Eating Healthy In America Essay

The fact that obesity is on the rise in America is nothing short of common sense to most people, and many know that the American diet is far from ideal. But when asked why they don’t eat healthy, many Americans are likely to answer with an excuse. So what are the main reasons that people don’t eat healthy?
I believe that the top three justifications that people give for their unhealthy diet are as follows: they do not have enough time, healthy food is too expensive, and location. Though all three of these things are undoubtedly a factor when it comes to diet, not one of them can prevent a person from pursuing a healthy diet. People can eat healthy despite income, time, or location. Before discussing the reasons why, let’s establish the definition of a healthy diet in the context of this paper: eating a range of different foods that …show more content…
Income plays a major role in every person’s life, a low income can prevent a person from doing many things, but eating healthy is not one of them. Despite a low income, even one low enough to qualify for SNAPS (previously known as Food Stamps) one can still eat healthy. Though the stigma that healthy food is more expensive than unhealthy food is definitely present in America, it is far from the truth. In fact, “two big macs, a cheeseburger, six chicken nuggets, two medium and two small fries, and two medium sodas costs, at the McDonalds, about twenty-eight dollars” (Dreher, 2011, p.1). Twenty- eight dollars could easily supply a family with a healthy meal, maybe even multiple meals. Though food from fast food chains, such as McDonald’s, can be classified as unhealthy, let’s move on to discuss the price differences between healthy and unhealthy foods bought in grocery stores. The first thing that needs to be set straight when talking about price differences between healthy and unhealthy food when grocery shopping is how foods are being compared. If one is comparing the price of an overall