The whole point of healthy food is it has healthy stuff, things your body needs. Per protein, per vitamin, per fiber, any metric that actually takes that into account is going to come out WILDLY in favor of the healthy foods. And it's not like you're just eating a plate full of plain broccoli; throw some 800 cal/dollar butter on there.
Nope. Broccoli is 1.50ish per pound, and has 15 grams of protein per pound. Ice cream is probably the highest protein food in the "cheap" food category, so for the same 15 grams of protein you'd need 500 grams of ice cream which is like 1.2 liters, which would run probably over 3 dollars. Anything else on that list has negligible protein. Protein is the bottle neck for any diet. Your body can convert fat to carbs and carbs to fat and protein to either of those (if you are starving) but it can't just make protein. Why do you think we pump nitrogen into the soil? Why did the human population explode after the invention of the Haber process. It's all about the protein.
And I'm not saying eat a plain chicken breast with a side of steamed broccoli like a body builder. Make a roast; what does eye of round cost these days? Not much. Throw in some carrots and potatoes. Or cook a pork loin, put some cheese sauce on that broccoli. It's competitive in price with garbage, it's relatively easy, it's how people ate before the age of ham beasts. It just takes a bit of effort and home economics knowledge.
I think this is a potential problem. I believe most modern people have a phase in early independence (likely during college) where they live off of trash. Part of it is not understanding the importance of balanced nutrition, part of it is a kind of celebration for being allowed to eat ice cream for breakfast. Another part might be learning how to manage finances and accidentally making periods of time where they have to eat off of a few dollars and don't really comprehend their options. Normally, the novelty wears off after a while or you make yourself sick a few times and learn your lessons.
The problem comes from this phase (being necessary at all) not ending for some people. They might feel like they don't have the time or energy to cook or otherwise take care of themselves. A person might even become addicted to indulgence and ignore all signs of danger.
I barely escaped it myself, so I speak from experience. If I didn't care about my health, I'd still be eating bowls of ice cream seasoned with poptarts. Interestingly, the times where I had the least amount of money available for buying food were the times where I ate the worst (if you're poor enough to steal food, you're probably not stealing broccoli). I didn't know shit about nutrition, nor why I was so hungry all the time. It makes me wonder just how many people out there are doing their grocery shopping thinking about satisfaction per dollar rather than considering hunger or nutrition.
Learning to cook might also be a hurdle for some. It can take a while to perfect a recipe even after mastering fundamental techniques. Having to throw away a batch of food you ruined feels bad. Motivation could be difficult if you keep ruining food.
It's amazing how nonfunctional legal adults can be.
This is it. This is the most wrong post on the internet. Where do you think you get those amino acids from exactly? Your body breaks down the protein in the food you eat. And no, you can't just cheaply replace protein with amino acid supplements. Firstly it's not complete and secondly BCAA is like $30 for 300 grams. 10 grams for a dollar- uh look out, that's the same rate as broccoli and the broccoli has other good stuff besides. Fuck sake. Where do you think they get the amino acids for these supplements? For this whole discussion you can effectively use amino acid and protein interchangeably so you're effectively arguing that the body doesn't need protein because it needs protein.
Calories/dollar is a terrible metric. Just chug canola, dude. Protein/dollar is more sensible.
The whole point of healthy food is it has healthy stuff, things your body needs. Per protein, per vitamin, per fiber, any metric that actually takes that into account is going to come out WILDLY in favor of the healthy foods. And it's not like you're just eating a plate full of plain broccoli; throw some 800 cal/dollar butter on there.
Nope. Broccoli is 1.50ish per pound, and has 15 grams of protein per pound. Ice cream is probably the highest protein food in the "cheap" food category, so for the same 15 grams of protein you'd need 500 grams of ice cream which is like 1.2 liters, which would run probably over 3 dollars. Anything else on that list has negligible protein. Protein is the bottle neck for any diet. Your body can convert fat to carbs and carbs to fat and protein to either of those (if you are starving) but it can't just make protein. Why do you think we pump nitrogen into the soil? Why did the human population explode after the invention of the Haber process. It's all about the protein.
And I'm not saying eat a plain chicken breast with a side of steamed broccoli like a body builder. Make a roast; what does eye of round cost these days? Not much. Throw in some carrots and potatoes. Or cook a pork loin, put some cheese sauce on that broccoli. It's competitive in price with garbage, it's relatively easy, it's how people ate before the age of ham beasts. It just takes a bit of effort and home economics knowledge.
I think this is a potential problem. I believe most modern people have a phase in early independence (likely during college) where they live off of trash. Part of it is not understanding the importance of balanced nutrition, part of it is a kind of celebration for being allowed to eat ice cream for breakfast. Another part might be learning how to manage finances and accidentally making periods of time where they have to eat off of a few dollars and don't really comprehend their options. Normally, the novelty wears off after a while or you make yourself sick a few times and learn your lessons.
The problem comes from this phase (being necessary at all) not ending for some people. They might feel like they don't have the time or energy to cook or otherwise take care of themselves. A person might even become addicted to indulgence and ignore all signs of danger.
I barely escaped it myself, so I speak from experience. If I didn't care about my health, I'd still be eating bowls of ice cream seasoned with poptarts. Interestingly, the times where I had the least amount of money available for buying food were the times where I ate the worst (if you're poor enough to steal food, you're probably not stealing broccoli). I didn't know shit about nutrition, nor why I was so hungry all the time. It makes me wonder just how many people out there are doing their grocery shopping thinking about satisfaction per dollar rather than considering hunger or nutrition.
Learning to cook might also be a hurdle for some. It can take a while to perfect a recipe even after mastering fundamental techniques. Having to throw away a batch of food you ruined feels bad. Motivation could be difficult if you keep ruining food.
It's amazing how nonfunctional legal adults can be.
This is it. This is the most wrong post on the internet. Where do you think you get those amino acids from exactly? Your body breaks down the protein in the food you eat. And no, you can't just cheaply replace protein with amino acid supplements. Firstly it's not complete and secondly BCAA is like $30 for 300 grams. 10 grams for a dollar- uh look out, that's the same rate as broccoli and the broccoli has other good stuff besides. Fuck sake. Where do you think they get the amino acids for these supplements? For this whole discussion you can effectively use amino acid and protein interchangeably so you're effectively arguing that the body doesn't need protein because it needs protein.