Veggie panic! Seeing eye to eye

[sincere]

Irrational irritant of the day, I saw an article today bemoaning how most people don't eat the recommended 4-5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. The article asserts that people eat foods with Omega-3 and probiotics and then think they're eating healthily, while fruits and veggies are on the decline.

Hey, you know what? Maybe it's not because people are deluded into thinking they're eating healthy food. Maybe it's related to the fact that I can pay around ten fucking dollars for six apples at the supermarket. If fruit weren't priced like a luxury, I would buy more than twice that.

I looove fruits and vegetables. I would eat carrots and apples and clementines and grapes and tomatoes and cucumber and sugar-snap peas and fresh string beans all day. You'd have to convince me to stop eating it long enough to get some damn protein. My peers are eating ramen for dinner while I consume two servings of broccoli like every night, unless I'm having corn, or a salad. But it's not sustainable because I live on a damn budget and I can't afford 4-5 servings of fruits and veggies a day.

Make it cheaper, then talk to me.

Comments

[soi.livejournal.com]

Ugh, exactly. I'd make vegetable stir fries almost every night if a single red pepper wasn't like, a fifth of my grocery budget.

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

Stir-fry mmmm. HEY it just occurred to me that potatoes are a vegetable and I have them like every night in different incarnations, so that's -- that's good. Disclaimer re: the health value of potato skins goes here.

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

4-5 servings a day? How much is that? Because... uh... that's a lot of veggies. Given that in a given day I will: eat breakfast (eggs+toast), have a sandwich, maybe have a yogurt, and then have dinner-- which is also smallish.

I'd have to replace all my food intake with veggies! Also, I am cheap about food. Cheap cheap cheap because I don't like eating (yeah yeah I know). Spending that much money on something I don't even enjoy doing just makes me raise my eyebrows.

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

Well, it's fruits AND vegetables, not just vegetables. But srsly I will stuff myself stupid on fruits, give me a bag of grapes and I'll just eat it until I am sick. But yeah, eating well is not affordable. :| Or tasty lol.

[dubbelehelix.livejournal.com]

Ten dollars for six apples. WHAT. In Germany you get four apples for around two euros! But then again, here you pay around 1,30 euros for one litre gasoline...

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

Gasoline, ugh. I'm not sorry not to have a car right now, but.

I get granny smith apples, unfortunately, and they're pretty heavy. So I'll end up buying like four pounds of apples and skjflsfj it gets expensive.

[dubbelehelix.livejournal.com]

Cars=expensive in Germany, and not just because of the gasoline. As nice as it is to live in a country with at least somewhat proper health-care, you get taxed for damn near everything, especially cars.

[sorceressakemi.livejournal.com]

This.

[amorphic.livejournal.com]

OMG, why are your apples so expensive? o.0

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

I buy big granny smith apples, and two of them are more than a pound, so. ;; Yeah, it sucks.

[bftly.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Finally, someone who realises the impracticality of of the current "health" advice for average salaried people. Personally, I'm at the point where I just assume that the one multivitamin a day contains everything I could possibly need, and then just eat the cardboard that is marketed as food...

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

Ugh, that is a great idea, I should just acquire multivitamins and then stop crying. I spent like two days tracking my calorie/fat/protein intake and being horrified, so I'm all for thinking less about it. XD

[bftly.livejournal.com]

The multivitamin option has at least eased my conscience and deluded my self into thinking that "I am looking after myself"

[oneill]

Wow. That sucks. o_o And I now have a new appreciation for my circumstances because cooking almost entirely with vegetables is how I save money.

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

I should buy more fresh string beans and sugar snap peas for snacking... Those'd be pretty cheap, right? sob.

[hauntedreality.livejournal.com]

YES! I mean, I come home with healthy groceries (full of fruits and veggies) and I've spent more than I would on stuff to make sandwiches and pasta.