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Let’s face it — the economy is making us fat. The only cheap food we can get with our rapidly shrinking wallets is a Big Mac with a side of love handles. According to Time Magazine this past year, the number of Americans considered obese has jumped by 1.7 percent. America’s well-earned reputation for serving large quantities of cheap and fast food may seem like a bargain on the outside, but on the inside, these industrialized food products have a bulk of hidden expenses.
In order to produce cheap food the crop is heavily fertilized. Time Magazine also said that over the past decade, the Federal Government has poured more than $50 billion into the corn industry, which helps keep the prices for the crop artificially low. That’s why McDonald’s can sell a Big Mac, fries and a Coke for around $5 — a bargain, given that the meal contains nearly 1,200 calories, more than half the daily recommended requirement for adults.
It is becoming far more costly to eat healthier. When we are in a hurry or crunched for cash, and most of the time we are experiencing both, our lovely meal plans give us the option of swinging by Taco Bell, Lil Dino’s, Toppers or Chick-fil-a.
I went over to Lil Dino’s, where I was sure I could get a healthy and affordable meal. Yet Lil Dino’s was not only pricey, but their nutrition information made my heart skip a beat. I decided that the vegetarian wrap would be the healthiest option, right? Wrong. The vegetarian wrap has a whopping 25 grams of fat. Maybe I could try the spicy bird wrap…if I wanted to eat something with 51 grams of fat.
I skipped the wrap and decided to get one of their “super salads.” The term super happened to be very misleading. Not only did it cost more than one meal on my meal plan, it was not worth the cardboard bowl they put it in. If super meant 95 percent shredded lettuce and 5 percent cut up deli meat then they hit the nail right on the head.
It wasn’t the lousy ratio of salad to meat was not what infuriated me. What made me want to keep my meal plan card in my wallet and keep walking was the dressing selection further down the line. When I asked what low fat dressings they had I was happy to hear they had a fat free dressing, but it was an extra 40 cents for a fat free dressing as opposed to no extra charge for a dressing 100 calories per tablespoon. This is ridiculous.
Trying to steer clear of the freshman fifteen, I looked up the nutrition information for Taco Bell. I was intrigued by the new Fresco menu, which consists of eight items and the promise of “Less fat. More taste.”. I was about to decide on the 8 grams of fat Fresco Style Chicken Burrito but then the words “Why Pay More?” appeared in front of me. Under this value menu was also a grilled chicken burrito — this one was only ninety-nine cents…and 20 grams of fat.
Honestly — why pay more? Why should we students have to pay more for a healthier option? A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a dollar could buy 1,200 calories of potato chips or 875 calories of soda but just 250 calories of vegetables or 170 calories of fresh fruit.
Imagine going to class with only a few dollars in your pocket and having the option of going to a quick salad place for lunch for the same price as a regular meal. With the tuition we pay, I think it would be fair for N.C. State to accommodate and pay the difference between cheap unhealthy food to better quality more food.
Paying that difference to have healthier affordable options on campus may not seem crucial, but I thought our tuition was for things like our meal plan, housing, classes, and books, not extra pounds.