{"id":15493,"date":"2022-03-13T05:12:42","date_gmt":"2022-03-13T05:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ovadiahearthealth.com\/old-site\/?p=15493"},"modified":"2022-03-14T11:59:48","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T11:59:48","slug":"the-real-cost-of-cheap-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ovadiahearthealth.com\/old-site\/2022\/03\/13\/the-real-cost-of-cheap-food\/","title":{"rendered":"The real cost of cheap food"},"content":{"rendered":"

The old saying is true: you are what you eat. Especially when it comes to <\/span>metabolic health<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But these days it\u2019s easier than ever to make the wrong food choices. A combination of bad information and an endless supply of processed junk foods means that it requires deliberate effort to eat well.<\/span><\/p>\n

And on top of that, there\u2019s a pervasive idea that healthy food is too expensive – and by extension, low-income households can only afford to buy things like sugary cereals and ready made meals.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it\u2019s true that the sticker prices may seem compelling, I want to show you that it doesn\u2019t have to be prohibitively expensive to eat in a heart healthy way. Plus, there\u2019s a hidden cost to eating bad foods that will cost you in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cost of cheap food<\/h2>\n

On the surface, cheap foods are, well, cheap. You can load up on chips and fries and white bread and nuggets for a low price. But there\u2019s a catch: they\u2019re so <\/span>low in nutritional value that they\u2019re not filling<\/span><\/a>, so you have to eat more of them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When people start eating whole foods they often notice an unexpected result: they feel full a lot quicker than they\u2019re used to. This is because of the nutrient density of the foods.<\/span><\/p>\n

By contrast, junk food has minimal nutritional value. They\u2019re often very low in protein and high in carbohydrates, which keeps you hungry and reaching for more snacks. You can test this for yourself: if you give yourself a large portion of a carbohydrate, like pasta or rice, or even cookies, the chances are you\u2019ll be able to eat a lot of it and even feel hungry shortly after finishing. But if you ate a steak, it\u2019s unlikely you\u2019d want to have a second or third – you\u2019d be too full. Apply this to your meal and snack choices and choose the protein-rich sources where possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to remember that the food industry is an industry like any other. The companies making your chips and cereals have shareholders and profit targets, and the only way they reach those targets is by selling more of their foods. The hungrier you are, the quicker you eat through a packet of their products, and the more you buy. It\u2019s not in their interest to make food high in nutritional value that keeps you full so you buy less.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hidden cost of cheap food<\/h2>\n

Just as food companies aren\u2019t interested in saving you money, it\u2019s also not their primary objective to keep you healthy. That\u2019s not to say they\u2019re deliberately harming you, but be mindful that their goal is to sell more of their products. The responsibility is very much on us as individuals to think about what we eat and make wise choices, because Doritos has no obligation in that regard.<\/span><\/p>\n

A healthy diet is one of the most important steps to take for heart disease prevention and a poor diet is the most common factor I see among patients in my practice. This is the hidden cost of cheap, unhealthy foods – the toll it takes on your health. That cost can be hugely expensive: chronic disease, premature death, heart surgery, time off work, costly medical bills, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there is a wealth of <\/span>misinformation surrounding what makes a heart healthy diet<\/span><\/a>. One of the biggest things to watch out for are products that contain vegetable (seed) oils, which are sadly often advertised as heart healthy. Make no mistake, they <\/span>are not healthy<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vegetable oils are heavily processed and contain large amounts of artificial trans fatty acids, which have been <\/span>linked to an increased risk of<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n