Can You Afford Organic Whole Foods?
Illness, lost work days, and dementia are a
lot more costly than investing upfront in your food now.
In my humble opinion, after safety, all other
needs and wants should come second to eating well.
And buying vegetables for snacks – carrots,
broccoli, zucchini, celery, jicama, cucumbers, avocados, etc – is far less
expensive than all of that nasty processed snack food. Even at the increased
cost of buying organic produce. (I like to cut mine up and put them in airtight
glass containers in the refrigerator. Most veges can keep quite a while like
this, and then are readily available for me to snack on, throw in my salad, or
add as garnishes to whatever I'm eating for dinner.)
One need not, and indeed should not, attempt
to eat gluten-free by substituting "gluten-free products". These are
processed foods with little to no nutrients. They also often contain cane sugar
or other forms of sugar, preservatives, and sometimes food dyes. They are often
highly caloric, and since these are empty calories without much in the way of
nutrients, they will be stored as fat rather than utilized to support your
body's biochemistry.
Another low-cost, high-yield snack idea is to
eat a can of sardines a couple of times a week. These are high in Omega 3 fatty
acids (fish oil) and other nutrients, so they are a healthy fat for your brain
as well as helpful to reduce cholesterol and benefiting the health of your
heart. They're easy to keep at your desk or in your car.
One caveat with the sardines – most cans
contain BPA, which is an endocrine disruptor and can increase estrogen levels,
thus increasing cancer and other health risks.
"Wild Planet" is a brand of
sardines that has a BPA-free can. I found it available at Whole Foods. It says
"wild sardines – sustainably caught in the Pacific ocean".
If you can't afford to take supplemental fish
oil, eating sardines is a way to get your dose of Fish Oil and buy food at the
same time. Sardines are a type of fish that generally
contains minimal amounts of mercury, so they usually pose no health risk from
metals. They are generally considered safe in pregnancy as well, but the
recommendations are to limit to two 6 ounce servings a day during pregnancy.