This includes salty snack foods, gum, candy, sugary desserts, fried fast food, and sweetened carbonated beverages.

Although not all fast food is junk food, many of it is.

While a salad can be considered fast food, it is not junk food.

Burgers, pizzas, and tacos may fall into the healthy or junk food categories depending on ingredients and preparation.

Healthy foods contain the nutrients your body needs to maintain its health and vitality.

The main components of a healthy, balanced diet include water, carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamins, and minerals.

According to this advice, we should concentrate on consuming fresh foods that give us the nutrients our bodies require.

Unfortunately, fresh foods don’t generate as much revenue for the food sector as processed foods do.

Additionally, because junk food is widely produced in large quantities, it may appear to be more accessible and less expensive.

Read: Dispelling Myths About the Science of Weight Loss

What Does The Evidence Say?

With takeout dinners as low as N700, many assume cooking from scratch is expensive.

As a result, people have little motivation to alter their behaviour.

I mean who wouldn’t take a pack of rice with deep fried chicken for N900 over a N2000 fruit salad?

Also why are the low fat variety of products more expensive than the full fat ones?

Skimmed milk will always be more expensive than full cream milk.

Media attention on healthy eating has increased over the past decade, along with stories about its cost, shaping public perception.

Less healthy foods are frequently less expensive, according to research comparing the cost per calorie of foods.

However, these studies don’t fully explain the situation.

The parameters employed to calculate costs are crucial.

Read: The Top 10 Superfoods You Need to Include in Your Diet

Is That The Full Story?

The narrative doesn’t quite stop there, as you would have anticipated.

Although it may initially seem as though unhealthy food is less expensive, this can be a little deceiving when looking at prices per calorie.

In fact, a recent USDA study found that vegetables, fruits, and other nutritious foods might be more economical than junk food when it comes to filling and satisfying people.

For instance, even though a serving of black beans has about 100 calories and a pack of potato chips has 200–300, the meal of black beans will likely satisfy you more.

Additionally, if you had 200–300 calories worth of black beans, you would feel much fuller than if you had consumed a similar amount of potato chips.

But then again, you can pop open a bag of chips and start chomping down the full 200–300 calories but you can’t do that with beans.

You’ll have to cook them with other ingredients that could potentially raise their calorie count.

According to the study’s findings, even though they frequently have fewer calories than junk food, healthy meals do not appear to be more expensive when measured in terms of their volume and weight.

Additionally, since many of us prefer to consume fewer calories while still feeling filled and eating a reasonable amount of food overall, this can offer the extra benefit of moving to healthier foods without increasing food costs.

Read: What are Natural Remedies for Common Health Issues?

Conclusion

In conclusion, depending on how you look at it, healthy food is both more expensive than junk food and isn’t.

It is undoubtedly more expensive per calorie than many junk foods, which are typically much higher in calories.

However, even though they have fewer calories, many healthy foods are frequently more full for the money when you consider both satisfaction and volume.

This indicates that you shouldn’t avoid healthier foods just because they are thought to be more expensive if you want to lose weight.

Instead, even though they may be more expensive per calorie, these healthy meals tend to be more satisfying, so you may eat fewer of them while still feeling full and losing weight.

And of course, that is even before discussing the countless nutritional advantages of consuming more ‘good’ meals, such consuming more protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

At the end of the day, I guess it depends on who you ask.

Different people have different lifestyles and eating habits.

For some people, there is no difference between eating out and eating in because of the manner in which they prepare their food.

While others are just too busy to get in the kicthen and would rather grab or order takeout food.

Although we should all be encouraged to embrace healthy eating, it still comes down to personal preference, perception and pocket.

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