Why can't people afford a healthy dinner?

I was at the grocer yesterday. Just picked up a few items. Our grocery shopping style is typically quick visits throughout the week over one major trip per week. I'm a big fan of red peppers. Green peppers aren't bad--it's just that red peppers are so sweet and delicious! I was completely shocked when I went to select a few of the red ones from the produce section. The price listed below the peppers? $4.99 per pound! Really? How is that possible? I quickly looked around, expecting to find myself in the organics section or something. Nope. This was the "standard" produce. At those prices how can people afford to incorporate fresh vegetables into their meals? How can they afford to put a priority on fresh produce if they cannot pay to get it on their tables?

While at this same store I overheard two elderly women discussing what they had in their carts. The first woman pointed at a head of iceberg lettuce and several tv dinners in her cart. The other woman complained about the high price of heads of iceberg lettuce. Something like $1.25 a head. They seemed pretty shocked at the sticker price. What they had in their carts did not reflect healthy eating by any means. It looked that they are eating what they could afford--regardless of its nutritious value. Will these food choices keep them strong and healthy into their years ahead? I think not.

Limited access to fresh and affordable produce will have its consequences. Our bodies will not be fully nourished and will become increasingly vulnerable to sickness. Food that is cheap is usually unhealthy. Frozen pizzas, chips, soda, and other such things will put on the pounds. This extra weight can lead to a whole slew of health issues down the road. With the state of our economy and where people stand with money, they're forced to make food choices that weaken them as people. Food decisions are made in the present--but the consequences reach far into the future, unseen now. It's no wonder we have an obesity crisis in this country. People can't afford to make healthy decisions.

For one week a few folks in Congress tried to live like a lot of Americans live. They had to make all food purchases on the average food stamp allotment ($21 per week). Sound tough? Read the article here. Details of what they ate and reflections on the experience are on a blog tracking the challenge here. Could you meet all of your food needs for a week with $21? What would that be like?

Keep your eye on this when at the grocery store. Imagine shopping with a paycheck half of what you get now. Imagine shopping to feed four or five kids. Imagine trying to buy food for healthy meals if you worked for $7 per hour. People all over the country live this daily--it's real and it's hard.

'Roid rage' made me do it

Three people were found dead in a entertainment wrestler's home earlier this week. Chris Benoit killed his son and killed his wife before killing himself. As soon as the media reported it was a murder-suicide I knew that it was yet another case of some male killing people he once loved and valued. It wasn't that all three were murdered by a home intruder or something. Once you're on the look out for such cases of murder-suicide in families, you see a small flood of them reported in the media.

Why did he do this? What exactly happened in that house? We'll never know--Chris Benoit is dead too. There's no way to try this case in court and the state can't hold him in prison for life. Does that mean the story is over? Not at all! This situation can be used to bring awareness to issues around domestic abuse and crimes committed against women and families. Chris Benoit was well known in a specific community--that's a target audience who could learn from this situation, along with everyone else.

It's completely unacceptable that it's being called a 'roid rage' driven act. (Roid rage being something brought on by steroid use.) Focusing on 'roid rage' takes away from the unimaginable act that was committed by Chris Benoit--the real issue. It takes the spotlight off what he did and attempts to paint his actions as understandable and perhaps acceptable considering the circumstances. He killed his wife and his son! His crimes cannot be dismissed--although he too is dead his image needs to be held accountable for what he did to his son and wife--he cannot become a mourned figure.

I get "coffee headaches" if I don't get a cup of brew first thing in the morning. Does that mean I can run out and punch old ladies and tip over flower pots and run kids over with my bike? NO! I'd like to see myself trying to explain my actions by pointing a finger at "coffee headaches"--it wouldn't fly! Yeah, I know, completely different but it's just as ridiculous.

The Benoit situation is getting (now waning) major attention. I hope this serves as an opportunity to bring conversation and education around domestic violence issues. He may have been on steroids, he may have had 'roid rage,' but he murdered two people who trusted him. That's completely unacceptable and horrific. It needs to stop!