Its insane. I always hear that level of chemical is so low it has no negative effect on a person. But you add up all the low levels of toxic chemicals and they add up to something significant! Pesticides, detergents, personal products such as perfumes, hair dye, make-up.. oh gosh. The list goes on. People are drenching themselves in chemicals then take pills to mask the effects.
And its expensive to avoid these things, my family of three spend about 2K per month on food alone trying to eat healthy. Nothing extravagant, fruits, vegetables, and organic when it matters. Sure we could live on $400 with highly processed or fast food... but you feel terrible afterword. The longer you stay away from them the more sensitive you are to toxic food.
I always see Americans with these crazy quotes for healthy food. I'm very curious what you spend the 2k on.
Here are some prices for central Europe. Kg of rice is 1 euro. Kg of oats is 1 euro. Potatoes and other tubers and root vegetables, even less. Cherry tomatoes, maybe 4 euros per kg. Lentils, peas, chickpeas less than 2 euros per kg. Whole chicken maybe 4 euros per kg. Chicken breasts are like 7 euros per kg if you don't want to bother with cutting it up. I think meat in general is cheaper in the USA (but quality may differ).
Do you guys eat a literal ton of vegetables a month, or do we have different ideas of what healthy food refers to?
Food in other countries is so much better and cheaper. We stayed in Mexico for a few months (not saying I want to live there) and food was all organic and dollars. A bag of about 15 avocados cost $1-$2 dollars. In the US that will buy you maybe one avocado.
Dozen eggs = $5-$8
Bag of apples = $5
We have some food allergies such as sensitive to gluten (wife is celiac).
Two things broken in US (that are pain points for us now) - food cost and healthcare. I pay about $800 month for healthcare that is essentially a safety net for an accident ($5K deductible). I am not sure why universal healthcare is not viewed the same as public schools. Many people dont have children but still pay taxes for schools and education. I would probably pay less than $800/month in extra taxes for healthcare.
american here, $2K per month sounds like a pretty wild food budget for a family of three (one of whom is presumably a child). I spend $300-400 a month to feed myself, and I could cut that down a lot if I didn't primarily shop at whole foods. if you aren't focused on saving money, there are a lot of opportunities to spend extra money on stuff that isn't healthier (eg, prime NY strip vs flank steak, fancy aged cheese, high end butter/oils). the nicest version of something in a grocery store can be 2-3x as expensive and nutritionally equivalent.
> Its insane. I always hear that level of chemical is so low it has no negative effect on a person.
At some point lead in gas was "safe", lead in paint was "safe", asbestos was "safe". Safety is an afterthought, and in some cases I'd bet my left nut that the long term negative effects are even desirable : cause a disease, sell the cure, profit
Longer yes, healthier... Hard to judge. We weeded out a dozen nasty things, but got others in return, for which "chemicals" might be an explanation. Parkinson's and Alzheimer's come to mind here.
We were smart enough to add lead to fuel, so I absolutely wouldn't be surprised if something we mindlessly use today is actually super unhealthy too. People often seem to suffer "End of History" syndrome when judging these things. "Yeah we were stupid back then but today's scientists are smart."
If people try to avoid processed food, products containing a lot of suspicious "chemicals", use the washer's program that does an extra rinse-run and whatnot I don't think that's entirely unjustified.
Life expectancy is going down in the US, obesity is skyrocketing, &c. The foundations are collapsing while we're maintained alive by machines and pills. You can live healthier than ever if you consciously chose to, most people don't make that choice.
> And yet we live longer, healthier lives than humans ever have.
Do we?
> Analysis of the mid-Victorian period in the U.K. reveals that life expectancy at age 5 was as good or better than exists today, and the incidence of degenerative disease was 10% of ours.
The major medical advances have been sanitation, antibiotics, and vaccination, which have saved the lives of millions of children. We are otherwise much unhealthier than most people in the past, unless they were unlucky enough to grow up in times of famine, which was not common - though, in all fairness to the modern world, famine has been essentially eradicated altogether in advanced countries.
I should also mention, we dont eat out / order in food. our budget is probably not much higher than most once you factor in the restaurant/takeout/food delivery budget.
And its expensive to avoid these things, my family of three spend about 2K per month on food alone trying to eat healthy. Nothing extravagant, fruits, vegetables, and organic when it matters. Sure we could live on $400 with highly processed or fast food... but you feel terrible afterword. The longer you stay away from them the more sensitive you are to toxic food.