Highly processed foods and our food budgets

By Healthy For Life Meals

Many of us believe we’re eating healthy, but are we really?

While we may believe we’re making mostly healthy food choices, it turns out that 61% of the groceries we buy in America are in fact highly processed, highly unhealthy foods. Almost 1,000 calories a day of the average American’s diet come solely from highly processed foods, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. These foods also contribute 70% of the sodium in the typical American diet, and 90% of added sugars!

Highly processed foods are defined as multi-ingredient mixtures that are no longer recognizable as their original plant or animal source. Examples include obvious items like chips and sweets, and items that may be surprising, like packaged soups, chicken nuggets, jarred pasta sauces, and ice cream.  There are many potential negative health effects of eating highly processed foods that contain too much sugar, sodium, fat, and artificial ingredients. These include increased risk of cancer, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Average food spend

Now let’s talk about food budgets. According to a recent poll, the average American spends $168 per week on food, or on average, $8 per meal. 33% of this weekly grocery spend is on processed snacks and sweets, and sugary beverages. Yes, we’re spending a whopping 33% of our grocery budget on items that provide 61% of our total caloric intake, and that are literally making us sick!

Minimizing our intake of highly processed foods requires consistently doing more food prep and cooking from scratch using primarily clean, whole foods that are found in the outer perimeter aisles of the grocery store - the fresh produce, fresh meat, and dairy sections. Easier said than done!

Healthy For Life Meals provides a realistic, simple, affordable solution. For just $144 per week ($6.86 per meal) for our most popular plan, we cook your meals using fresh, clean, whole foods, following nutritional guidelines that are backed by science.  You’ll save money, save time, and avoid those highly processed foods that are contributing to poor health.

Spend less, eat well, live more. Learn more about our meal plans and menus, or contact us directly with questions.