We at Simple Natural Weight Loss know that it can seem much cheaper to buy unhealthy food choices. There have been studies that show calorie dense, low nutrient, high fat foods are cheaper to buy than healthier alternatives. Can you make good food choices on a budget?

“Drink fat-free or low-fat milk, and make sure half of the grains you eat are whole grains.

Do these healthy eating guidelines sound costly?

Researchers at the University of Washington raised eyebrows earlier this month with a study finding that a healthy diet is difficult for cash-strapped Americans to afford. And with the cost of food rising faster than other products – the Agriculture Department estimates that grocery prices will rise by 3.5 to 4.5 percent this year and another 3 percent to 4 percent in 2012 – it would seem that problem may only get worse.”

Read the full article here: Eat Healthy

The above article from the Boston Globe’s website offers a few tips for finding healthier foods without breaking your bank. We have a few more to offer.

If you live in an area with a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program, join it; it allows you to share in weekly harvests. It not only can help you save some money, it ensures you are buying locally grown food. (Transportation costs are often a significant part of a food item’s price.) Being part of a CSA will also likely introduce you to new vegetables that you may not have tried before. Our local CSA’s usually include some recipe suggestions with their weekly offerings.

If you don’t have a CSA nearby, try a farm market. The prices are usually lower than a grocery store, and you can often speak directly to the farmer, and learn how the food was grown. (Sometimes, food is organically grown, but the farmer did not go through the time and expense to be certified “organic”. You can find out by asking.) It’s just past mid-summer now, and produce is abundant here on the East coast of the US, and prices are quite reasonable on many healthy foods. Generally, when any produce item is at its seasonal peak, it’s prices are lower, because the supply is plentiful.

Buy foods in bulk whenever practical. (That means don’t buy a 50 pound bag of grain, if you will only use a few pounds in a year. Use common sense, the bulk savings disappear if you buy more than you can use in a reasonable time.)

There are some foods which are definitely better purchased organically, and some where it is safe to buy conventionally grown foods. You can visit the Environmental Working Group’s website to see their recommendations: Organic or Conventional. This will give you a list of foods with the highest and lowest pesticide residues; those with the lowest pesticide residues are safe to buy conventionally grown. Even if you can’t find organic produce, the health benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables seem to outweigh the risks of pesticide residue.

Get together with friends and neighbors, and form a food co-op. This will often let you buy foods at wholesale prices. You will have to buy in quantity, but if you split the quantities with several families, it will be manageable. (I know one friend who started a co-op so he could get organic food at a reasonable price, and it eventually grew to the point that it is now his full time business.)

There are a few ideas about eating healthy even if your budget is tight. If you have other suggestions, please share them.

Healthy choices are the key to natural weight loss.