Even for those who want to eat healthy, picking the right diet can be tricky. Watch our video on the ketogenic diet, the latest fad in eating healthy: bit.ly/2DNkjZh
Lombwolf have you ever had Medicaid? In my area the nearest family doctor that takes Medicaid is a 30 minute car drive away. The bus system isn’t the best, it would take about 4.5 hours to get there with all the changes if I had no car. And do you know how long it takes to get in to see that doc? Way too long. Not worth going to the doctor unless you need to go to an urgent care or hospital. I spoke about Medicaid because that’s for “everyone” while Medicare is for seniors.
Mexico adds warning labels on junk food, similar to the ones on cigarettes. They removed mascots from packaging so they can’t used them to temp kids. In Guadalajara, they close down main streets on Sundays to allow pedestrians to walk/run/bike/ roller-skate freely. Lots to learn.
Where in Europe? In Germany the kilo of all fruits and veggies are expensive. Of course since the euro is more than a dollar its way over priced for Americans to buy a package of strawberries for 3-4€ or even more, same for blueberries, raspberries etc.
@@spoton95 Ha. I actually just came from Aldi and the bananas are .99. I got them somewhere else for .75 or even .89 when they're a lil higher. Like the previous commenter said if they are out of season then they're gonna be higher priced and I get it. To me Germany is not cheap and I know I can find better deals elsewhere in Europe like Croatia. Making a visit today I did see a deal or 2 on potatoes as an example but other fruits besides berries not as often or not in my opinion. If you think its cheap and you get bargains by all means go spend. But I do know what I'm talking about because I live here.
instead of just increasing the cost of unhealthy food, which will leave poor people starving, how about trying to focus on how to reduce the cost of healthy food, so people can have an easier choice. If I could buy 1/2lb of blueberries for the same cost as 1/2lb of sweets, I'd buy the blueberries every time. But if they both cost as much as the blueberries do now, it would be unacceptable.
...they said that in the video lol Did you watch the whole thing? They said the government should subsidize (aka lower the price of) healthy foods AND maybe raise the price of processed food. To further encourage people to buy healthy food
A lot of people have raised the same concern. I’m not sure if they just failed to include this, but in most places where they’ve enacted a junk food tax, the money goes straight towards programs and subsidies that help lower-income people purchase healthy produce. So it can be both ways!
How about a negative tax for the companies producing healthy food? (reductions in their tax rate) That way they will be much more flexible to innovate and invest, and actually provide a free-market solution to this problem. Forget subsidies, and definitely forget taxing unhealthy food - this further feeds the state mechanism which is largely ineffective (more or less depending on which country we are talking about). Here is one analogy to support this line of reasoning: Many people protest that 1 passenger transportation leads to more pollution. So they would suggest banning single-passenger transportation. Let's say this takes place, and now you have 4 people in a car, which is 75% less cars on the road. An alternative would be to improve the technology (which car manufacturers have done time and again throughout the decades), so that 100 cars pollute as much a single one. Now you can have 100 single-passenger cars for 1 full with people vehicle. This leads to more mobility, better economy, more comfort, and less pollution. The answer is - leave the market to innovate its way out of the problem. Everything else is less efective.
A lot of people have raised the same concern. I’m not sure if they just failed to include this, but in most places where they’ve enacted a junk food tax, the money goes straight towards programs and subsidies that help lower-income people purchase healthy produce.
Hmm, let's tax you for living? I'm sick of people going to engeneer what I'm going to do, what I'm going to eat, how I'm going to live My life is not your business, if you want cheap apples, try to find way to make it cheaper not forcing me to pay it for you by junk food taxes
It’s interesting there is no discussion of lowering the costs of healthy food items. Or explanation of why these are comparatively markedly cheaper in other countries, like in Europe. Why can you shop so much healthier, cost effectively, there vs the US? It can’t just be because of the size of the country. I still don’t understand this.
I guess it is the size of the country: orchards are so common in Europe that only in the far North local fresh fruit is rare; really vast areas of the US see very little local fruit. If you are not used to fresh fruit, there is no point in trucking a little less fresh but cheaper fruit from California or Florida in the same way every supermarket in Europe will carry Spanish, Moroccan or Italian fruit. So most people will mostly see only processed food, and fresh fruit turns into a premium product. Every, and I mean every, European supermarket will sell you an abundance of fresh oranges; every American supermarket will sell you an abundance of rehydrated orange juice.
Probably because how the farming system in United States works. Are there many local farmers selling fresh goods to people or the majority of farmland is big properties selling mostly to the industrial sector ?
@@ashuu3 Meat and dairy have little to do with the obesity rate in America. The main driver is consumption of high calorie liquids such as soda. If you want to fight obesity, end all farm subsidies for corn, which is used to produce corn syrup and sugary drinks. You don’t even have to tax the product, just end subsidies, give the money back to the tax payer, and let the farmers deal with the free market. You’ll quickly find them move to farming better healthier crops since corn prices will drastically fall once the market is allowed to act normally. And if you are really dead set on the government “doing something” like many people are, make it so that people on SNAP can’t buy soda. They can still buy other junk cause people gotta have some enjoyment in life but high density calorie drinks should not be promoted in anyway if the people want to use the government in some way to fight the obesity epidemic.
@@Watcher4187 It'd be a lot better if public pay a market price for any food. It looks like people want cheap health insurance with subsidies junk food. Well, I think you're probably eating meat and dairy but I've never eaten them as a part of culture, and never thought about them as a food; also dairy product can't be consumed by us I mean mostly asian
Can’t agree more. We can easily 1 lbs of apples for just $1.50 at any random King Soopers/Kroger stores. Organic choice may be slightly more expensive tho. $3/1 lbs of organic apples.
@@waspoppin4784 vox's headquarters are based in NYC and washington dc. they live in expensive cities and they base their cost to their own city. which is basically false news for the most of america.
But the point of the video doesn't make any sense. I don't know where they got their numbers from but the average apple is less than a dollar, and donuts can be way more expensive than 10 for 10 dollars. Also the solution to stop poor people who can't afford healthy food is to make the unhealthy food more expensive?
@@amiah1605 Yeah that just reeks of neoliberal nonsense, which I guess I shouldn't expect anything else from Vox. If people can't afford healthy food the answer isn't to make unhealthy food unaffordable then they just can't afford food. The answer is to address the core problem of poverty so they can afford more while also maybe being smarter about subsidies so it helps make healthier eating more accessible to those who either don't have the time or the money to do so
@@SmellyMonster17 Bro, a pack of spinach is like $2. A can of Monster and a pack of smokes costs like 4-5 times that amount yet people will buy those items every other day.
no.. also, the USA is very large place. prices vary from store to store. people tend to have a very odd perspective of the USA. every store, city and state is rather different from one and other.
Not when you factor in brand names and what is available. Some stores push for certain brands, and often times I've gone to get apples only to find all the cheap ones have been taken and only the more expensive ones are left. It's not as simple as you think. Life tends to be complex.
@@OpiumBride If you watch some interviews of not-as-educated Americans (which is a lot), they don’t even understand what universal health-care is. Also, universal health care is better imo because now the government has to care for its citizens’ health. This is why European countries have so much health regulations and taxes and US doesn’t have as much. And paying your medical bill is much more manageable in tax than fees. I’m guessing you would prefer a normal life with slightly less income and “free” and great health care rather than an increase of a few thousand or sometimes tens of thousand in salary but having to pay a few grand for an amublence ride and touch your newborn? Remember that health insurance costs some thousands or tens or thousands each year too. And please consider the people who live pay check to pay check, or in poverty. They can’t afford good healthcare or respond to health emergencies without universal health care.
In Singapore & quite a no. of other Asian countries also I think, hawker/street food is cheaper than fast food (in Singapore it's partially because many hawkers operate out of public housing estates, where rent is cheaper than other private commercial properties e.g. shopping malls, while hawkers who were re-located to there from the streets in the 70s & earlier, as well as their descendents (if they take over the business) get an additional 90% rent subsidy)
The problem is not the cost of food. It’s wages in comparison to the cost of food. It’s actually astounding how cheap fresh food is when you consider how much goes into growing it, how far it travels, and how pristine it looks.
@@candelarodriguez2074 The biggest problem you Americans have is excess. You eat too much, you drive cars that are too big and you spend too much on housing and healthcare without actually doing the work to make things efficient. -If you ate less you wouldn`t be obese. -If you lived in villages instead of suburbs you wouldn`t have to overpay for gas, electricity, water etc. -If you did reform you wouldn`t be drowning in student debt - If you went full private or full public you wouldn`t have to give an arm and a leg for healthcare. You have too much money so a lot of it thrown away in the garbage. The reason other countries do things better is scarcity and limited resources.
Great content, but I also feel like this video missed out on a crucial point as to why there is such high obesity and a potential drawback of a junk food tax: food deserts. Much of the time, poor neighborhoods (which have the highest obesity rates btw) don't even have access to grocery stores that carry fresh food. Many live miles away from any grocery stores, and also lack the means of cars or public transportation systems to get to the nearest store. A two mile distance can mean a daunting hour-long trip while carrying heavy bags. This would mean their closest sources are either liquor stores that sell processed foods or low-quality fast food restaurants. A junk food tax alone may only become an increased burden on poor families in these food deserts. We also need to focus on being able to provide healthy alternatives like co-op grocery stores in food deserts to liquor stores or fast-food restaurants while perhaps implementing the tax...
Damn. Where do these poor people live? It seems that there are the wealthy, middle classes, working classes, poor, and then these super poor that I hear about but never see (besides the homeless). I grew up poor and lived in the ghetto (gangs and prostitutes around) as a child. Fruit was cheap then. We kids just didn't eat fresh healthy food because it is fresh healthy food. Kids love sweets and junk food. Fruit is still cheap today if you avoid the grocery stores in the very nice parts of town. My guess is that perhaps these areas are in Trump country that have been economically devastated by outsourcing in such a way that the local economy is a mess.
Ling-Ling Gutierrez von Wallenstein IV really? Where I live, the grocery stores in the poor neighborhoods are more expensive than the grocery stores in the nice neighborhoods. The nice neighborhoods get stores like target, while we’re stuck with corner stores with not many options to begin with. My grocery store doesn’t even carry organic products..
clambismable there’s a difference in eating healthy, and eating in moderation. Obesity isn’t all to blame on junk food. It’s people’s lack of self control
clambismable agree! And the reason food deserts exist is because we allow corporations to control what we eat, to the extent that you point out. If the grocery store corporation doesn’t see a region as being profitable or worth the cost to operate, they won’t put a store there.
RIGHT!?!?! For 10 dollars I can get a couple dozen apples at the farmers market locally grown year round. From cold storage and not as nice as when in season but still....
So ridiculous lol. I don't grow my own apples but the thought that $2 each is the going price for apples is absolute nonsense. If apples are that expensive in your area, buy different food. Apples are full of sugar anyway. Lots of calories, sure, but you can get better calories for less money.
Stevio Gaming It's not that cheap, but outside of the city it's cheaper than the $1.87ish I paid when I lived in DC. That's not counting the taxes on it. I do what Charles Lumia said, apples are usually a once a month or so thing.
This is what I came here to say. I'd say apples are more of a treat when eating healthy. Not a staple of your diet needing to be purchased in large quantities for calories.
@@dedcatonxnx I’m sure they produce food, but not all of it. just as some foods cannot be grown well in the us. for example, coffee beans. that is why so many foods are imported lol
Kevin Johnson is that really where they got those apples? That makes sense because ive never had trouble getting cheap produce and I deliberately choose not to go to whole foods.
That's not really where they got it from; the host is just abstracting the cost to make a point. Whole Foods does have a reputation so it sells the joke.
Or safeway 1.99$ /lb (generally = 1-2 apples, this weeks special in the add) or Savemart or Raleys. which are all the same in my town, and we grow apples!
