Losing Weight : How Much Does It Cost To Eat Healthy?

We all have our moments when we are either shopping for food at the grocery store or buying our lunch when we start thinking we should go for a healthier option but one look at the price and all thoughts of having a healthy meal goes down the drain.

With prices of healthy food being double the price of regular meals, there’s no wonder Singaporeans are hesitant to switch up their meals.

Common Misconception – Healthy Meals Are Very Expensive

Having tried the clean eating diet, I would have agreed with everyone that said eating healthy is challenging not only because of the lifestyle change but because of how expensive healthy meals are. However, this is not always the case!

A research from Harvard School of Public Health shows that healthy diets cost more than unhealthy eating. A year’s worth of healthy eating would see an additional increase in US$548 (SGD $712), think that’s a lot? It’s not! Divide it by 365 days and that is only an additional US$1.50 (SGD $1.95) per day.

Source: Straits Times

We tend to think that it’s only the price of food that is preventing us from eating healthier but one of the underlying reasons could also be the preparation time if we do decide to cook it ourselves. As a country that loves food and has access to it 24/7, based on Straits Times, we spend most of our monthly food expenses on takeaway meals from hawker centers and if we can spend 15 minutes waiting in line for someone to take our order, we can spend that 15 minutes preparing food at home.

Eating Healthy Saves Money In The Long Run:

1. Eat Your Nutrients

Eating food high in sugar and artificial sweeteners will cause over-eating, leading to an excessive amount of money being spent on food that our body does not need. Furthermore, the reason why we don’t see it as expensive is that we are used to eating such large amount of junk food and have been doing so in large quantities.

If we were to eat healthier, our body would have the nutrients that it needs and we would not have the urge to eat excessively and thus spending less money on snacks.

2. Lower Medical Bills

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, this is something that has been told to us ever since we were kids. As we all know, unhealthy food is bad for us and constantly eating food high in sugar and salt will eventually cause health problems leading to high medical bills.

Source: Walmart

3. Meal Prep

When I was in my clean eating phase I dreaded preparing my meals for the day, If only I knew that there was an easier way to do so. Instead of waking up in the morning to prepare your lunch and dinner, cook your weeks’ worth of food on Sunday, that way all you have to do is heat it up in the microwave which would take no more than 5 minutes.

It is also more cost efficient to cook in bulk rather than spending money on singular ingredients that you will only use for one meal!

Making The Most Out Of Healthy Eating

If you do intend on making the conscious decision to eat healthier be it at home or when dining out, make full use of credit cards that provide high rebates for grocery or dining bills.

Living a healthy lifestyle consists of 80% diet and 20% exercise.

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