Eat Cheap Trash To Save Money Now, Die Early And Bankrupt Later

America's addiction to processed food is bankrupting the country.

Cheap junk food might save you money today, but it’ll bankrupt you later, along with the rest of us.

Americans justify poor diets complete with ready-to-eat processed food all the time over scarce dollars getting even scarcer under heightened inflation at a 40-year high. This week, the Labor Department revealed inflation rose 6 percent last month compared to February 2022. It’s the slowest rate since September 2021 but it’s still higher than it’s ever been since 1990, and grocery prices are resisting the downward trend as a “pain point” for consumers. With 1 in 4 Americans dipping into savings to cope with rising prices, consumers are tightening their budgets and their belt buckles.

“Amid food inflation, more shoppers turn to dollar stores for groceries,” headlined coverage from CNBC last month. Sounds healthy.

It doesn’t take a bunch of data to prove processed foods are much cheaper than other fresh options. Just try a trip to Whole Foods and compare your grocery bill to Walmart.

In April, a team of researchers found “on average ultra-processed foods are 52 percent cheaper than minimally processed alternatives.” And every bite of ultra-processed food is killing you.

Big Food has been able to rely on government subsidies to mass produce packaged products with ever-lasting preservatives to lower costs for decades. The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) outlined how these subsidies have been a primary driver of the nation’s obesity epidemic, where Americans are given financial incentives to buy the packaged poison they’ve already paid for by their tax dollars. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), more than 2 in 5 Americans are categorically obese.

“In the U.S.,” AIER reported, “the diet is driven by the market but it’s a deeply distorted market, where the poor choices get the subsidies and the better choices are left to face competitive cold winds.”

Americans are getting sick in the meantime, and it’s left their wallets at the mercy of an unsustainable health care system which is really just a sick care system. We just wait for everybody to get sick and then fight over who’s going to pay the bill that just keeps going up, up and up.

According to Dr. Catherine Welford Varney writing in “Medical Economics” last March, data shows healthcare costs to individuals who are obese is double than those who are not.

“Healthcare costs triple and quadruple as the obesity severity worsens from Class 2 (BMI 35-39) to Class 3 obesity (BMI >40),” Varney wrote.

In his groundbreaking book on processed food, “Metabolical,” Dr. Robert Lustig explains how processed food laced with addictive sugar is leaving the nation sick and bankrupt.

“Chronic metabolic disease (type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver disease, chronic renal failure) currently accounts for 75 percent of all healthcare costs ($3.5 trillion); and 75 percent of that is preventable, caused by our sugar consumption,” Lustig wrote. “Sugar and processed food wastes $1.9 trillion in healthcare spending, drives diabetes, dialysis, and disability, and knocks people off over a forty-year period, thus reducing economic productivity and driving our Social Security trust fund to depletion.”

The reality is we’re spending more resources on health care than ever before in human history and our life expectancy is declining. No wonder why health care remains the most predominant issue in presidential races every four years. U.S. health care spending reached more than 18 percent of GDP in 2021, up from 5 percent in 1960. While the U.S. spends roughly $3.6 trillion on health care every year, just 3 percent of that spending is targeted towards prevention.

“Processed food is short-term gain for long-term pain,” Lustig wrote. “You can either pay the farmer or the doctor.”

Links:

Daily Caller: Alzheimer’s Risk Can Be Reduced By Diet, Study Shows

Daily Caller: Miracle Weight Loss Drugs Could Have A Deadly Side Effect, Researchers Say

Wall Street Journal: Startup Offering Ozempic Surges With Controversial Ads, Fake Testimonials

New York Times: Heartbeat May Shape Our Perception of Time, Study Shows

The Federalist: FDA Let Marketers Label Sugar-Soaked Cereals As ‘Healthy’ For Years, And Big Food Is Fighting To Keep It That Way

Gallup: In U.S., 47% Do Not Expect Return to Pre-Pandemic Normalcy

The Federalist: Kellogg Pledged $91 Million To Racial Division While Slashing Employee Benefits

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