Lol so let me get this straight. We need a junkfood tax so that poor people can go from eating garbage to starving. I don't see any weaknesses with this solution.
Healthy stuff is not necessarily expensive. There is hardly anything cheaper than beans and lentils, which are yummy, simple and super nutritious. I advise anyone interested to look at Brothers Green Eats -- they prove that very point over and over with specific examples.
A nutrition class, like physical education(PE), should be added to the graduation requirements in high schools across the country. My bio teacher started teaching nutrition as an elective class and it was such an eye opening class. It really did change my perspective on food and it was one of my favorite classes I took
I live in Florida, I just went out to my local grocery store and I can tell you apples do not cost that much, even organic There's so much wrong with this video
Magdalie Mexile New York isn’t even that much more expensive either, this is most likely a really “organic” company they are referring to, nonetheless apples are ALOT cheaper then depicted in this video.
A pretty big issue with produce in the US is that the ideas of "local" and "seasonal" foods are ignored. Americans want things like watermelon in the middle of winter, and citrus in the middle of summer. That means the fruits have to be imported from the southern hemisphere or tropical areas, which added to Americans wanting everything to look perfect, makes it very expensive to produce produce.
That makes sense. I wouldn’t mind having what’s seasonal where I live, if it was affordable. I saw a bag of grapes at the grocery store for $9 yesterday and gasped
I work near their headquarters here in NYC. Apples at the local markets are around $2/lb. I think someone in their staff saw $2 and totally missed the "per pound." If you just buy an apple off of the many street fruit vendors, they're $0.50-$1 each.
The fact is that many obese people are actually malnourised and that's why they continue to eat too much. Their bodies are craving more than calories but not getting what they really need. Although, where I live there's some bulk 'imperfect produce' available for very very cheap. For example, a kilo of strawberries for 2 dollars.
So that's why I'm always hungry. We cant afford healthy stuff so we just buy processed food since it's cheap. Is there any place like that in Tennessee, where you can get cheap healthy stuff? I want to be able to make it up the stairs without being out of breath.
Long story short. The government gives subsidies to farmers and corporations it's cheaper to produce corn, soy, grain etc than fruits and vegetables the government could offset this by giving produce farmers incentives, taxation could also help but the FDA turns a blind eye 💵
Where I live organic apples each cost 3 dollars.my family only eats organic, sadly. Maybe that’s why we aren’t fat, as most Americans. We are average or below average.
Lola Llama is that why Americans are so fat? they don't eat real foods? I was so shocked when I visited USA. In my country, there's obesity problem, but those obese people are 1/3 size of american obese.
It's funny, when I was holidaying in the USA, I couldn't even get fruit and veg at convenience shops. I didn't have the time to visit proper produce stores or Walmart, so I literally ate junk food and fast food for a month. A month of that won't break your body, but years of it most likely will. I think there's an accessibility issue as well as a cost issue for the less fortunate in the USA. Particularly those without a car.
Yea that would be pretty terrible, but luckily they did say that wouldn't be a proper solution. A tax on something like candy and soda that aren't actual food but cause obesity would work, but not a blanket tax on unhealthy food
Gregory Everson lol wut? Eating right never involves soda. It's like saying we should increase the price of tobacco because it'll punish the social smokers.
that's not true because people would generally demand higher wages so they can afford healthier foods but unhealthy foods are still the more expensive option
Rice and beans = cheap. A donut is not cheap. I hate when people say "cheap fast food". It's convenient, not cheap. You can easily calculate the cost of a burger and see that a McD-burger is not cheap compared to making everything yourself. It's convenient.
a 6 pack of tacos from TBell cost me about 9$, a can of beans is 1$ a 1LB hamburger meat was 3$ shells 1.25$ lettuce was 1$ cheese 2.50 i had tacos for about a week, if i added rice a lot longer
a McD burger where I live is 1.07$ lets calculate how much it would cost to make that burger. 1lb (smallest size) of 92% lean to 2% fat ground beef is $5.00 4 count of hamburger buns .88 cents 16 oz jar of pickle chips is 2.08 24 oz bottle of ketchup is 1.48 that amount of beef once cooked down would make barely 4 burgers of the same likeness to a McD one. for over 10$ (not counting tax) you can make 4 whereas at McD you can buy nearly 9 burgers. Eating fast food is quick and cheaper. Facts.
Shrouded Mist In what world is lean beef and store bought bread cheap? And if you are poor, should your only focus be burgers and gas station apples and not rice, beans and lentils? Just because you cant make a burger cheap because you buy expensive ingredients does not alter the fact that burgers at McD are not cheap, they are convenient.
piratapan none of the ingredients I looked up were cheap. There were all the cheapest and off brand. You gave a McD burger as an example of how its not cheap but comparatively it is of you try and make them. Get your head out of you ass and actually do some research into what food costs compared to quicker and cheaper alternatives. Also you can't sustain yourself on only rice beans and lentils. Have a good day you close minded fuckjar
Shrouded Mist bake your own bread = save money. Buy cheaper meat = save money. I live in Sweden and the cost of a home made burger with the same ingredients are cheaper, more work and less convenient, but cheaper. You don't throw away the ketchup and jar of pickles after you have made 4 burgers. The video does not give a solution to the problem, I try to do. The notion the video makes that hamburgers and donuts are """cheap""" is a shitty forced meme.
start a gardening club using your back yard and barter with neighbors. lettuce, tomato, potato, carrots, celery, apples, berries etc can all be grown easily.
In Poland fast food is often more expensive than good quality meal in a restaurant, It's like 6 $ for a burger & fries & cola and 4.50 $ for soup and main dish, also for 1$ you can buy like 2 kg (sometimes even 4 kg) of apples but half of a donut
i live in a state that is pretty expensive, so this is accurate for me. thankfully my family can afford to buy fresh fruits and veggies but many don’t have that opportunity. i’m also celiac, and buying gluten free stuff can be insanely expensive. some gluten free bread can cost $7 for a small loaf. i couldnt imagine having celiacs while having a lower income. it’s ridiculous that we haven’t been able to make healthy food accessible to all.
Celiac is different though, eating gluten free isn’t any healthier. It just uses more expensive ingredients to make things gluten free and that’s why the price is marked up.
@@alyssa3367 it absolutely doesn't. It is only expensive to make things pretend to have gluten without actually having any (e.g. gf bread). there is a lot of cheap food coeliacs can have. It is only pre-packaged special "gluten free" things that are expensive.
@@jamesbacon4207 that’s what I was referring to. I should also mention that there’s a lot of people who think being gluten free is a diet, and companies can profit off of that. So many products are labeled as gluten free when it doesn’t make sense, like my almond milk is labeled gluten free.
Andreas Lind, it’s pre-calculated by the medical industry, your taxes are so high most can’t even afford healthy foods so money goes all to the medical industry, you don’t even make a choice. At least there is a choice in the US...
There's a lot of pointless nit-picking in the comments. People quibbling over the price of an apple are missing the point of this video: that healthy eating can often be prohibitively expensive for many people in America, especially when you take into account that TIME IS MONEY. For people who are working multiple jobs, they might not have the time or energy to spend multiple hours grocery shopping, cooking, washing up, etc. They could have spent that time earning the money they need to keep the lights on or taking care of a million other things they need to get done in the short time they have between shifts. It's also important to note that, in America, it's not just poor people who are eating badly. Middle-class and wealthy people eat poorly, too, *especially when they're busy*. They choose to eat out (whether at a fast-food joint or a fancy restaurant) instead of cooking for themselves and their families. Our nation's culture doesn't prioritize healthy eating or even eating as a social activity: look at all the other countries that have reasonable lunch breaks, where people sit down to a leisurely meal (taking your time to eat helps prevent you from over-eating by giving your brain time to receive the signals that you are full). In America, we've made eating in your car an Olympic sport. We need not only government subsidies of nutrient-dense food (instead of the opposite) and/or taxes on junk food but also more nutrition education (so that people are empowered to make healthy choices) and a complete overhaul of cultural norms surrounding eating. A short 4-minute video on Vox can't possibly address all the causes of poor eating habits, obesity, and diet-related health problems in America. This video does a good job of explaining one aspect, but it's not the be-all and end-all on the subject--nor should you expect it to be.
Amen. Someone who is not an idiot. I feel like your last sentence needs to be put in the description box of every similar video clip. People need to stop expecting this to be a sociology course. I've found a way to eat cheaper and healthier but it was time consuming just learning. I think it's easier for some people too. I can eat a bell pepper like an apple, but that is not practical for everyone; given the stares I get. lol
DWEBB FILMS Co-operative farmers-markets in Canada are beginning to make fresh/healthy food relatively more affordable than eating junk. The big issue in the US are the MASSIVE subsidies for corn which is then used in everything. You want to know the reason for the obesity epidemic? Look no further than high fructose corn syrup and the hormonal chemicals pumped into animals. A US chicken is on average 35% larger than a Canadian chicken. I REFUSE to buy American chicken and beef
You're confusing the argument. Eating out is generally more expensive regardless of quality when compared to self prepared. The argument is store bought/self prepared is more expensive if it's higher in nutritional quality than poorer quality food.
Checks local grocery store, apples are 40 cents.... Checks strawberry price, a 16 ounce container of strawberries is $1.73... Maybe they are taking prices from a NY Whole Foods.
I live in california and a small plastic container of blueberries at the stores near me range from $2.99-6.99. That’s a spectrum from on sale to organic.
Another problem is that access to grocery stores is more limited in low income neighborhoods, while access to fast food is nearer, and therefore more convenient, especially if you rely on public transportation.
There are people who still think eating a balanced meal with 20% fat at 800 calories is worse for you than eating 800 calories of pure sugar from candy, because at least the box says fat free soooooooooooooooooooo
But yeah, most overweight people either have a diet of junk or they live in an area where they can’t properly exercise Some people with diabetes aren’t always overweight
diabetes happens because of insulin resistance, you "get" insulin eating food. Processed foods are usually rich in refined carbs(basically sugar) which spikes insulin level paired with nearly 0 fiber
LazyTV They are apples. Didnt need quotes. Yes if you buy apples in bulk as Walmart, Sams and many grociers sell them, youll get 5 apples for about that cost maybe more.
😑 even if you excersise, eating unhealthy won't do you any good. That's like a broke person only eating ramen noodles for a whole week but then trying to make up for it by jogging for an hour. If you want to be healthy, you have to eat healthy as well.
People complaining they can’t afford to eat healthy but they have a luxury vehicle, cell phones, expensive clothes…..give me a break. In my area a whopper meal is 20 dollars. With that I can make an excellent heathy meal at home. But most don’t cause it’s not convenient or easy.
A friend of mine (we live in Italy) once was in Miami and couldn't find a "fresh food" aisle in the supermarket. There was only a small shelf with a handful of fruit. I can't even imagine what one could eat everyday without some good fresh grocery.
RachelRuizxx The price comes from the more expensive types of apple, like Honeycrisp apples, which also tend to be larger. At a store that charges, say, 3 dollar per pound of apples, this makes them more expensive.
I love strawberries, blueberries and many other types of fresh fruit, and I would love to eat healthy. Will I pay $4 for strawberries or blueberries? No, I'll buy something cheaper and bad for me for $1 or $2
The Cringe Lord I know, I was being sarcastic in regards to the whole foods comment, because it wouldn’t make sense for poor people to buy their food there.
Another issue not addressed here is the availability of junk food vs. real food. You'll generally only find produce at grocery stores and markets, but you can stop at gas stations and convenience stores all over most American towns and find more junk to snack on. Hell even Best Buy has candy and soda and snack bars at their checkouts. (Why?) This is especially an issue when it comes to food deserts, where supermarkets are few and far between. But in my experience, the "healthy food is more expensive" argument, while true, is often exaggerated. Yeah, items like strawberries and grapes are costly, but rice, beans, bananas, zucchini, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes, eggs, oats? Not as much. They're just a little more bland, and that's where I think a lot of people stumble. We've cultivated this idea that food has to *always* be stimulating, and it's legitimately addictive. Once you force yourself past that, a more nutritious and cost-effective diet seems a lot more possible.
