5 Good Reasons You Should Switch to Buying Better Foods

There is a shift going on right now towards eating healthier, but many are hesitant to make the shift themselves because of what they think that will mean for their diets and their budgets.

However, healthy doesn’t have to break your bank, or even keep you from eating the foods you want. No really! In fact, switching to better foods and better ways of preparing your foods can help you save a great deal of money, and increase your love of food that much more. Switching to a healthier way of eating can make the difference between being sick and feeling lousy, and loving life again. You can even continue enjoying the desserts and snacks you love!

Don’t believe me? I’m living proof that it can be done and I would love to show you how it works. Here are 5 good reasons you should switch to buying better foods.

No, I don’t mean it’s cheaper in the long run or that it’s cheaper because you have fewer hospital bills. I mean honest to goodness, really cheaper. Let me show you some numbers.

It seems unbelievable, but Kroger/Fry’s/King Soopers is even more expensive. There are so many misconceptions about healthy food, that the idea that healthy food is more expensive is easily believed. It’s a good excuse.

The biggest misconception is that to eat healthy, you have to eat “organic” food. You see the price difference at the store you typically shop at between the regular food and the organic alternative and all food considered healthier gets thrown out of the equation. Organic food isn’t necessary to switch to a healthier diet.

Another misconception is that the healthier food is the box, bag, or can that is labeled “organic”, sitting next to the one you usually buy, is the alternative. If you are truly trying to eat healthier, you’ll stay far away from the processed food items and stick with the basics. That doesn’t mean you’ll have to do without them completely though.

The only reason “organic” labels are more expensive is because they have to pay exorbitant prices to the government to prove that they are not using chemicals, preservatives, poisons and medications in their food items. They have to charge more just to make a meager profit from it.

One final misconception about eating healthy is that you have to eat the bad tasting low fat, non fat, skim, diet, and sugar free versions of food. I’ll let you in in a little secret that’s really important that you know. Those foods are even worse for you and your health than the regular versions. Food that is truly good for you, tastes good.

Honestly, the only things you are really tasting when you buy conventional food or go get fast food, are sugar and artificial flavoring (otherwise known as concentrated sugar). That’s why it seems so good. Our country has a sugar affection and has forgotten what real food tastes like.

Or worse, the way it’s grown, treated and processed before it gets to the store renders it flavorless. When you go visit another country and eat fresh fruit and veggies there, the taste difference is extraordinary. They have laws that prevent food from being treated the same way it is here. In another country, oranges and apples taste like they were meant to, and you’ll taste flavors you never have before, because that’s what real food grown right tastes like.

When you start shopping at the right stores and making better food choices, you’ll start re-experiencing food as well. Good food is meant to taste good. With just the first two reasons, you already have plenty of reasons to make the switch yourself. But there’s a catch isn’t there?

So here’s the trick. I say it saves you time for several reasons. When you buy poor quality food, not only does it not taste very good, but it goes bad really fast. I have to say apples, strawberries, and avocados from many stores are just gross and they are bad almost before you get them home. So then you are either throwing them out because they are rotten, or just because you don’t want to eat it.

So essentially you wasted your time driving to the store, and wasted your money buying food you didn’t eat, and you still don’t have the foods you want. Even worse, if you planned a meal using these foods, you’re screwed. One reason they taste bad and they went bad so fast is because they were old. They were cheap for the store and they’ve been stored so long since being grown/made that they were no good anymore. Wal-Mart is famous for this.

Wal-Mart may be easy to shop at, and they may advertise their super low prices, but the truth is that they offer the lowest quality of food. They have no regulations on the food they will sell, so you get the lowest of the low quality full of chemicals, grown with the poorest nutrients, and most of it is not even real (GMOs). They simply but the lowest priced foods for them, which is why they have been sued multiple times for incidents like wood chips in their parmesan cheese, plastic in their rice, and tainted meat, etc.

Stores like some of the brands you recognize like Safeway, Albertsons and Kroger/Fry’s/King Soopers charge more for their food based on what they feel their reputation can handle, essentially what their customers will pay. They may have better quality food than Wal-Mart, but you are still just paying for the store name rather than the quality of food.

Sprouts, on the other hand, is a “natural” food store known for offering quality organic foods. Something you may not know about them is that most of the food they offer is not labeled organic. However, Sprouts has their food grown and produced specifically for them using healthy methods. So when you buy apples, bananas, and even chicken not “organic” labeled, you can still be assured of their good quality.

So how do they offer these foods at such good prices? Well, for one they have great sales when food is in season. If you take advantage of the sales, you can get the prices you see in the table above, but they have sales on just about everything every week. I didn’t post the best sales they offer because many of them weren’t available when I did my price comparison. And two, they are an honest company, simply selling their own foods to keep their stores running. Even the customer service is different there.

This is another good reason you should switch to buying better foods. When you spend less, waste less, and get better tasting food, you have more options. I told you that when you truly made the switch, you’d buy more basics and less processed foods. That’s how it works.

So you buy oats, fruit, veggies, nuts, cheese, honey, bread, and meat and then you mix and mach. All sorts of quick meal or snack ideas are available when you have the ingredients. Need a fast dinner? Toss hamburger and veggies in a pot and you have a quick, delicious soup. Add beans and tomatoes and you have chili. You could toss chicken, onions and sweet potatoes in the oven for an amazing meal too.

Snacks? Try apples and cheese, celery and peanut butter, tortillas or crackers and any of the above, and mix it up. Or just grab a handful of nuts or a banana. When you keep good, basic food in the house, suddenly meal planning seems simply because its so easy to throw something together. Check out the table below to see some great healthy alternatives for the traditional foods most people buy.

If you start comparing prices at the same store between DIY meals and pre-made snacks you’ll understand. At Sprouts, chicken breasts are $1.99 a pound, but the pre-made chicken nuggets were $7.50 for a pound. And you can easily do this comparison with anything you’re considering purchasing.

When you make better food choices for yourself and your family, it then doesn’t matter what you eat, because its all good for you and it all tastes great. I told you that you would love food more at the end of this.

And there’s no reason you can’t still have cookies, brownies, cake, ice cream, chips, popsicles, or anything else you’re worried about. Because when you have healthier food around, anything you make will be good. I have tons of great recipes for all of this stuff and it won’t take any longer to prepare than necessary.

You may not be eating them out of a package quick, but the 10 or 15 minutes it takes to whip up some cookies or chips will be totally worth it. And your body and family will thank you. Here’s where you get the biggest benefit. You’ll stop being so sick, you’ll likely see symptoms from chronic conditions start going away, and you’ll feel better inside and out.

Recipes for Great Desserts:

There are so many benefits to buying and eating better foods. I just listed 5 good reasons you should switch to buying better foods here.

-You save money because good food costs less and you throw less out.

-Good food tastes better, so you’ll enjoy your food more.

-You save time by not wasting shopping trips on rotten or gross food, and having to rethink dinner plans.

-You have more options, so meals and snacks will be a snap to put together and will always be healthy.

-You’ll be healthier, so you’ll look better, feel better, and likely be sick less.

What more do you need to know to make the switch?! I can help you with healthy ingredient alternatives, great recipes for desserts, granolas, snacks, and even breads, chips and tortillas, and I can even help you learn how to take advantage of store sales and preserve your own food.

Subscribe to my blog, stay tuned for more great articles, and I’ll be right here to take this journey with you, or even answer any questions. You can always email me at victoria@livehealthyathome.com.