Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

In October of 1907, that was the headline for the New York Tribune:

Overflowing harvests bless the land, yet food prices steadily mount.

The same could be said now. The U.S. produces more food now than we did one hundred years ago, but the cost for fresh food is still skyrocketing.

Why?

Shouldn’t fresh food be cheaper than processed food because it doesn’t have to be processed? Apparently not:

• A High Price for Healthy Food – Well Blog – NYTimes.com

That’s what University of Washington researchers found when they compared the prices of 370 foods sold at supermarkets in the Seattle area. Calorie for calorie, junk foods not only cost less than fruits and vegetables, but junk food prices also are less likely to rise as a result of inflation. The findings, reported in the current issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, may help explain why the highest rates of obesity are seen among people in lower-income groups.

Junk food can sit on a shelf for months before it has to be pulled, but that’s not the case for fresh fruit and veggies.

If you want to eat fresh food, but are strapped for cash, this is the time of the year to go to your local farmer’s market. You should be able to buy fresh fruit and veggies for a lot less than what you would pay in a grocery store. Some cities have farmer’s markets all year long, but for the rest of us, we have to enjoy the fresh food while the summer sun shines.