Zordon06 i like your second argument, i think food is made to br addictive that way you can come back and choose it. And your first argument, it goes back to idea of keeping you in that same loop. They want you to keep snacking bro because all that food does not fill you up and just creates addiction. Cut all sugar completely, for 3 to 4 months at least and start eating the bland food you describe. Your mind rewires itself and you no longer crave this sugar addicting foods. Now just self discipline is the issue it is up to people to really "care" about their fucken bodies.
It is because refrigeration is expensive, cost of processing is cheaper than cost of storage, coolants used in fridge has been the same since 1980s basically, we need better and cheaper fridges.
People think carrots are bland?? They’re my go-to raw veggie snack! No veggie dip required! They’ve done wonders to make me feel better in no time when I’m craving healthy food.
Saul Montiel you can’t cut “all” sugar from your diet unless you refuse to eat fruits. You shouldn’t cut sugar entirely anyway. Your body needs it but the trick is it always thinks it needs even more. That’s why it’s so addictive.
Lily Shimizu Celery is another thing to snack on, it is also very healthy and usually good without any additional flavorings. I like to get the celery really cold, it adds more to the crunch. Carrots and celery are typically available for purchase at most markets, big or small. And exactly, cutting all sugar from your diet isn't really good or possible. Most things that we eat have some kind of sugar, just not always sucrose. Cutting "all" sugar means that you essentially stop eating most foods.
In Sweden, when potatoes are in season (around Midsummer) there are so much potatoes that the stores almost gives them away for free. I’ve seen stores having potatoes for 0.01 sek/kg, which translates to 0.001 usd/kg. Since the smallest denomination is 1 sek it will cost 1 sek (0.1 usd) if you don’t buy anything else, but otherwise it’s basically free because of rounding. Other things also get really cheap when they’re in season, like apples and different root-crops. Aren’t there seasons for crops in the US too, or are crops always the same price no matter the season?
I think since many US states are warm and with similar weather conditions year-round (like Florida), many US grocery stores are able to keep produce year-round through imports from warmer-climate states, but not everywhere. When I lived in Vermont for four years, for instance, there were no peaches in grocery stores during wintertime.
so the answer by some to prevent people from eating bad food is to spike the price of bad food, while also admitting that people buy bad food because its more affordable, so how is this supposed to help people who couldn't afford good food? This would just make it more difficult to get any food at all, bad news for anyone just scraping by with what they can afford.
I never thought about the actual picking of the produce. It makes sense that fresh fruits and processed fruits are picked differently, and why fresh fruits will always cost more.
That actually doesn't drive up the price that much, what that does massively contribute to is food waste. They also lied about the cost of the fruit. The average cost of fresh apples and strawberries according to the USDA is $1.57 and $2.36 per pound.
The hardest part of eating healthy for me is preparing my own food. I work 60 hours a week on average and go to school and am often too tired to prepare any but the simplest meals. I’m trying to get into meal prepping, but haven’t figured out all the kinks with that (like I can’t reheat food at work).
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What a tired, old and ridiculous argument. Prepping your food is incredibly easy and fast if you know what you're doing. But dismissing that completely, you could easily be losing weight if you just cut the amount of calories you consume, regardless of what type of and where you eat food from. It's literally that easy. However, most fat people have terrible self-control and many researches are likening their sad state of being i.e. significant amounts of sugar consumption to addiction. So if you are fat, you are an addict and completely responsible of what you did to your body.
Faizan Ali Did you even read my comment? Where do I say I’m fat or need to lose weight? I also said I’m figuring out what I need to do to meal prep. I know it would be easy if I knew what I was doing. You know what is easy even if you don’t know what you’re doing? Reading and understanding a comment before you reply. Clearly you’re too lazy to do even that most basic thing. If you have no tips on how I can do better with meal prep, then go call your mother fat and see if your day gets better.
What the heck is your problem? He/She was just saying they find it hard to meal prep which is completely understandable. They were not talking about weight loss and even if they were your advice is despicable and completely lacking any empathy.
why do americans add sugar literally in everything? when I first came to US everything I tried was little sweet, even canned food that are not supposed to contain sugar
Processed food is more expensive in my country. Largely because labour is a lot cheaper than machinery here and most processed food companies come from abroad so, there are those added costs.
@@trevorpate121 Convenient and able to skew the numbers to help prove their point. I don't like that but agree about the need for affordable healthy food for ALL.
@@trevorpate121 Honestly not even California. I live in the 4th most expensive county in America and the gala apples here are like $2.99 for 10. Sometimes it's even cheaper.
It's such a lie that Americans cant afford to eat vegetables or fruit. I was shocked when I actually walked around the produce section and realized this was more affordable than even the frozen veggies. It's all about shopping your deals and eating seasonally when things are the cheapest. 10 dollars on 5 apples, it's like you're trying to be a joke. In fall I can buy 5 pounds of good brand apples for 5 dollars so I really dont know where it is that people cant find groceries. In a combination of frozen and fresh vegetables you can get 10 lbs. Of veggies for 10 dollars. Not saying a certain state might have a super high price on produce but I watch a lot of people do videos where they try to eat for $25 a week or something like that across a lot of states and they go over local produce prices and it's usually not bad at all even in super populated areas and places with no population at all.
@naima samaleCalorie per calorie processed food is more expensive than plain food. Example would be buying sugary cereal and milk for breakfast as opposed to plain oatmeal. Frozen microwave dinners are as expensive as fast food. Yeah we need to deal with poverty but the problem isn't the junk food price, its that American's don't know what to eat. We are obese, we don't need cheaper calories anyway, we need cheaper nutrition.
As an asian this whole "its costly to eat healthy" is such a lame excuse. Apples arent cheap either from where am from thats why we eat it only occasionally, n one person dont consume a whole 3 apples in a day..plus we eat other veggies n fruits which r in season. Even if we indulge sometimes with fatty porks n the likes, we still drink n eat our boiled green veggies broths. If theres a tomato, seasonal fruits, chillies, potato, green veggies, eggs, fish/meat n some condiments, theres no need for anything else. Def wont be costlier than unnecessarily adding cheese/creams n butter to literally everything n then topping that off with more sweet desserts.
@naima samale maybe in areas where they purposely try to keep people poor. But if you had to live off of $35 for the whole week what are you going to buy? Sure you could buy 7 frozen pizzas and eat one pizza a day or even 7 little ceasers pizzas at 5 bucks a pop. You could choose to do that or you could choose to buy milk, flour, eggs, a meat of some sort, pasta, big bag of veggies, beans, maybe cheese. That's $27 worth of food where I live and that's me rounding up to the highest everything would be. All the sales are over you know how prices fluctuate. So that gives you 8 more dollars to get a sweeter item or more vegetables/meat. All depends on what's on sale too and what you're willing to make because you can make pasta from scratch, pancakes, whateva. But either way with just that you're able to make good meals for the whole week that have some diversity in them and are good for you for the same price of a bunch of pizzas. Like I am poor always have been, I'm not saying it's not more expensive in some areas but theres no reason for it to be because it certainly isnt here and in this modern day with trucks and farms theres no reason that everything shouldn't be evenly distributed. America makes surplus food that gets wasted every year we just need to better distribute it.
honestly what are we supposed to do? If all people can afford to eat is plain rice ofc they won't be able to afford vegetables. If they buy any pizza, hamburgers, hotdogs, premade food, or eat at restaurants there are better ways they can spend money on food.
It just feels like there’s no time, and fast food is more accessible. That being said, I’ve been cooking. What I recommend is keeping prepped vegetables in the freezer, and prepped meals in the fridge. Then, microwave the healthier leftovers. Bam! People say microwaves are bad, but everything is bad if you check, so it’s whatever. Just don’t stand near them and use microwave-safe containers to reheat. I’ve been having spaghetti, and an omelette loaded with vegetables I pre-chopped in the freezer. Smoothies, too. With baby spinach (I got curious and it actually tastes so good, even without fruit... but I add fruit anyways for health). Also, where I live, food is super expensive. But I do live in like a “rich” area, so that might be why. It’s been helpful to just buy in bulk when things are on sale and freeze it. I love freezing and prepping so much!
I love how eating healthy is so deeply rooted in our culture and most of the Asian cultures. I hate to be old school but part of America's problem is that they were always taught to eat processed packaged food rather than subsidizing veggies and greens
@@johannakhalafallawell that’s not the case for most Americans. The american shambles of a sugary processed breakfast, compared to a European or Asian style whole food one shows.
I live in a rural area in Southern Italy. Here, with 10 euros, you can buy two bags full of fruit and vegetables. I remember, as a child, being surprised of how cheap it was. I don't really get what's the point of making things so expensive and then complain if a big part of the population is unhealthy and overweight.
I think that's a different issue. France has managed to make their healthy foods available to all citizens across the socioeconomic spectrum, so why can't the USA?
DerExoGitarrist yeah due to the rising percentage of obesity, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases, anything that is caused by lifestyle choices. Doctors are trying to get people to start Healthy choices and eat more balanced/produce foods. Although it might be a near impossible to get everyone there, but who knows what’ll happen in the upcoming years.....Hopefully we can start to recognise that this is important rather than eating processed foods everyday
Throngdorr Mighty I'm saying that there are some things happening in the US that are seen as normal or that happen on a daily basis that are definitely not normal. One example is treating produce as medicine for sick people whereas eating healthy should be considered normal.
Super Soviet That's because most obese patients aren't even willing to change their unhealthy food habits. You can give them an entire lecture about the risks, and majority of them will just admit that you're right and forget about it the next day.
recently i made a trip to the store with the mission to buy the most healthy things i could for breakfast. i wanted to make fruit & yogurt parfait.. first i had to find a granola with as little sugar added as possible. this box of very tasteless granola but much more healthy cost 8.99 where others were around 3 or 4.99. I then had to choose a yogurt. the yogurt i chose was as sugar free as possible meaning it wasnt flavored with vanilla or anything. my god this stuff is SO gross tasting and cost me 6.99 compared to the cheapest yogurts being 1.99 and FILLED with sugar! i was spending more than double the amount for something with little to no sugar, compared to the cheapest things i could find. for anyone like myself that is rather poor, this is a huge deal! people are buying with their wallet, not with their health in mind. it's pretty sad, and the amount of sugar in these cheap items is outrageous!
Sugar free natural yogurt is delicious tho... Tangy. Tastes a little like sour-cream? It's really good. Pity you didn't like it. If you ever decide to try it again, maybe try to get the sugar free yogurt with live cultures in it? Greek yogurt often has those. It's really good for you.
the yogurt i have is siggi's plain yogurt. compared to the very sweet yogurt ive always been fed growing up, it's a very hard adjustment. At first i was just using my granola, the yogurt and blue berries. the yogurt was so think along with the dry granola, it's was really unpleasant. i still buy the yogurt and granola which are both pretty bland from what i'd usually had before, but now i mix them all in with oalmeal and some honey along with fruit of choice.
The fact that in the old time being overweight meant that you were rich and now just means the contrary (not necessarily in all situations but you know) 😞
If there was a “junk food tax” it would just make it harder on low income people. There are a lot of times where all I can afford is instant ramen or pasta and sauce, if these things became more expensive while the price of healthy food was still high it would make it harder on so many low income people
Produce is not that expensive, it just doesn't taste good, but learning how to make it taste good can make it easier to eat. I think that's more the problem than cost. 🤷🏻
Considering a portion of overweight Americans are POC (blacks, Latinos and Asians; all known for culturally deliciously spiced food), I really don't think spice is a major problem.
