“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (James 1:5)
Several years back I was having a conversation with a friend. She was in between jobs and had several job interviews lined up. She had already been on the one interview at the time we were having our conversation. She was telling me how much she really liked what she heard from this employer and that they had even offered her the position, but she still had one more interview to go on. I asked her why she just didn’t accept the job offer that had been extended to her by the first employer and her reply has stuck with me ever since. She said her dad used to always say “know what you are saying ‘no’ to!” I just love this, and it makes such wise sense. I want to encourage you today to take this same word of wisdom when you are making decisions about your health – know all that you are truly saying ‘no’ to before moving forward with your health plan. And actually, know what you are saying ‘yes’ to as well. Consider the whole picture, and not just a part of it before making any decision.
Let’s take a look at one of the more common objections I hear and read about all the time as it pertains to taking care of our health and how only part of the picture is being taken into consideration when this objection is made.
It’s Too Expensive to Eat Healthy
This one is probably the one that gets under my skin and drives me crazy the most. I talk about this in greater detail in my book “Are You Being Deceived About True Wellness.”
For starters, how can you put a price tag on your health, and truly your life? But let’s get more practical and break this one down a little bit. In fact, I am going to use the debate I am hearing a lot of recently, and that is the discussion around the SNAP program, or better known as food stamps. This program is for those with a very low income. Currently, there are several items up for debate on whether they should be removed from the list of allowable “foods” or not and they are sodas and candy (to me this is a no-brainer, but we’ll move on!). One of the reasonings for opposing this idea according to Dr. Tamara S. Hannon, a professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine states: “the deeper problem is the lack of affordable, nutritious food,” and she goes on to add “convenient options” are a problem as well. So, unless nutritious foods can be made more affordable and convenient, we don’t remove toxic food-like substances like sodas and sugars from the list?!
My question is: what is “affordable?” Are you comparing the affordability of real food to the affordability of toxic, food-like substances? Is this a fair comparison?! Keep in mind, we need to be eating to nourish our bodies, not to simply feel full – or even to take in a certain number of calories. And “convenience” especially needs to be removed from the equation when trying to decide what to keep and what to remove from the acceptable food list. Just because something that is vital to our health is not “convenient” is no reason to disregard it, or the contrary, just because it is convenient, is no reason to keep it. Start with providing only nutrient dense foods first and then find ways to make it more accessible.
In addition, comparing empty calories (calories with no nutritional value), which toxic, food-like substances are, is like comparing the caloric intake of a pound of sugar to a pound of vegetables and expecting the benefits to be the same. What’s being highly over-looked are the results and impact to our health between “affordable” and so called “expensive.”
Let’s use a non-food analogy for a minute. Buying a souped-up race car on the outside – tires, exhaust pipes, roll bars etc., but with no engine on the inside and expecting it to function the same way as a primer painted, solid running, Toyota on the outside with an engine that will lasts for thousands of miles on the inside. The value is in the engine, not the appearance. The same goes with food-like substances versus real food. The value is in the nutritional value, not the calories, or even the taste, and certainly not the convenience.
Here is where the problem truly lies when we are making comparisons between the cost of food-like substances, and real food – the priorities are wrong when it comes to the foods people eat and why they eat them. The fact of the matter is the only place our bodies are able to receive the nutrients it needs to sustain health is from the real, nutrient dense foods we give it – regardless of cost. Real foods are not intentionally made to be more expensive, it’s just cheap to eat food-like substances.
Our budgets and the priorities we place on it need to be built around this fact, not the other way around. Our health, and the foods we need to give it to sustain it, or restore it, needs to be one of the highest priorities. Trendy clothes, hair, nails, technology, entertainment, vacations – even larger homes than we need, and newer cars than we need. A safe place to lay our heads is important, and a reliable car is important, but beyond those necessities, nutrient dense food is just as important and even vital. We need to start changing our perspectives and priorities, and face reality.
When the decision makers say “no” to only allowing real food on the SNAP program list of allowable foods, they are not making a fair comparison to the other option – nutrients over calories. They don’t know what they are actually saying “no” to. If there was ever a population of people that ingesting quality, nutrient dense food, and avoiding toxic food-like substances is vital, it is the under-privileged. In fact, they can’t afford to not eat only real, nutrient dense foods, and totally avoid the toxic, food-like substances they have been consuming for far too long. I would even go as far as to say, that consuming the toxic food-like substances could very well be the direct or indirect reason they are in the poor financial and health crisis they are in, including mental health imbalances that they are currently experiencing. Those toxic substances like sodas and sugars have a direct impact on poor mental health, as well as trigger a multitude of addictive behaviors, not just addiction to food but other harmful substances like drugs and alcohol. Not to mention the 80% of chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular problems, obesity, auto-immune conditions and even cancers that are directly due to poor diet as well.
If we really want to have compassion, we need to stop providing them with only the cheapest of consumables and instead allow only foods of highest quality nutritional value. I like what Luke 3:11 says “And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” And 1 John 3:17: “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”
When we agree for our tax dollars to provide quality, nutrient dense food to those in need, and prevent toxic, food-like substances to be given as cast offs to them, we are truly giving out of our abundance.
And this goes for every other decision-maker on up the economic ladder – parents and adults of any financial status. Know what you really mean, and the comparison you are making when you make the statement “it’s too expensive to eat healthy.” What are you comparing it to? This concept also applies to the foods that are being served up to our children in the schools with our tax dollars as well. And swayed monetarily and legislatively by the big food corporations – follow the money as they say.
In Summary
- First, know what you are really saying “no” to.
- It’s NOT too expensive to eat healthy.
- It’s just cheap to eat food-like substances.
- The benefit and value are in the nutrients, not the calories.
- Make real, nutrient-dense foods a high priority in your financial budget.
- Realize that the only way the body can receive the vital nutrients it needs to restore health and maintain health is through real, nutrient-dense foods – not calories.
- The under privileged, and those who are already diseased, need nutrient-dense foods more than anyone.
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