eat your heart out
this is what i want to say to all the big businesses that say they want to promote health and wellness. lately many companies are wanting to improve the health of their employees so that they can have lower insurance rates, or better yet implement their own medical insurance plan which benefits those that are rarely, if ever ill. of course, this isn't to save a buck (comment drenched in sarcasm)...but they will have you believe it is due to their sincere concern for your well-being.
HA.
so, i want to say, "EAT YOUR HEART OUT". until the price for healthy options decreases (or better yet-just equals-the price of unhealthy options) i will not believe the America cares about our rising health problems which include obesity, high cholesterol, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and as the list continues to grow so do our waistlines (as well as the budgetary balance for many fast food franchises).
to create healthy meals at home, it can add up...substituting olive oil for butter, skim milk for cream, egg beaters for eggs, ground lean turkey meat for beef, etc etc. Yet you can feed a family of four for under 6 bucks at any local value menu drive through.
Even at sit down restaurants, you can hold the cheese and nuts and oil all you want...but heaven forbid if you want some fruit or veggies on the side (in the place of fries) and YET my goodness we HAVE to charge you extra for a healthy side....
Even at my place of work, the meal deal (hot meal or sandwhich, dessert, and one side) is typically less than a salad...which they weigh now...the last time i "splurged" to get some fresh produce-i had five bites, yes five bites, and it was $3.50!!!! A large salad costs anywhere from $10-15 bucks (or so i hear).
The sad thing is everywhere you go there are cheap, fast, processed meals. Even in the grocery store, a ready made pasta pack is 3 bucks and feeds 4-6 or frozen pizzas. Although these foods have such processed ingredients (some even include plastics) that is what some folks on a budget are forced to buy. Its just not worth it to make a healthy spaghetti, when you can get the sodium ridden spaghetti-o version for 1/4 the cost...or for many of us without the extra means can understand.
So until corporations, franchises, and the government that claim to care about our health offer healthy options at the same price i stay firm in my comment "eat your heart out". We all have a choice (understandable) but it definitely does cost to eat healthy in this day and age. The last 3 buildings to be built by my home are all fast food chains which shall not be named...in this struggling economy i guess some business are not losing-just turning into fat cash cows (pun intended) due to less flexiblity in our pocketbooks.