It's Not Fair and I Feel as If I am Being Set Up when I see Cheap Food, that Is Bad for Your Health but Healthy Food Expensive!! Who Unless Your Rich Could Afford to Spend Money on The Lap Band Surgery, Maintence, New Clothes, Gym, Health Programs, and Expensive Food!!

Wow Does Society Really Want us to Loose Weight or Go to A Fast Food Restaurant, Where a Burger and Fries, and Milk Shakes is 3.00.

Cheap Cheap Cheap!! Weight Loss, Expensive, Expensive, Expensive!!!

I Feel Like I'm Being Set Up!! Even My weight Loss Snack are Expensive, But a bag of cookies or candy is less then a Dollar!!!!

I agree that cheaper and fast foods food tend to be unhealthy and marketing ploys are to appeal to the masses to generate sales but its all about your choices....A whole chicken is $6-$7... a lb of dried Beans are $1... Lettuce, tomatoes and brocolli are maybe $5 collectively...eggs are cheap. Tuna is inexpensive.....

A bandster could eat very healthy for under $50 a week if they really put forth the effort

Yes some foods are expensive...but I find if I go to McDonalds with kids its a good 50 dollars...

I took them all to ApleBees this past week and it cost 50 also....I had a delish meal under 500 cals...and I only ate 1/2 of it....

I agree, it's hard, especially once you start loosing a lot and you are having to buy new clothes to. I love the local farmers markets during the spring, summer and fall- I can get all sorts of nutritous goodys for a good price.

A big part of the reason a lot of people are obese is this trend that healthy cost so much more.

Oh, in the summer I freeze and can a lot of veggies (corn, string beans, squash, peaches, apples, strawberries, sweet potatos) so I will have them for the winter and won't have to buy it at the higher prices.

A big part of the reason a lot of people are obese is this trend that healthy cost so much more.

I agree with your concept but essentially a lot of people are obese because they are lazy and choose fast and convenience foods over preparing healthy alternatives which can be just as cost effective. I was the queen of convenience....and paid the price for it. Now I manage my time and food budget more effectivly and actually spend less.

It's Not Fair and I Feel as If I am Being Set Up when I see Cheap food, that Is Bad for Your Health but Healthy Food Expensive!! Who Unless Your Rich Could Afford to Spend Money on The Lap Band Surgery, Maintence, New Clothes, Gym, Health Programs, and Expensive Food!!

Wow Does Society Really Want us to Loose Weight or Go to A Fast Food Restaurant, Where a Burger and Fries, and Milk shakes is 3.00.

Cheap Cheap Cheap!! Weight Loss, Expensive, Expensive, Expensive!!!

I Feel Like I'm Being Set Up!! Even My weight Loss Snack are Expensive, But a bag of Cookies or candy is less then a Dollar!!!!

mind over matter. it really is...in my past, if i had $5, me and mc'dee's would be in cohoots....easy fast food and cheap. heck yeah.. way easier than preparing my veggies and beef pattie at night..

but i def feel if you want to lose weight bad enough, i dont care how cheap, easy and yummy, its not gonna make me eat it just because its there...i want to be healthy more than that bag of goodies.

I agree with your concept but essentially a lot of people are obese because they are lazy and choose fast and convenience foods over preparing healthy alternatives which can be just as cost effective. I was the queen of convenience....and paid the price for it. Now I manage my time and food budget more effectivly and actually spend less.

agreed as that was me..lazy and just kept on eating....how i got to over 336 pounds to begin with..no blame but only to myself

Yes, laziness plays a role. But in the case of some (I work with families who are in this boat) they have a very low buget and they never eat out, never go out to movies, ect. One lady I know, a single mom, making minumum wage- she is lucky just to put anything on the table. Between paying for housing, car insurance, gas, clothes, she has little left for food. So she spends wisely, she trys to give her and her kids good food, but sometimes the budget isn't there for many veggies. I help her out when I can, but it's not easy.

Basically, it's not easy. I choose to eat healthy and I can afford to, but it still ouchs at the check out sometimes.

Setup...perhaps, but, food cost the same for everyone whether you are thin or overweight and there are plenty of folks out there that have not let their eating get as out of control as I did. The fact that fresh food and things that are better for me cost a little more and take more effort is no excuse for my obesity (there I said it, such an ugly word). It's all about choices and acceptance. I ate too much, too often and moved too little. I accept this and I choose what's good for me because I want to change.

My family, and now just me and my husband have never been ones for the fast food restaurants with the exception of when we are on a road trip. Even the fast food restaurants have gotten the message that many in America want to eat healthier, and you can find healthier choices on the fast food menu if you look for them. They offer salads with grilled chicken and dressing on the side. Definitely an acceptable bandster meal.

Now that we have been "empty nester's" for the past 14 years, and since being banded, we are continuing to eat healthy at home and have seen our monthly expenses for groceries actually go down despite the rising prices. If you stay away from processed foods, and prepare home cooked meals which you can control the amount of fat and sodium, it isn't more expensive. I've had some "sticker shock" of late in seeing the prices of processed foods which contain corn escalate dramatically.

We still have our date night every weekend, and that expense has also gone down. I can sometimes find something healthy on the kids menu, and if my husband and I don't share an entree, I will take my leftovers home, and have 3 bandster size meals from the one entree.

I take responsibility for eating healthier, and if that means that I need to do some planning ahead (like during the day, if I am away from the house over lunch, I bring my lunch with me from home in my small cooler), then I know that I will benefit from it in the long run. Now pre-planning has become habit.

I don't believe we are "setup" for anything...I attribute this mindset to the American culture where we want everything delivered to us fast.

This lifestyle change is a process and not an event...it comes back to motivation for success.

Best wishes...you can do this!

I know what you mean! I am about to boycott Shop Rite (our local grocery store) because they keep pulling crap like making Entenmann's 50% off!!!

But whatever you are buying you can get three, four or five meals out of. I spend less money now since the band then when I was eating junk. You have to look at the whole picture. If you are only cooking for yourself and you buy a whole chicken that in its self can be less then a dollar a meal with about 7 meals. I go to flea markets and get fresh produce which is cheap and good. I buy snacks that are cheap. You can certainly eat healthy foods for reasonable money. You are eating less so it goes a lot further.

It's Not Fair and I Feel as If I am Being Set Up when I see Cheap food, that Is Bad for Your Health but Healthy Food Expensive!!

Welcome to the wonderful world of capitalism. Crap food is cheap, because it costs less to produce and store. You have to believe that it costs less to produce and store a twinkie that an apple. Hot dogs cost less then steak. But if you are careful, you can produce nutritious, healthy, delicious meals on a budget. Tonight, I took an inexpensive bean Soup mix, threw in some left over ham (minced), a couple of cloves of garlic and took a can of no-name Beans and pureed them for a thickener. It was fantastic, nutritious, frugal and I can feed my family of four two meals off it. Fresh costs more, but it doesn't have to be fresh to be healthy.

Don't give up, you can do this.

This is a great post and great discussion!

I was in the lazy convenience catagory. Instant gratification.

Ditto Maddy! If it took longer than five minutes to microwave or longer than 15 minutes to bake I wasn't having it. I actually am spending less now because being single I make a dish and OMG the leftovers!!! Something I never had much of before!