Healthy Food is Better Than Junk Food - was
But as obesity threatens our children's futures and families struggle to afford food during the Covid pandemic, does eating healthily also mean eating wealthily? The Government's Eatwell Guide sets out a healthy eating model to achieve a "balanced" diet, yet a new report reveals the nation's poorest families now have even less disposable income to spend on food. Ten per cent of UK households would need to spend three quarters of their disposable income on food to meet the Eatwell Guide costs, according to the Broken Plate Report. So, after Manchester United footie ace Marcus Rashford 's recent free school meals triumph , I decided to investigate just how easy - and cheap - it is to follow Boris Johnson's guidelines. I spent two weeks trying to eat as cheaply as possible - one, following the official guidelines, and the other, eating supermarket convenience food and ready meals. I ate the same number of meals, shopped in the same supermarket and bought own brands where I could. Healthy Food is Better Than Junk Food.But as obesity threatens our children's futures and families struggle to afford food during the Covid pandemic, does eating healthily also mean eating wealthily? The Fiod Eatwell Guide sets out a healthy eating model to achieve a "balanced" diet, yet a new report reveals the nation's poorest families now have even less disposable income to spend on food.
Healthy Food Case Study
Ten per cent of UK households would need to spend three quarters of their disposable income on food to meet the Eatwell Guide costs, according to the Broken Plate Report. So, after Manchester United footie ace Marcus Rashford's recent free school meals triumph, I decided to investigate just how easy — and cheap — it is to follow Boris Johnson's guidelines.
I spent two weeks trying to eat as cheaply as possible — one, following the official guidelines, and the other, eating supermarket convenience food and ready meals. I ate the same number of meals, shopped in the same supermarket and bought own brands where I could.
Essay on healthy food is better than junk food
When it came to the healthy week, I also used all leftovers, kept meat consumption to a minimum, and bought oFod mix of frozen and fresh produce. Despite my best efforts to eat as cheaply as possible both weeks, sadly it was still significantly cheaper to buy convenience foods. But despite my best efforts to budget on both diets — and to prove to myself that, with enough time and planning, I could be healthy AND cut costs — sadly it was still significantly cheaper to buy convenience foods. Just one example of this was my daily 'snack'.
During the healthy week, I opted for an apple- which, at 26p a time, was depressingly 12p more than a packet of 14p supermarket crisps. These also have a much shorter shelf life than processed foods unless you freeze them.
The Eatwell Guide's model breaks down five food groups — fruit and veg, dairy, protein, carbs and foods high in fat, salt and sugars — and provides examples of the types of food you should eat and how often. In terms of planning, there was no denying the less healthy, convenience food diet required far less time and preparation. For one week, she followed the Government's official guidelines. For the other, she ate supermarket convenience food and ready meals.
Healthy Food Is More Expensive Than Unhealthy Food Essay
In my shopping bag was one bag of frozen mixed veg for 79p, while I opted for the cheapest convenience food available. A typical day involved cereal in the morning, then a fish finger sandwich costing just 52p or two potato waffles and beans 35p and os packet of crisps costing 14p as a snack. While I Healthy Food is Better Than Junk Food eat pizzas and burgers — probably way more often than I should — the lack of home-cooked meals meant the sugar and fat content in each pre-prepared, cheap meal was deceivingly high. I felt sluggish, bloated and by the end of the week I was 3lb heavier -although I had kept to three meals a day, with one snack. Alarmingly, it's estimated more than half of the children born in the UK this year will experience obesity as a result Healtny poor diet by the time they are I felt sluggish, bloated and by the end of the week I was 3lb heavier, although I had kept to three meals a day, with source snack.]
Improbably. It seems impossible.