Often when we think of food costs, we’re only considering the immediate funds out of pocket. But it’s also important to factor in the big picture. Food is fuel for your body. If it’s poor quality, your engine isn’t going to run as well as you need it to.
It may be hard to make a tangible connection between long-term poor diet and health care costs that impact you financially, because the results are often not immediate. But what about the costs to quality of life which, if left unchecked, become those health care costs?
About 15 years ago a friend of mine had what I considered a horrific diet, even back then before “organic” was a mainstream word. No breakfast, lots of fast food for lunch and dinner, and — what grossed me out the most — she started each day with a giant Pepsi from the local 7-11, and usually had a few more by the time the day was done. She had stomach problems and a lot of headaches, but it wasn’t until she decided to clean up her act in preparation of getting pregnant that she realized how much her diet was affecting her life.
“I didn’t know you could get up in the morning without a headache!” she told me, once she’d been “clean” a few months. She’d become so addicted to caffeine that by the time she got up in the morning she was experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Not that she knew what it was. She just knew that drinking another gallon of Pepsi and taking an aspirin made the headache go away.
What kind of toll is your diet taking on your body right now?