No wonder Americans are so obese!!

I'm off work today for the holiday (President's Day). This is cool cause it gives me time to do things I didn't get to do this weekend, like go grocery shopping. Believe me, it was much needed. My fridge was bare! I made a decision to start cooking more at home. I do cook, and I cook good, but just not enough. I looked over my finances and discovered that last month I spent $330 just on dining out. I know, that is alot! It kinda disgusted me. I don't eat fast food much, because when I do, it's like I can feel my arteries clogging! Ugh! So when I don't have food in the fridge, I just eat out at local restaurants. This is where the more healthy foods are...the grilled salmon, mixed veggies, sushi (even if it's not I still love it), grilled tilapia etc. So I would end up spending $20 or so every time I ordered take out. On top of that, when friends wanna go out for lunch/dinner I never hesitate. Shame on me...I had to make a change. I decided this last week after I was reading The Automatic Millionaire in conjunction with Suze Orman's Young, Fabulous & Broke and the books mentioned knowing exactly where your money was going. So, like I said, when I found out how much of my money was going towards dining out, I was disgusted.

I needed a change so I went grocery shopping today. I love Publix, but really they are too expensive and I didn't have any coupons. So I visited good ole' Walmart. I hate Walmart with a passion, but hey their prices are cheaper so I deal with it. Going up and down each aisle, I noticed that all the healthy foods I wanted were so much more expensive than the not-so-healthy foods with preservatives and such. For example, I only drink 100% fruit juice. The 100% orange juice was almost $3...the juice with only about 5% fruit juice was less than $1!!! That's crazy to me! Even the low calorie Pringles were almost $2 more than the regular Pringles. Oh and don't get me started on the canned veggies.

I think it's so sad that some Americans are forced to choose foods that may not be best for them, because these stores have healthier foods at a higher price! Some people don't even stand a chance!!!! And stats show that the greatest number of obese Americans are where? You guessed it...the SOUTH! Gosh! Think about the children growing up that are missing out on essential fruits and veggies because parents can't afford to buy healthy...they buy cheap. Thus the cycle continues. I need to find out if there is someone I can write to about this nonsense. I mean come on, why must we keep contributing to the fatness of our society. I saw 2 kids in Starbucks the other day with enormous ice cream cones...now, ice cream is cool sometimes, but the kids were already obese! And get this, the mom was as thin as a toothpick!

I understand that there are some things that will never change, so I'll just keep on buying my healthy foods and try to keep myself out of the obese range (really working on that LOL!)...If I don't do it who will?