@@sunshineyrainbows13 food deserts often affect ethnic minorities. If the convenience stores that sub for grocers in low income areas had less junk food more beans/lentils/rice/peanuts/fresh whole potato, then things might look different in those areas
If you want a cheap healthy food, just come to south east asia... Healthy food is cheaper than junk food... For example : 1 kg of carrots is around $1 and you can have bunch of spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, etc for $0.5... My daily diet is around $3-5/day with complete healthy food from rice, mixed vegetables, fish/egg/chicken meat, and fruits... It will be cheaper if you good at bargain in traditional market... But 500g potato chips is around $2 each... 1 kg sausage or chicken nugget is around $5... The cheapest McD menu is around $3-4... Just a small portion of rice and a piece of chicken... But if you process it by yourself, with that price you can feed 3 people with similiar menu (just rice and chicken)
WTF? Glad i live in Portugal, majority of the population is elderly and we only eat good and healthy food around here. The most expensive and juiciest apples are probably 2.40€ per KILO. Mediterranean diet is what i call.
I don't think most of these city folk have even seen an apple tree before. Hundred or so apples per tree per harvest, that's thousands apon thousands in an orchard, you can't even give them away so instead make great sauces and ciders.
It's true. I live in Germany and candy and junk food is very expensive. It for sure desencourages me from picking them up at the groceries stores, especially when I know making a home cooked meal is going to be much cheaper.
It seems like Vox's solutions always come down to taxation and government subsidies. How about individuals making healthy choices for themselves? Even lower income people can have healthier diets with more fiber and produce with some planning and discipline.
Even for those who want to eat healthy, picking the right diet can be tricky.
Watch our video on the ketogenic diet, the latest fad in eating healthy: bit.ly/2DNkjZh
6284968128numbers why do people always assume that their case is the same everywhere? You don't represent the entire world or their circumstances.
Vox I guess it is expensive in each developed country and Famous cities.
Where the hell are you shopping that apples are that expensive?
Vox I know! We just need more government regulation! I love being told what to eat and drink.
Only americans would call eating healthy a diet 😂
“Doctors can give vouchers for produce to low-income patients”. Yeah, like low-income patients have access to doctors in the US.
True lol
Did you forget about Medicare?
Would walk in clinic doctors be able to give vouchers??
Lombwolf have you ever had Medicaid? In my area the nearest family doctor that takes Medicaid is a 30 minute car drive away. The bus system isn’t the best, it would take about 4.5 hours to get there with all the changes if I had no car. And do you know how long it takes to get in to see that doc? Way too long. Not worth going to the doctor unless you need to go to an urgent care or hospital.
I spoke about Medicaid because that’s for “everyone” while Medicare is for seniors.
I have no idea what medicarid is I just have Medicare
In Mexico with ten dollars
You can eat
For 4 days
CHEAP TACOS
Pues si, pero el problema es que la mayoría de las personas no compran comida saludable con esos $10, México tiene muchas personas diabéticas 😥
y con 10 usd como 8 kilos de manzana lol
$205 pesos give or take will last 2-4days in Mexico
If you focus on quantity, I have news for you
In Russia with ten dollars you can buy ten donuts
or 10kg of apples
In Russia you don't actually have to pay to get apples because you have your grandmother with her orchard in a village.
So glad I'm from Russia
яблоко!
Ayyeee
thats why they are healthier too
Mexico adds warning labels on junk food, similar to the ones on cigarettes. They removed mascots from packaging so they can’t used them to temp kids. In Guadalajara, they close down main streets on Sundays to allow pedestrians to walk/run/bike/ roller-skate freely. Lots to learn.
Like gansito milk
They used to have a mascot but they removed it
mexico city has the closing thing too :))
that’s interesting but i’m pretty sure Mexico is still one of the leaders in obesity problems like the Usa
Así es como se deberían de hacer las cosas.
@@aesie1229 yea thats why those new measures are now in place
$2??!!!?? for an apple!!??? in europe they’re like €0.30 lol
Where in Europe? In Germany the kilo of all fruits and veggies are expensive. Of course since the euro is more than a dollar its way over priced for Americans to buy a package of strawberries for 3-4€ or even more, same for blueberries, raspberries etc.
@@spoton95 Ha. I actually just came from Aldi and the bananas are .99. I got them somewhere else for .75 or even .89 when they're a lil higher. Like the previous commenter said if they are out of season then they're gonna be higher priced and I get it. To me Germany is not cheap and I know I can find better deals elsewhere in Europe like Croatia. Making a visit today I did see a deal or 2 on potatoes as an example but other fruits besides berries not as often or not in my opinion. If you think its cheap and you get bargains by all means go spend. But I do know what I'm talking about because I live here.
These prices seem like crazy LA prices or something. In Houston, TX I can buy an apple for around $0.35
robyn I get gala apples from Aldis in a bag it comes with like 9 apples and it’s about 5.00
@@hallfamily2141 Yea. I live in Los Angles. That's the cost of 1 organic apple.
instead of just increasing the cost of unhealthy food, which will leave poor people starving, how about trying to focus on how to reduce the cost of healthy food, so people can have an easier choice.
If I could buy 1/2lb of blueberries for the same cost as 1/2lb of sweets, I'd buy the blueberries every time.
But if they both cost as much as the blueberries do now, it would be unacceptable.
...they said that in the video lol
Did you watch the whole thing?
They said the government should subsidize (aka lower the price of) healthy foods AND maybe raise the price of processed food. To further encourage people to buy healthy food
A lot of people have raised the same concern. I’m not sure if they just failed to include this, but in most places where they’ve enacted a junk food tax, the money goes straight towards programs and subsidies that help lower-income people purchase healthy produce. So it can be both ways!
@@Itslndbaby not dead, dead you're useless, who gonna pay taxes?
I would say rather sick, so you work and spend money on docs and pharmacy....
N
How about a negative tax for the companies producing healthy food? (reductions in their tax rate)
That way they will be much more flexible to innovate and invest, and actually provide a free-market solution to this problem. Forget subsidies, and definitely forget taxing unhealthy food - this further feeds the state mechanism which is largely ineffective (more or less depending on which country we are talking about).
Here is one analogy to support this line of reasoning:
Many people protest that 1 passenger transportation leads to more pollution. So they would suggest banning single-passenger transportation. Let's say this takes place, and now you have 4 people in a car, which is 75% less cars on the road.
An alternative would be to improve the technology (which car manufacturers have done time and again throughout the decades), so that 100 cars pollute as much a single one. Now you can have 100 single-passenger cars for 1 full with people vehicle. This leads to more mobility, better economy, more comfort, and less pollution. The answer is - leave the market to innovate its way out of the problem. Everything else is less efective.
“Instead of”? Why not both.
"people can't afford to eat healthy food and choose cheap junk instead"
"Hmm, let's tax junk food, then"
?????????
A lot of people have raised the same concern. I’m not sure if they just failed to include this, but in most places where they’ve enacted a junk food tax, the money goes straight towards programs and subsidies that help lower-income people purchase healthy produce.
Well it is choice, the one makes you spend money and the others make money
Hmm, let's tax you for living?
I'm sick of people going to engeneer what I'm going to do, what I'm going to eat, how I'm going to live
My life is not your business, if you want cheap apples, try to find way to make it cheaper not forcing me to pay it for you by junk food taxes
Litteraly everything you buy has tax
The idea is to switch the roles. Make the junk food more expensive and healthier food cheaper!
It’s interesting there is no discussion of lowering the costs of healthy food items. Or explanation of why these are comparatively markedly cheaper in other countries, like in Europe. Why can you shop so much healthier, cost effectively, there vs the US? It can’t just be because of the size of the country. I still don’t understand this.
I guess it is the size of the country: orchards are so common in Europe that only in the far North local fresh fruit is rare; really vast areas of the US see very little local fruit. If you are not used to fresh fruit, there is no point in trucking a little less fresh but cheaper fruit from California or Florida in the same way every supermarket in Europe will carry Spanish, Moroccan or Italian fruit. So most people will mostly see only processed food, and fresh fruit turns into a premium product.
Every, and I mean every, European supermarket will sell you an abundance of fresh oranges; every American supermarket will sell you an abundance of rehydrated orange juice.
Probably because how the farming system in United States works. Are there many local farmers selling fresh goods to people or the majority of farmland is big properties selling mostly to the industrial sector ?
@@pedroartur2230 Yea only big farms here. Used to be 60 years ago many small farmers but that went away
@@ogrizzo Eye Opening.
Just buy locally by farmers or just grow your own not that complicated
Solution: Apple donuts
Genius
Vicky's world no one said it was funny, they literally exist search up recipes lol
kelsey stidham no it’s just the guys username
Apple firghitas
kelsey stidham It’s their username @-@
do NOT add taxes to unhealthy foods. this will only hurt the working class. instead, subsidize healthy produce.
Or do both at the same time.
@@liviaclaireOr just end all subsidies (meat, dairy, ) and allocate that towards fruit and vegetable.
@@ashuu3I agree. I don't eat meat and dairy so those subsidies actually harm the market and the health of people, from my point of view.
@@ashuu3 Meat and dairy have little to do with the obesity rate in America. The main driver is consumption of high calorie liquids such as soda. If you want to fight obesity, end all farm subsidies for corn, which is used to produce corn syrup and sugary drinks. You don’t even have to tax the product, just end subsidies, give the money back to the tax payer, and let the farmers deal with the free market. You’ll quickly find them move to farming better healthier crops since corn prices will drastically fall once the market is allowed to act normally.
And if you are really dead set on the government “doing something” like many people are, make it so that people on SNAP can’t buy soda. They can still buy other junk cause people gotta have some enjoyment in life but high density calorie drinks should not be promoted in anyway if the people want to use the government in some way to fight the obesity epidemic.
@@Watcher4187 It'd be a lot better if public pay a market price for any food. It looks like people want cheap health insurance with subsidies junk food. Well, I think you're probably eating meat and dairy but I've never eaten them as a part of culture, and never thought about them as a food; also dairy product can't be consumed by us I mean mostly asian
2 dollars for one apple??? I jus ate an apple for 0.3 dollars at my local store
You know they lying, i live in america and only have 9.50 per hour but if you check my ref i have 20 apples there lol
Can’t agree more. We can easily 1 lbs of apples for just $1.50 at any random King Soopers/Kroger stores. Organic choice may be slightly more expensive tho. $3/1 lbs of organic apples.
Hugo Almgren it depends where you get your apples
Vox should have used the average price of apples in the US
@@waspoppin4784 vox's headquarters are based in NYC and washington dc. they live in expensive cities and they base their cost to their own city. which is basically false news for the most of america.
I eat apples like free because I have a orchard
I feel like too many people are stuck on the price of the apples instead of talking about the point of the video
But the point of the video doesn't make any sense. I don't know where they got their numbers from but the average apple is less than a dollar, and donuts can be way more expensive than 10 for 10 dollars. Also the solution to stop poor people who can't afford healthy food is to make the unhealthy food more expensive?
@@amiah1605 Yeah that just reeks of neoliberal nonsense, which I guess I shouldn't expect anything else from Vox. If people can't afford healthy food the answer isn't to make unhealthy food unaffordable then they just can't afford food. The answer is to address the core problem of poverty so they can afford more while also maybe being smarter about subsidies so it helps make healthier eating more accessible to those who either don't have the time or the money to do so
because its fun talking about apple prices
Yeah, they should have used oranges instead
I planted a $0.10 seed in my lawn and it grew 20lb of squash. I barley even watered it
I don't know why but everyone in the video sounds really tired.
Naitisteric Aye I would too if I couldn’t afford fresh produce
@@SmellyMonster17 Bro, a pack of spinach is like $2. A can of Monster and a pack of smokes costs like 4-5 times that amount yet people will buy those items every other day.
Yeah, it's because they're getting really tired of spouting lies and half truths in the name of furthering the socialist agenda.
