Every once and awhile, I like to give up sweets. I have a huge sweet tooth and an incredible amount of will power but every so often, the sweet tooth prevails and I get to the end of the week feeling like my stomach has taken a wrong turn into Candy Land. This time, when I decided to give up sugary goodness for a month, my sweet husband decided he'd support me and sign up for thirty days without treats as well. At two weeks in, the cravings haven't got the best of us yet but temptation reared it's ugly head in a very surprising way. While making his way through the grocery store, my husband wandered by the end of an aisle where cake mix and icing were on sale for 88 cents each. While sales always seem to catch his eye, cake and icing never go unnoticed either and I’m sure it tortured him a little inside to know that he wouldn’t be having any cake anytime soon. However, I was surprised that instead of complaining that my health kick was causing him to crave cans of icing more so than before, he commented on how ridiculous it was that a box of cake mix and a can of icing (plus the eggs, oil, milk, water etc.) could be purchased for the crazy low cost of about 3 dollars. Compare this to a healthy dinner for a family of four...chicken, vegetables...and you're talking a 30 dollar meal for most people. The treats all of a sudden don't seem so tempting just for their taste but instead for their cost as well! How unfair!
How crazy is it that for a tenth of the price of a well balanced meal, a family of four could each eat a quarter of a cake? I'm sure I've thought about it before but when cutting out sweets, you're forced to look at food in a different way. It makes me feel truly lucky that I can afford to eat well. It makes me feel lucky that I can choose healthy foods for their nutrition and not worry about tomatoes costing more than Twizzlers. But it also makes me wonder...does it become a toss-up for some people? Why save a few pounds when you can save a few bucks? How unfair is it that not only do the things that are the worst for us health-wise seem to taste the best and coast the least? I knew that cans of icing would catch my husband’s eye but the fact that it was because of price and not taste certainly says a lot.
Just some food for thought. What are your thoughts on sweet treats and how cheap they can be?
{via}
6 comments:
OH cake does sound good now...but yes it is crazy that it is so expensive to eat healthy in our country! We really need health food FAST FOOD
I definitely think that is wrong. Here in New Zealand our GST (the tax on top of goods) is about to go up and they are talking about excluding fruit and veges from the increase. I definitely think that healthy food needs to be accessible to more people, it is going to save society money in the long run!
i love to bake so i get excited when ingredients are on sale, but it is sad that the cheapest foods are most often the unhealiest
Cake really sounds like a perfect plan:)...I love that products:)
Kisses,sweetie and see you soon:)
It really is sad how much more money it is to be healthy!
I have a big sweet tooth too. I should follow your lead.
Sweetness is my weakness as well! Over the past year or so I've really found that my tastes are changing to where I can tell the difference between cheap prepared sweets and the real thing. So my sweet tooth has become a lot more expensive. I think its worth it and it gives me more reason to indulge less often.
Post a Comment