budgeteating

I recently read in a major news magazine that America’s children are overweight because their parents cannot afford healthy, high quality food. Parents all over the country heaved a sigh of relief; it’s not my fault, it’s this darn economy. Junior can keep one hand on the cable remote and the other in a bag of Cheetos, and parents can blame the Congress or Big Oil when they have to special order his clothes.

I don’t believe this magazine did anyone a service by perpetuating the lie that poor=fat. True, there is definitely a correlation, as anyone who has walked or waddled the aisles at Wal-Mart can tell you. But consider: there was a time when being fat was a status symbol, because the poor couldn’t afford enough food to cover their calorie usage. If you can’t afford food, you are bound to lose weight, plain and simple.

Weight is a numbers game. The more calories you eat, the more calories your body can convert to fat. Think of it like money, except you want to be making withdrawals from savings. It doesn’t matter if you get your money from a brokerage or a McDonald’s paycheck, whether you spend it on a Ford or a Maserati. If you spend more than you earn, there will be a deficit. If your income exceeds your spending, you’ll have a surplus. Your body puts that surplus into a little nest egg otherwise known as a bedonkadonk butt.

You can exist solely on Cheetos and be thin. You can munch carrots and salmon all day and still not fit into your pre-baby jeans. It’s all about how many calories you take in versus how many you expend.

Here’s the catch: that thin person who lives on Cheetos still will not be healthy, and they actually will be spending more on groceries than a healthy eater. Most Americans really want a healthy lifestyle, but the media has convinced them that it’s too expensive, too time consuming, or otherwise out of their reach. That’s why I’m here. Like the trek our ancestors made across an untamed continent, this is a journey best taken in a group. I have a map, so let’s get started!

Processed food companies like Kraft and Dow are major advertising sponsors of the magazines that insist Americans can’t afford healthy food. Maybe that’s why the editors want you to believe four dollar a pound snack foods are somehow cheaper than dollar a pound carrots. Whatever their motivation, it’s time to stop listening and start educating ourselves.

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