@@Professor_Utonium_ that’s because cigarettes are addictive.
Someone had to eat all those donuts
Do 5 apples seriously cost $10!?
USA truly is the upside down.
CrossfacePanda
No it doesn't. Apples are not that expensive. She didn't tell the truth
No they aren't. Fresh food is more expensive here, but this is a really, really bad example.
Not a lie if that's the price in a convenience store, for example.
no.. also, the USA is very large place. prices vary from store to store. people tend to have a very odd perspective of the USA. every store, city and state is rather different from one and other.
K FF bullshit.
$10 can get you way more than 5 apples.
TRue haha
Not when you factor in brand names and what is available. Some stores push for certain brands, and often times I've gone to get apples only to find all the cheap ones have been taken and only the more expensive ones are left. It's not as simple as you think. Life tends to be complex.
Or like a few kilos of dried beans
@@EveryThingGirl238 life tends to be complex.
Did you feel deep while writing that?
@@身赤-w3w Yes in fact, I did! :D
“Americans eat like they have free health care”
- an American that lives in a country with free Heath care
@@Alex-ok6pj Taiwan, I'm half taiwanese.
@@Skyewastaken2 hey I’m half Taiwanese too 😂
Idk what you heard about America but health care ain’t free honey.
@@OpiumBride it's not free free but everyone has any treatment they need...
@@OpiumBride If you watch some interviews of not-as-educated Americans (which is a lot), they don’t even understand what universal health-care is.
Also, universal health care is better imo because now the government has to care for its citizens’ health. This is why European countries have so much health regulations and taxes and US doesn’t have as much. And paying your medical bill is much more manageable in tax than fees. I’m guessing you would prefer a normal life with slightly less income and “free” and great health care rather than an increase of a few thousand or sometimes tens of thousand in salary but having to pay a few grand for an amublence ride and touch your newborn? Remember that health insurance costs some thousands or tens or thousands each year too. And please consider the people who live pay check to pay check, or in poverty. They can’t afford good healthcare or respond to health emergencies without universal health care.
In India Fast foods are Expensive..
Good old mom's cooking is healthy and best 😁❤️
In Singapore & quite a no. of other Asian countries also I think, hawker/street food is cheaper than fast food (in Singapore it's partially because many hawkers operate out of public housing estates, where rent is cheaper than other private commercial properties e.g. shopping malls, while hawkers who were re-located to there from the streets in the 70s & earlier, as well as their descendents (if they take over the business) get an additional 90% rent subsidy)
Same in Pakistan most people eat home cooked food
@Santhosh Vodnala 1 chicken rice is just as expensive as 1 mc chicken
@@lzh4950 same here in indonesia but usually satay and seafood in street vendors are a quite pricey and u can get scammed if ur not smart
not really since its full of ghee
Who pays $2 for an Apple?!?
Maggie Mai it's an Apple brand apple
Honeycrisp apples tend to be anywhere from $1-4.50/lb 🤷♀️ Expensive but they're my favorite apples
Maggie Mai i pay 20 cents for 500g of apples or potatos
Apparently, lucky you.
New york city
here's the solution: the U.S. government needs to stop subsidizing unhealthy food and start subsidizing produce
Or stop subsidising and keep the tax dollars in the hands of the people....
Señor MeinKrafter2020 Yes! Much better
What do you mean by "unhealthy foods"? What are you talking about, exactly?
Faizan Ali i think what he meant to say was stop subsudizing corn, wheat, soy. Because they are in a lot of unhealthy foods
Faizan Ali didnt say they are unhealthy, just that they are in everything. And we have way too much of it.
The problem is not the cost of food. It’s wages in comparison to the cost of food. It’s actually astounding how cheap fresh food is when you consider how much goes into growing it, how far it travels, and how pristine it looks.
Was thinking how it compares to the cost of the additional treatment needed to turn food into processed food
then why is healthy food cheaper and more accessible in other countries with even lower wages?
I when to a plum farm to work you won't believe what gets through but also goes to waste☹️
you missed the point of the entire video
@@candelarodriguez2074 The biggest problem you Americans have is excess. You eat too much, you drive cars that are too big and you spend too much on housing and healthcare without actually doing the work to make things efficient.
-If you ate less you wouldn`t be obese.
-If you lived in villages instead of suburbs you wouldn`t have to overpay for gas, electricity, water etc.
-If you did reform you wouldn`t be drowning in student debt
- If you went full private or full public you wouldn`t have to give an arm and a leg for healthcare.
You have too much money so a lot of it thrown away in the garbage. The reason other countries do things better is scarcity and limited resources.
Great content, but I also feel like this video missed out on a crucial point as to why there is such high obesity and a potential drawback of a junk food tax: food deserts. Much of the time, poor neighborhoods (which have the highest obesity rates btw) don't even have access to grocery stores that carry fresh food. Many live miles away from any grocery stores, and also lack the means of cars or public transportation systems to get to the nearest store. A two mile distance can mean a daunting hour-long trip while carrying heavy bags. This would mean their closest sources are either liquor stores that sell processed foods or low-quality fast food restaurants. A junk food tax alone may only become an increased burden on poor families in these food deserts. We also need to focus on being able to provide healthy alternatives like co-op grocery stores in food deserts to liquor stores or fast-food restaurants while perhaps implementing the tax...
Damn. Where do these poor people live? It seems that there are the wealthy, middle classes, working classes, poor, and then these super poor that I hear about but never see (besides the homeless). I grew up poor and lived in the ghetto (gangs and prostitutes around) as a child. Fruit was cheap then. We kids just didn't eat fresh healthy food because it is fresh healthy food. Kids love sweets and junk food.
Fruit is still cheap today if you avoid the grocery stores in the very nice parts of town.
My guess is that perhaps these areas are in Trump country that have been economically devastated by outsourcing in such a way that the local economy is a mess.
Ling-Ling Gutierrez von Wallenstein IV really? Where I live, the grocery stores in the poor neighborhoods are more expensive than the grocery stores in the nice neighborhoods. The nice neighborhoods get stores like target, while we’re stuck with corner stores with not many options to begin with. My grocery store doesn’t even carry organic products..
@@epsi Do you live in the South? Probably a small town?
clambismable there’s a difference in eating healthy, and eating in moderation. Obesity isn’t all to blame on junk food. It’s people’s lack of self control
clambismable agree! And the reason food deserts exist is because we allow corporations to control what we eat, to the extent that you point out. If the grocery store corporation doesn’t see a region as being profitable or worth the cost to operate, they won’t put a store there.
"The apples are organic" mate I grow my own and I'm telling you no Apple should cost over $1
RIGHT!?!?!
For 10 dollars I can get a couple dozen apples at the farmers market locally grown year round. From cold storage and not as nice as when in season but still....
You aren't paying for large orchard upkeep, shipping, handling, storage, and labor costs with your own apples.
So ridiculous lol. I don't grow my own apples but the thought that $2 each is the going price for apples is absolute nonsense.
If apples are that expensive in your area, buy different food. Apples are full of sugar anyway. Lots of calories, sure, but you can get better calories for less money.
lalaithan well considering in the UK a bag of like 10 apples is only £1 I'd assume in a better climate It would be cheaper in America ;/
Stevio Gaming It's not that cheap, but outside of the city it's cheaper than the $1.87ish I paid when I lived in DC. That's not counting the taxes on it. I do what Charles Lumia said, apples are usually a once a month or so thing.
Beans, rice and broccoli, cheaper than any fast food, its all about breaking away from high refined foods .
But is it fresh, organic, locally grown, cage free broccoli?
Keith Larsen why does that matter if the alternative is processed food with added fat, sugar and salt...
This video is basically an excuse to eat unhealthy.
This is what I came here to say. I'd say apples are more of a treat when eating healthy. Not a staple of your diet needing to be purchased in large quantities for calories.
people need to eat more than just beans rice and broccoli
"I mean, it's one banana, Michael. How much could it cost? $10?"
Yes.
Tbh bananas are on of the cheapest fruits, usually where i'm at the price ranges from 68 to 88 cents a bunch
@@thepeskyone an apple is like 59 cents per pound where I'm at
@@NoName-cu2qc wish I was where u were here in America they can range from like 2-4 dollars all the way up to 11-14
Rip mama lucille
I moved home to the US after living in Japan a few years and was delighted by how cheap the fruit was. I had been paying $4-6 a peach.
It seems not many people know how expensive fruits in japan is
I guess because Japan is an island and all the food has to be brought in
@@annem.4316 Surely they can't produce their own food
@@dedcatonxnx I’m sure they produce food, but not all of it. just as some foods cannot be grown well in the us. for example, coffee beans. that is why so many foods are imported lol
@@dedcatonxnx Climate? You forgot about that?
Where are you going that 5 apples cost 10... oh wait, Whole Foods. Right. Whole Foods.
Kevin Johnson is that really where they got those apples? That makes sense because ive never had trouble getting cheap produce and I deliberately choose not to go to whole foods.
That's not really where they got it from; the host is just abstracting the cost to make a point. Whole Foods does have a reputation so it sells the joke.
Whole Foods just went out of business in my home town. Guess they never expected to have to work against other grocery stores that sell more for less.
Or safeway 1.99$ /lb (generally = 1-2 apples, this weeks special in the add) or Savemart or Raleys. which are all the same in my town, and we grow apples!
Prices of produce is dependent on it’s season. Eat seasonal produce to save $ plus you’re getting it at its peak time thus getting more nutrients.
Lol so let me get this straight.
We need a junkfood tax so that poor people can go from eating garbage to starving.
I don't see any weaknesses with this solution.
Healthy stuff is not necessarily expensive. There is hardly anything cheaper than beans and lentils, which are yummy, simple and super nutritious. I advise anyone interested to look at Brothers Green Eats -- they prove that very point over and over with specific examples.
You're supposed to be the richest country in the world. Why do you even have poor people?
@@Oceansta USA is far from the richest country in the world, not even in the top 10.
@@ikkyusojun7996 it's the third richest country in the world.
@@Oceansta Welcome to corporate America.
A nutrition class, like physical education(PE), should be added to the graduation requirements in high schools across the country. My bio teacher started teaching nutrition as an elective class and it was such an eye opening class. It really did change my perspective on food and it was one of my favorite classes I took
In NC its an incredibly encouraged class from middle school and on although the quality of said nutrition classes leave more to be desired
This was required at my highschool in NC. I thought all schools required it?
an apple doesn't cost $2...
Go new york. U will be sshock
Idk about you but honey crisp will usually be about that price (which looks like what was in the video)
Audrey Gracen Ugh honeycrisp is the best! They’re so expensive though
Audrey Gracen lol, here in Norway an apple costs 0.3$ (2-3 norwegian kr)
@@OlaÅsheim2004 in greece its like 12 cents
I live in Florida, I just went out to my local grocery store and I can tell you apples do not cost that much, even organic
There's so much wrong with this video
snugs I think they were using whole foods prices and are based in New York
Magdalie Mexile New York isn’t even that much more expensive either, this is most likely a really “organic” company they are referring to, nonetheless apples are ALOT cheaper then depicted in this video.
They’re 1.79 at Trader Joe’s in Socal. So with tax, basically $2.
well sweetie it depends where you live. I doubt a pineapple costs the same in Alaska
hbkmadeline thanks lmao, never knew that
A pretty big issue with produce in the US is that the ideas of "local" and "seasonal" foods are ignored. Americans want things like watermelon in the middle of winter, and citrus in the middle of summer. That means the fruits have to be imported from the southern hemisphere or tropical areas, which added to Americans wanting everything to look perfect, makes it very expensive to produce produce.
That makes sense. I wouldn’t mind having what’s seasonal where I live, if it was affordable. I saw a bag of grapes at the grocery store for $9 yesterday and gasped
Woah, woah, woah, pump the breaks. No where do 5 apples cost 10 bucks, unless maybe, and I mean maybe, you're at a whole foods in New York city
Ali Hassoun or a food desert
According to Google, Vox is headquartered in both NYC and Washington DC. Knowing that, the ridiculous prices make more sense.
