5 Hidden Grocery Costs That Are Robbing You Blind

If you living in American, you may already know that the food system is in quite a chaotic states.

The documentary 'Ingredients' shows us how our current food model is failing us, and how the better alternative for us to join is the movement of eating locally.

This documentary shows a range of US farming locations, celebrity chefs, and foodies in the industry who are changing the game and trying to help us to eat and live better.

What we are so used to, which is cheap, pre-packaged food, is causing all Americans to pay a very dear price. We are losing our connection to real food and the time honoured tradition of savouring, enjoying and sharing our meals with one another.

Most moms and dads see meal-making as a chore that takes the time of more important obligations like the current tv shows. This disconnect with the nourishment of our bodies is damaging our bodies and our planet.

It is time for change.

The HUGE costs of cheap food:

We, in America, have become very reliant on cheap and easy food that can be made it under 5 minutes. Each year there are hundreds or thousands or new processed foods produced and introduced onto the grocery store shelves. They are packaged so YOU want to buy them, but are filled with chemicals, unhealthy fats and more sugar than your body knows what to do with. All of this is contributing to the scary rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and illness, and mostly in our children.

In the US, food is getting cheaper and cheaper, but the quality is degrading as well, with industry adding cheap but toxic ingredients.

The thing to remember about cheap food however, is that you will pay in the long run, by about 5 times.

Here is why:

1. You think you are paying for cheap food, but actually you also have to add in the cost of tax time contributions to agricultural subsidies, which primarily include corn, canola, soy, rice, wheat and sugar, which account for the majorities of the subsidies.

2. Foodborne Illness: Cheap food also comes with lower quality safety checking and a higher amount of food borne illnesses like e.coli and salmonella.

3. Chronic Disease: One of the most direct links to cheap food in our bodies over the long term is the detrimental effects that it has on our overall health and links to heart disease, cancer, diabeties and more.

4. Environment: As soon as the factory farmer files for bankruptcy and leaves, you pay for your food a fifth time. This is what often happens when they are asked to clean up their land—a monumental expense that often results in bankruptcy, sticking the rest of us with the tab.

5. Energy costs: Cheap and processed food will be paid for by you again when you pay for your fuel bill. This is because imported, processed foods leave a large energy footprint. A large amount of our overall fossil fuel consumption goes to the growing, packaging and transportation of food.

The other issue with cheap food is the way it is grown.

Current large scale confined animal feeding operations (CAFOS) that exists widespread in this culture are breeding ground for disease, are ethically and nightmare for animals and are detrimental to the state of the land.

Animals are forced to live neck to neck with one another, juiced up on antibiotics so they avoid sickness due to their close living quarters.

On small scale farms, animals are less likely to get sick as they roam free in fresh pastures and fresh air.

Monoculture, is the farming practice that refers to the same kind of crop being grown year after year without any rotation of what is being grown. The most common of these is corn, soybeans, wheat, and rice.

In the good old days, for your Grandparents, after a year of one type of vegetable was finished, it made sense to switch things up.

The truth is that each plants feeds a tiny bit different from the soil and other plants are able to deposit the exact nutrient that got gobbled up from the plant before it. The science of this crop rotation was pure magic. It was good for the soil and good for the farmer.

Monocropping often requires mass amounts of pesticides synthetic fertilizers in order to replenish the soil.

In contrast the soil gets stripped of naturally occurring micronutrients, and is replaced with synthetic ones.

What would your Grandparents have done?

Back in the good old days, and they were called that for a reason...real food, and good food, took some time to prepare. Not too much time, but the right amount of time. The time needed to pour in love, preserve nutrients and share a meal and clean up with family. A time to bond and laugh and nourish our bodies and our souls.

Grandmother's of old would dig up potatoes from their back yard gardens and pick fresh greens full of enzymes and micronutrients.

Not everyone has space for a full garden, but everyone has space for a windowsill garden with the herbs needed to flavour food from real sources, rather than chemically synthesized sauces.

Local farmers markets exist in every city of the world, and the smiling people waiting in their booths since 5am, will be genuinely thrilled to sell you their food to feed your family.

Grandmother's Kitchen Nutritionist, Heidi Rasmussen, BScN