Axioanarchist where I live in Las Vegas apples are 1.25 sometimes 1.50 a piece
I work near their headquarters here in NYC. Apples at the local markets are around $2/lb. I think someone in their staff saw $2 and totally missed the "per pound." If you just buy an apple off of the many street fruit vendors, they're $0.50-$1 each.
Weird. Imported apples from USA, where I live in México, cost the equivalent to 1USD for a kilo (more than 2 pounds) on mondays which is nice.
The fact is that many obese people are actually malnourised and that's why they continue to eat too much. Their bodies are craving more than calories but not getting what they really need. Although, where I live there's some bulk 'imperfect produce' available for very very cheap. For example, a kilo of strawberries for 2 dollars.
I go to ethnic grocery stores because none of the produce look like plastic.
So that's why I'm always hungry. We cant afford healthy stuff so we just buy processed food since it's cheap. Is there any place like that in Tennessee, where you can get cheap healthy stuff? I want to be able to make it up the stairs without being out of breath.
We've got it opposite you can buy 10kg of apples in 10$ and only 7 or 8 donuts for the same
in my country you can buy 25kg of apples for exactly $10
I feel sorry for them
It's the same in the United States... Apples cost about $1 each. I don’t know where Vox is getting its food or facts from.
10kg of apples for $10... where do you live?
monogram 35 that's awesome where do you live
It's 10 pounds for $10 for me
Anyone else go to winco? Apples are around 20 cents, and vegetables cost even less. The unhealthy stuff is a bit more expensive though
Never heard of Winco. Wish they had one where I lived lol
It's the same where I live, junk food is expensive but vegetables are cheap
I hate winco though. The one near me is disgusting. I wish I could go there
Winco is the best!!
@@TheLamplighter4 yeah, i love how cheap the canned foods are
Long story short. The government gives subsidies to farmers and corporations it's cheaper to produce corn, soy, grain etc than fruits and vegetables the government could offset this by giving produce farmers incentives, taxation could also help but the FDA turns a blind eye 💵
The FDA doesn’t have the power to tax food, only congress and local governments can levy taxes or provide subsidies.
@Bennett McCoy sunsidies aren't bad lol
I want to know who pays 10 dollars for five apples that cost 3 dollars
free range vegan non-dairy biodynamic organic no-animal-cruelty apples?
Where I live organic apples each cost 3 dollars.my family only eats organic, sadly. Maybe that’s why we aren’t fat, as most Americans. We are average or below average.
Lola Llama is that why Americans are so fat? they don't eat real foods?
I was so shocked when I visited USA. In my country, there's obesity problem,
but those obese people are 1/3 size of american obese.
I buy 6 medium size apple for less then $5 and organic thanks costco lol
Lol you buy a kilo of apples in the Netherlands for about 1 euro hahaha
**Laughs in 2 dollars a kilo**
-Mexico
2 dollars per kg
-norway.
0 dollar per kilo. Grandma always have apple in Russian farm
€0,75/Kg
Italy
1.50 dollars a kilo in brazil. still a terrible country tho
0,4-1,3 Slovakia.
It's funny, when I was holidaying in the USA, I couldn't even get fruit and veg at convenience shops. I didn't have the time to visit proper produce stores or Walmart, so I literally ate junk food and fast food for a month. A month of that won't break your body, but years of it most likely will. I think there's an accessibility issue as well as a cost issue for the less fortunate in the USA. Particularly those without a car.
@JayPlaysStuff You were in the US for a month and not once had enough time to do proper grocery shopping??????
Poor people can order food to be delivered.
Most people have enough time in their daily lives to go to a grocery store and get real food
Taxing unhealthy foods will just make the already poor people who mostly buy unhealthy foods poorer.
Захария thats why they also said to subsidize the producers of healthy food so they could lower their prices
Yea that would be pretty terrible, but luckily they did say that wouldn't be a proper solution. A tax on something like candy and soda that aren't actual food but cause obesity would work, but not a blanket tax on unhealthy food
dont tax soda and junk food, thats BS for people who eat right
Gregory Everson lol wut?
Eating right never involves soda. It's like saying we should increase the price of tobacco because it'll punish the social smokers.
that's not true because people would generally demand higher wages so they can afford healthier foods but unhealthy foods are still the more expensive option
Rice and beans = cheap. A donut is not cheap. I hate when people say "cheap fast food". It's convenient, not cheap. You can easily calculate the cost of a burger and see that a McD-burger is not cheap compared to making everything yourself. It's convenient.
a 6 pack of tacos from TBell cost me about 9$, a can of beans is 1$ a 1LB hamburger meat was 3$ shells 1.25$ lettuce was 1$ cheese 2.50 i had tacos for about a week, if i added rice a lot longer
a McD burger where I live is 1.07$
lets calculate how much it would cost to make that burger.
1lb (smallest size) of 92% lean to 2% fat ground beef is $5.00
4 count of hamburger buns .88 cents
16 oz jar of pickle chips is 2.08
24 oz bottle of ketchup is 1.48
that amount of beef once cooked down would make barely 4 burgers of the same likeness to a McD one. for over 10$ (not counting tax) you can make 4 whereas at McD you can buy nearly 9 burgers. Eating fast food is quick and cheaper. Facts.
Shrouded Mist In what world is lean beef and store bought bread cheap? And if you are poor, should your only focus be burgers and gas station apples and not rice, beans and lentils? Just because you cant make a burger cheap because you buy expensive ingredients does not alter the fact that burgers at McD are not cheap, they are convenient.
piratapan none of the ingredients I looked up were cheap. There were all the cheapest and off brand. You gave a McD burger as an example of how its not cheap but comparatively it is of you try and make them. Get your head out of you ass and actually do some research into what food costs compared to quicker and cheaper alternatives.
Also you can't sustain yourself on only rice beans and lentils. Have a good day you close minded fuckjar
Shrouded Mist bake your own bread = save money. Buy cheaper meat = save money. I live in Sweden and the cost of a home made burger with the same ingredients are cheaper, more work and less convenient, but cheaper. You don't throw away the ketchup and jar of pickles after you have made 4 burgers.
The video does not give a solution to the problem, I try to do. The notion the video makes that hamburgers and donuts are """cheap""" is a shitty forced meme.
So taxing is meant to only force me to buy more expensive items?? Doesn't seem like a very good solution.
@zenubi That doesn't mean they need to make the taxes any worse. Duh
@zenubi Actually beef is cheaper due to cows being fed corn instead of grass or straw.
@zenubi It is though, as corn is far cheaper.
start a gardening club using your back yard and barter with neighbors. lettuce, tomato, potato, carrots, celery, apples, berries etc can all be grown easily.
@zenubi unfortunately, may not help all. its a start
In Poland fast food is often more expensive than good quality meal in a restaurant, It's like 6 $ for a burger & fries & cola and 4.50 $ for soup and main dish, also for 1$ you can buy like 2 kg (sometimes even 4 kg) of apples but half of a donut
i live in a state that is pretty expensive, so this is accurate for me. thankfully my family can afford to buy fresh fruits and veggies but many don’t have that opportunity. i’m also celiac, and buying gluten free stuff can be insanely expensive. some gluten free bread can cost $7 for a small loaf. i couldnt imagine having celiacs while having a lower income. it’s ridiculous that we haven’t been able to make healthy food accessible to all.
Move to England
A large, gluten-free loaf if bread..............
£2 ish
Just under 3$
rice is cheap. you dont *need* bread
Celiac is different though, eating gluten free isn’t any healthier. It just uses more expensive ingredients to make things gluten free and that’s why the price is marked up.
@@alyssa3367 it absolutely doesn't. It is only expensive to make things pretend to have gluten without actually having any (e.g. gf bread). there is a lot of cheap food coeliacs can have. It is only pre-packaged special "gluten free" things that are expensive.
@@jamesbacon4207 that’s what I was referring to. I should also mention that there’s a lot of people who think being gluten free is a diet, and companies can profit off of that. So many products are labeled as gluten free when it doesn’t make sense, like my almond milk is labeled gluten free.
It's either pay now or pay later on medical bills when you get health problems.
I'll kill myself way before *that* becomes an issue.
satinderjit4 - Good point. You can't declare bankruptcy when your body has no health left.
satinderjit4 - Sad, but true.
Here in the UK the government takes care of all our medical needs, long may that continue.
Andreas Lind, it’s pre-calculated by the medical industry, your taxes are so high most can’t even afford healthy foods so money goes all to the medical industry, you don’t even make a choice. At least there is a choice in the US...
There's a lot of pointless nit-picking in the comments. People quibbling over the price of an apple are missing the point of this video: that healthy eating can often be prohibitively expensive for many people in America, especially when you take into account that TIME IS MONEY. For people who are working multiple jobs, they might not have the time or energy to spend multiple hours grocery shopping, cooking, washing up, etc. They could have spent that time earning the money they need to keep the lights on or taking care of a million other things they need to get done in the short time they have between shifts.
It's also important to note that, in America, it's not just poor people who are eating badly. Middle-class and wealthy people eat poorly, too, *especially when they're busy*. They choose to eat out (whether at a fast-food joint or a fancy restaurant) instead of cooking for themselves and their families. Our nation's culture doesn't prioritize healthy eating or even eating as a social activity: look at all the other countries that have reasonable lunch breaks, where people sit down to a leisurely meal (taking your time to eat helps prevent you from over-eating by giving your brain time to receive the signals that you are full). In America, we've made eating in your car an Olympic sport.
We need not only government subsidies of nutrient-dense food (instead of the opposite) and/or taxes on junk food but also more nutrition education (so that people are empowered to make healthy choices) and a complete overhaul of cultural norms surrounding eating.
A short 4-minute video on Vox can't possibly address all the causes of poor eating habits, obesity, and diet-related health problems in America. This video does a good job of explaining one aspect, but it's not the be-all and end-all on the subject--nor should you expect it to be.
Amen. Someone who is not an idiot. I feel like your last sentence needs to be put in the description box of every similar video clip. People need to stop expecting this to be a sociology course. I've found a way to eat cheaper and healthier but it was time consuming just learning. I think it's easier for some people too. I can eat a bell pepper like an apple, but that is not practical for everyone; given the stares I get. lol
Kelly Ament why do we need to tax junk food... let people eat what they want.
MidnightFlower13 How? They only affect themselves.
Kelly Ament I completely agree
Lol my family doesn't have money to eat out or the time to make food so I just eat cereal all day, or whatever we have in the cabinets.
Apple Weight: 200 grams
Cost of a Kilo of Apples in America: $1.50-$5 (According to Various Google Results)
Way to start this video off
Here in Spain it's insanely expensive to eat out/fast food, healthy food is WAY cheaper. Love me some mediterranean diet
DWEBB FILMS Co-operative farmers-markets in Canada are beginning to make fresh/healthy food relatively more affordable than eating junk. The big issue in the US are the MASSIVE subsidies for corn which is then used in everything. You want to know the reason for the obesity epidemic? Look no further than high fructose corn syrup and the hormonal chemicals pumped into animals. A US chicken is on average 35% larger than a Canadian chicken. I REFUSE to buy American chicken and beef
Same in Sweden
DWEBB FILMS wow, lucky!
You're confusing the argument. Eating out is generally more expensive regardless of quality when compared to self prepared. The argument is store bought/self prepared is more expensive if it's higher in nutritional quality than poorer quality food.
nek yo
Longest living population studied is the Loma Linda California Seventh Day Adventists. They are either vegetarian or vegan.
Bloody hell, I can get 50 apples for £10 and loads for strawberry
Raihan Islam North America is different lol
the continent of north america? are you high
Josh Mullins many believe South America and North America are separate continents, go educate yourself.
DjeieA KeksekI I don't think Canada and Mexico are as insane as the US dude
?? mexico, the country that slaughtered 100 people running for office just weeks before the big election. like do you people even read what you type
Checks local grocery store, apples are 40 cents.... Checks strawberry price, a 16 ounce container of strawberries is $1.73... Maybe they are taking prices from a NY Whole Foods.
I live in California, and the prices they are giving are still cheap for me. I never realized that location could be a factor in the cost of produce.
@@ananya1869 I live in Atlanta and the prices in the video are nuts compared to what they are around here.
I live in california and a small plastic container of blueberries at the stores near me range from $2.99-6.99. That’s a spectrum from on sale to organic.
@@edenhougardy7847 yep pretty much how it is for me as well
your local grocery store has extremely low prices compared to the U.S. average. Is it possible you live in a more rural area?
Another problem is that access to grocery stores is more limited in low income neighborhoods, while access to fast food is nearer, and therefore more convenient, especially if you rely on public transportation.
"There's a strong link between diets low in fruits and vegetables and diabetes."
Thank you for this brilliant information.
lol ikr
There are people who still think eating a balanced meal with 20% fat at 800 calories is worse for you than eating 800 calories of pure sugar from candy, because at least the box says fat free soooooooooooooooooooo
Faizan Ali
You lost me at “ugly”
But yeah, most overweight people either have a diet of junk or they live in an area where they can’t properly exercise
Some people with diabetes aren’t always overweight
diabetes happens because of insulin resistance, you "get" insulin eating food. Processed foods are usually rich in refined carbs(basically sugar) which spikes insulin level paired with nearly 0 fiber
Where did they shop for these "apples"?
😂 I know.
Probably like Whole Foods lol
LazyTV They are apples. Didnt need quotes. Yes if you buy apples in bulk as Walmart, Sams and many grociers sell them, youll get 5 apples for about that cost maybe more.
Theyre organic apples... Lol!
Hendog
A whole foods in san francisco. XD
I’ve been to China many times and I love how cheap their healthy food is.
Lol
Agriculture is our tradition and history
Yeah bats, dogs and cats. Very healthy indeed
Random Dude I mean Swiss people also eat cats and dogs and they seem pretty healthy.
Random Dude if you really think about it every country has its weird foods and do you think chinese people on eat bats and dogs???
Meanwhile, everywhere else:
Bruh this donut costs nearly as much as five apples
Isn’t sugar supposed to be expensive ?for some reason that doesn’t apply for Americans.
Here in Ukraine you can by 50 kilograms(110 pounds) of perfect apples for 10$ =)
Dr Andrey 50 кілограм за 260 гривень , де саме ?
@@ioancharger1871 Каменец Подольский, рынок ) с октября по апрель так стоили
Dr Andrey а , то це сезонні яблука , бо зараз по 15-18 грн
@devilcorn gaming1234 those people are earning 100 -300 $ ,and emigrate to Poland to get any job to have more money .
Wow! that’s a lot of apples
And other countries make fun of America for being unhealthy. The poor can't afford to be healthy, people.
Soooo there’s definitely a problem with america if this is a thing
Yeah I'm so privileged being able to afford to go on a run.
Exercise is free
😑 even if you excersise, eating unhealthy won't do you any good. That's like a broke person only eating ramen noodles for a whole week but then trying to make up for it by jogging for an hour. If you want to be healthy, you have to eat healthy as well.
Eating healthy is expensive here in Canada too
Wait an apple in America is $2?
I'm European and that's absolutely crazy
Bram06 That's the U.S. for ya. 👌
Amanda K it's a lie lmao. Nowhere in America are apples that expensive
Bram06 tata
K FF Bullshit, i like my girls thick
Bram06 They probably live in California where everything costs more, and where they don't grow apples.
People complaining they can’t afford to eat healthy but they have a luxury vehicle, cell phones, expensive clothes…..give me a break. In my area a whopper meal is 20 dollars. With that I can make an excellent heathy meal at home. But most don’t cause it’s not convenient or easy.
A friend of mine (we live in Italy) once was in Miami and couldn't find a "fresh food" aisle in the supermarket. There was only a small shelf with a handful of fruit. I can't even imagine what one could eat everyday without some good fresh grocery.
Solution: make apples cheap and donuts really expansive.
Pluto • 47 years ago easier said than done
Donuts are already some what expansive. I mean how big do you want them to get?
@@malkavian694me a donut is less than a dollar. Like everywhere.
@@ghostie6199 being less than a dollar doesn't make them less EXPANSIVE.
I like the way you think
Who’s paying $2 for one Apple?? Look for options that are on sale and go from there
RachelRuizxx The price comes from the more expensive types of apple, like Honeycrisp apples, which also tend to be larger. At a store that charges, say, 3 dollar per pound of apples, this makes them more expensive.
@@wolfemooney7188 lol I could pick a single apple where I for under .35 cents each.
Shaun Mattice ok Ryuk, enjoy ur cheap apples. I’m jealous
I love strawberries, blueberries and many other types of fresh fruit, and I would love to eat healthy. Will I pay $4 for strawberries or blueberries? No, I'll buy something cheaper and bad for me for $1 or $2
. ..
Is it actually 2 dollars for a single apple? I would leave America as soon as possible! It's worse than I thought they are ripping you off
I bought a watermelon for less than a dollar a month ago
um, you clearly aren't american; Nobody sells 4$ for a strawberry, or 2 for an apple
@@taylormatthews6086 No
Where are you buying $2 apples?
Whole Foods In New York
you know, where all the poor people go shopping
California!
Adrian Tepes Ummm what? $2 apples are way overpriced. No poor people buy $2 apples.
The Cringe Lord I know, I was being sarcastic in regards to the whole foods comment, because it wouldn’t make sense for poor people to buy their food there.
Kinda ironic
K N U C K L E S why so?
Don'tcha think?
He could save others from death, but not himself.
lalaithan •
It's like rain. ..
on your wedding day...
Another issue not addressed here is the availability of junk food vs. real food. You'll generally only find produce at grocery stores and markets, but you can stop at gas stations and convenience stores all over most American towns and find more junk to snack on. Hell even Best Buy has candy and soda and snack bars at their checkouts. (Why?) This is especially an issue when it comes to food deserts, where supermarkets are few and far between.
But in my experience, the "healthy food is more expensive" argument, while true, is often exaggerated. Yeah, items like strawberries and grapes are costly, but rice, beans, bananas, zucchini, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes, eggs, oats? Not as much. They're just a little more bland, and that's where I think a lot of people stumble. We've cultivated this idea that food has to *always* be stimulating, and it's legitimately addictive. Once you force yourself past that, a more nutritious and cost-effective diet seems a lot more possible.
Zordon06 i like your second argument, i think food is made to br addictive that way you can come back and choose it. And your first argument, it goes back to idea of keeping you in that same loop. They want you to keep snacking bro because all that food does not fill you up and just creates addiction. Cut all sugar completely, for 3 to 4 months at least and start eating the bland food you describe. Your mind rewires itself and you no longer crave this sugar addicting foods. Now just self discipline is the issue it is up to people to really "care" about their fucken bodies.
It is because refrigeration is expensive, cost of processing is cheaper than cost of storage, coolants used in fridge has been the same since 1980s basically, we need better and cheaper fridges.
People think carrots are bland?? They’re my go-to raw veggie snack! No veggie dip required! They’ve done wonders to make me feel better in no time when I’m craving healthy food.
Saul Montiel you can’t cut “all” sugar from your diet unless you refuse to eat fruits. You shouldn’t cut sugar entirely anyway. Your body needs it but the trick is it always thinks it needs even more. That’s why it’s so addictive.
Lily Shimizu Celery is another thing to snack on, it is also very healthy and usually good without any additional flavorings. I like to get the celery really cold, it adds more to the crunch. Carrots and celery are typically available for purchase at most markets, big or small.
And exactly, cutting all sugar from your diet isn't really good or possible. Most things that we eat have some kind of sugar, just not always sucrose. Cutting "all" sugar means that you essentially stop eating most foods.
In Sweden, when potatoes are in season (around Midsummer) there are so much potatoes that the stores almost gives them away for free. I’ve seen stores having potatoes for 0.01 sek/kg, which translates to 0.001 usd/kg. Since the smallest denomination is 1 sek it will cost 1 sek (0.1 usd) if you don’t buy anything else, but otherwise it’s basically free because of rounding. Other things also get really cheap when they’re in season, like apples and different root-crops. Aren’t there seasons for crops in the US too, or are crops always the same price no matter the season?
I think since many US states are warm and with similar weather conditions year-round (like Florida), many US grocery stores are able to keep produce year-round through imports from warmer-climate states, but not everywhere. When I lived in Vermont for four years, for instance, there were no peaches in grocery stores during wintertime.
Sweden should market their potatoes to the US maybe :D
so the answer by some to prevent people from eating bad food is to spike the price of bad food, while also admitting that people buy bad food because its more affordable, so how is this supposed to help people who couldn't afford good food? This would just make it more difficult to get any food at all, bad news for anyone just scraping by with what they can afford.
I never thought about the actual picking of the produce. It makes sense that fresh fruits and processed fruits are picked differently, and why fresh fruits will always cost more.
David Jensen It is because america doesn't like bumps and bruises on its fruits and vegetables
No just americans. Nearly the whole western world is like that :(
David Jensen k
That actually doesn't drive up the price that much, what that does massively contribute to is food waste. They also lied about the cost of the fruit. The average cost of fresh apples and strawberries according to the USDA is $1.57 and $2.36 per pound.
Actually David.. In 3rd world countries all produce are selected and picked by hand but only the select go to the US for you own enjoyment!
The hardest part of eating healthy for me is preparing my own food. I work 60 hours a week on average and go to school and am often too tired to prepare any but the simplest meals. I’m trying to get into meal prepping, but haven’t figured out all the kinks with that (like I can’t reheat food at work).
What a tired, old and ridiculous argument. Prepping your food is incredibly easy and fast if you know what you're doing. But dismissing that completely, you could easily be losing weight if you just cut the amount of calories you consume, regardless of what type of and where you eat food from.
It's literally that easy. However, most fat people have terrible self-control and many researches are likening their sad state of being i.e. significant amounts of sugar consumption to addiction. So if you are fat, you are an addict and completely responsible of what you did to your body.
Faizan Ali Did you even read my comment? Where do I say I’m fat or need to lose weight? I also said I’m figuring out what I need to do to meal prep. I know it would be easy if I knew what I was doing. You know what is easy even if you don’t know what you’re doing? Reading and understanding a comment before you reply. Clearly you’re too lazy to do even that most basic thing.
If you have no tips on how I can do better with meal prep, then go call your mother fat and see if your day gets better.
What the heck is your problem? He/She was just saying they find it hard to meal prep which is completely understandable. They were not talking about weight loss and even if they were your advice is despicable and completely lacking any empathy.
suadela87 look into getting an instapot. I bought one and it helped me out tremendously.
Bobby Blanco hmm, I haven’t heard of those. I’ll look into it. Thanks! :)
Ironically, there is a video in my recommended about a shake that contains an entire slice of cake
Is the video about Portico?
@@thatgirlwithherheadinthecl8777 Yes
Portillo’s Italian Beef? That place is amazing
This is the most american thing ive ever seen
why do americans add sugar literally in everything? when I first came to US everything I tried was little sweet, even canned food that are not supposed to contain sugar
In Germany you become 10 apples for less than 3€ and 1 Donut for 2€😂
David Fuchs It should be get* not become; become is not bekommen, false friends
Why would i want to become 10 apples
To know the apple you must become the apple.
It's only upside down in the U.S
In Germany you *become* the apples! We then rest in the apples section of the grocery store, waiting to get picked up by people.
Processed food is more expensive in my country. Largely because labour is a lot cheaper than machinery here and most processed food companies come from abroad so, there are those added costs.
If someone knocked a doughnut out of MY hand like that we wouldn't be exchanging glares, we would be throwin hands! LOL
😂😂😂😭
In Brazil is the opposite, eating unhealthy is expensive, McDonalds here is expensive
Just put more pineapple on pizza
Yuck!
@@DramaTV2613 Your tongue sucks, so does your face & your existence.
I like pineapple pizza
Alright to jail you go
The Reverse it’s not that deep lmao
apples do not cost 2 dollars each, good tasting ones can cost 99 cents a pound
They're probably looking at grocery stores in certain areas of the USA, for all we know this might have been recorded in New York or California.
@@trevorpate121 Convenient and able to skew the numbers to help prove their point. I don't like that but agree about the need for affordable healthy food for ALL.
@@trevorpate121 Honestly not even California. I live in the 4th most expensive county in America and the gala apples here are like $2.99 for 10. Sometimes it's even cheaper.
Rice, beans especially dry beans and potatoes are very affordable 🫥
It's such a lie that Americans cant afford to eat vegetables or fruit. I was shocked when I actually walked around the produce section and realized this was more affordable than even the frozen veggies. It's all about shopping your deals and eating seasonally when things are the cheapest. 10 dollars on 5 apples, it's like you're trying to be a joke. In fall I can buy 5 pounds of good brand apples for 5 dollars so I really dont know where it is that people cant find groceries. In a combination of frozen and fresh vegetables you can get 10 lbs. Of veggies for 10 dollars. Not saying a certain state might have a super high price on produce but I watch a lot of people do videos where they try to eat for $25 a week or something like that across a lot of states and they go over local produce prices and it's usually not bad at all even in super populated areas and places with no population at all.
@naima samaleCalorie per calorie processed food is more expensive than plain food. Example would be buying sugary cereal and milk for breakfast as opposed to plain oatmeal. Frozen microwave dinners are as expensive as fast food. Yeah we need to deal with poverty but the problem isn't the junk food price, its that American's don't know what to eat. We are obese, we don't need cheaper calories anyway, we need cheaper nutrition.
As an asian this whole "its costly to eat healthy" is such a lame excuse. Apples arent cheap either from where am from thats why we eat it only occasionally, n one person dont consume a whole 3 apples in a day..plus we eat other veggies n fruits which r in season. Even if we indulge sometimes with fatty porks n the likes, we still drink n eat our boiled green veggies broths. If theres a tomato, seasonal fruits, chillies, potato, green veggies, eggs, fish/meat n some condiments, theres no need for anything else. Def wont be costlier than unnecessarily adding cheese/creams n butter to literally everything n then topping that off with more sweet desserts.
@naima samale maybe in areas where they purposely try to keep people poor. But if you had to live off of $35 for the whole week what are you going to buy? Sure you could buy 7 frozen pizzas and eat one pizza a day or even 7 little ceasers pizzas at 5 bucks a pop. You could choose to do that or you could choose to buy milk, flour, eggs, a meat of some sort, pasta, big bag of veggies, beans, maybe cheese. That's $27 worth of food where I live and that's me rounding up to the highest everything would be. All the sales are over you know how prices fluctuate. So that gives you 8 more dollars to get a sweeter item or more vegetables/meat. All depends on what's on sale too and what you're willing to make because you can make pasta from scratch, pancakes, whateva. But either way with just that you're able to make good meals for the whole week that have some diversity in them and are good for you for the same price of a bunch of pizzas. Like I am poor always have been, I'm not saying it's not more expensive in some areas but theres no reason for it to be because it certainly isnt here and in this modern day with trucks and farms theres no reason that everything shouldn't be evenly distributed. America makes surplus food that gets wasted every year we just need to better distribute it.
honestly what are we supposed to do? If all people can afford to eat is plain rice ofc they won't be able to afford vegetables. If they buy any pizza, hamburgers, hotdogs, premade food, or eat at restaurants there are better ways they can spend money on food.
It just feels like there’s no time, and fast food is more accessible. That being said, I’ve been cooking.
What I recommend is keeping prepped vegetables in the freezer, and prepped meals in the fridge. Then, microwave the healthier leftovers. Bam!
People say microwaves are bad, but everything is bad if you check, so it’s whatever. Just don’t stand near them and use microwave-safe containers to reheat.
I’ve been having spaghetti, and an omelette loaded with vegetables I pre-chopped in the freezer. Smoothies, too. With baby spinach (I got curious and it actually tastes so good, even without fruit... but I add fruit anyways for health).
Also, where I live, food is super expensive. But I do live in like a “rich” area, so that might be why. It’s been helpful to just buy in bulk when things are on sale and freeze it. I love freezing and prepping so much!
I love how eating healthy is so deeply rooted in our culture and most of the Asian cultures. I hate to be old school but part of America's problem is that they were always taught to eat processed packaged food rather than subsidizing veggies and greens
As am American I disagree. I was definitely raised to get greens and veggies from my family and my schools
@@johannakhalafallawell that’s not the case for most Americans.
The american shambles of a sugary processed breakfast, compared to a European or Asian style whole food one shows.
I live in a rural area in Southern Italy. Here, with 10 euros, you can buy two bags full of fruit and vegetables. I remember, as a child, being surprised of how cheap it was. I don't really get what's the point of making things so expensive and then complain if a big part of the population is unhealthy and overweight.
Because here in USA they want us to get sick so medical care is needed and they can charge us a lot for doctor visits
Apples cost $1 at my university and they overpriced. You could probably buy apples in bulk for 35-50 cents at a decent store.
Maybe ensure that people earn a living wage so they can afford healthy foods?
I think that's a different issue. France has managed to make their healthy foods available to all citizens across the socioeconomic spectrum, so why can't the USA?
That's not the problem, the problem is that its more expensive to pick fresh, healthy food than to make processed food
The root cause is that people apparently don't earn enough to make healthy choices. The price of the food isn't the real problem.
Doctors prescribe healthy food as medicine? The US needs to shift their perception of what is normal and what is not... As usual...
DerExoGitarrist yeah due to the rising percentage of obesity, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases, anything that is caused by lifestyle choices. Doctors are trying to get people to start Healthy choices and eat more balanced/produce foods. Although it might be a near impossible to get everyone there, but who knows what’ll happen in the upcoming years.....Hopefully we can start to recognise that this is important rather than eating processed foods everyday
DerExoGitarrist : thank you!
Throngdorr Mighty I'm saying that there are some things happening in the US that are seen as normal or that happen on a daily basis that are definitely not normal. One example is treating produce as medicine for sick people whereas eating healthy should be considered normal.
Super Soviet That's because most obese patients aren't even willing to change their unhealthy food habits. You can give them an entire lecture about the risks, and majority of them will just admit that you're right and forget about it the next day.
what else are you implying isn't "normal"
Apples seriously cost $2 in the US? that's crazy
Also they live in cali i live in missouri and it costs like .70-1 dollar a pound
in Canada $1 a pound i don't believe US could be more expensive
They definitely do not.
That's simply not true. No idea what it's like in the US to be fair but apples are like 35p each in the UK.
In the UK it is 5 for 2 US dollars in the supermarket. Scandalous.
when do americans wake up and raise the minimum wage, jesus ducking christ
tomorrow
Because if they do, all the jobs will be outsourced or replaced with robots
5 apples don’t cost $10 in any grocery store I’ve ever been to. Not even Whole Foods charges that much
Only if you get the premium apples.
It just makes me think of Arrested Development: "It’s one banana, what could it cost, $10?"
recently i made a trip to the store with the mission to buy the most healthy things i could for breakfast. i wanted to make fruit & yogurt parfait.. first i had to find a granola with as little sugar added as possible. this box of very tasteless granola but much more healthy cost 8.99 where others were around 3 or 4.99. I then had to choose a yogurt. the yogurt i chose was as sugar free as possible meaning it wasnt flavored with vanilla or anything. my god this stuff is SO gross tasting and cost me 6.99 compared to the cheapest yogurts being 1.99 and FILLED with sugar!
i was spending more than double the amount for something with little to no sugar, compared to the cheapest things i could find. for anyone like myself that is rather poor, this is a huge deal! people are buying with their wallet, not with their health in mind. it's pretty sad, and the amount of sugar in these cheap items is outrageous!
Sugar free natural yogurt is delicious tho... Tangy. Tastes a little like sour-cream? It's really good. Pity you didn't like it. If you ever decide to try it again, maybe try to get the sugar free yogurt with live cultures in it? Greek yogurt often has those. It's really good for you.
the yogurt i have is siggi's plain yogurt. compared to the very sweet yogurt ive always been fed growing up, it's a very hard adjustment. At first i was just using my granola, the yogurt and blue berries. the yogurt was so think along with the dry granola, it's was really unpleasant.
i still buy the yogurt and granola which are both pretty bland from what i'd usually had before, but now i mix them all in with oalmeal and some honey along with fruit of choice.
You want the sugar...
Unless you’re eating raw flour, there’s nothing better in terms of cost. Yogurt is one of the best sugar delivery methods.
but im having it with honey and fruit, why do i need high fructose corn syrup in a cheap ass yogurt?
btw there is still 7grams of sugar per a serving
The fact that in the old time being overweight meant that you were rich and now just means the contrary (not necessarily in all situations but you know) 😞
If there was a “junk food tax” it would just make it harder on low income people. There are a lot of times where all I can afford is instant ramen or pasta and sauce, if these things became more expensive while the price of healthy food was still high it would make it harder on so many low income people
Produce is not that expensive, it just doesn't taste good, but learning how to make it taste good can make it easier to eat. I think that's more the problem than cost. 🤷🏻
this
Considering a portion of overweight Americans are POC (blacks, Latinos and Asians; all known for culturally deliciously spiced food), I really don't think spice is a major problem.
@@sunshineyrainbows13 food deserts often affect ethnic minorities. If the convenience stores that sub for grocers in low income areas had less junk food more beans/lentils/rice/peanuts/fresh whole potato, then things might look different in those areas
If you want a cheap healthy food, just come to south east asia...
Healthy food is cheaper than junk food...
For example : 1 kg of carrots is around $1 and you can have bunch of spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, etc for $0.5... My daily diet is around $3-5/day with complete healthy food from rice, mixed vegetables, fish/egg/chicken meat, and fruits... It will be cheaper if you good at bargain in traditional market...
But 500g potato chips is around $2 each... 1 kg sausage or chicken nugget is around $5...
The cheapest McD menu is around $3-4... Just a small portion of rice and a piece of chicken...
But if you process it by yourself, with that price you can feed 3 people with similiar menu (just rice and chicken)
That’s true everywhere...
Their argument in this video was dishonest.
Its more true when you're close to where such food is grown.
WTF? Glad i live in Portugal, majority of the population is elderly and we only eat good and healthy food around here. The most expensive and juiciest apples are probably 2.40€ per KILO. Mediterranean diet is what i call.
Apple are actually 5$
I don't think most of these city folk have even seen an apple tree before. Hundred or so apples per tree per harvest, that's thousands apon thousands in an orchard, you can't even give them away so instead make great sauces and ciders.
It's true. I live in Germany and candy and junk food is very expensive. It for sure desencourages me from picking them up at the groceries stores, especially when I know making a home cooked meal is going to be much cheaper.
A junk food tax? Such an obvious excuse to tax everything possible. Its not up to the government to choose what we decide to feed ourselves.
Meanwhile, during a pandemic, gyms are closed, and donut shops are open. Good job, America.
Drive through is...you cant workout through a drive through..
Does your brain not work?
It seems like Vox's solutions always come down to taxation and government subsidies. How about individuals making healthy choices for themselves? Even lower income people can have healthier diets with more fiber and produce with some planning and discipline.
For some reason I really loved the homemade cigarrate graph.
I just bought a bag of apples for $3. Where are you shopping?