Is Eating Healthy Really More Expensive? Debunking the Claim

5 Reasons why you can afford to eat healthy

There is a health crisis in the USA that is being exacerbated by the food industry. Consumption of fast food and ultra-processed foods has risen to a point where it makes up the majority of many people’s diet.

There are several issues surrounding this, but a common claim as to why people don’t eat healthier is that healthy food is just too expensive. It sounds reasonable at first, but when you start looking at the data, it begins to fall apart.

This article will break down this myth not only by looking at prices, but also by examining behavior.

5 Reasons Why You Can Afford “Expensive” Healthy Food

The population currently loves to talk about how expensive healthy food is. It’s one of the primary reasons people use to explain the nation’s obesity and health epidemic,

"If only healthy food were more affordable, we would buy it! Right?"

Well, probably not.

Here’s a point that people rarely ever talk about. Our spending behavior.

The population will talk about the price of healthy food as if we don’t already overspend on our diets, let alone throw money away. 

We like to act as if we’re penny pinching at the grocery store and need to make every penny count. In reality, we don’t, and the money we waste on food could be used to support a much healthier diet.

It’s no coincidence that the first thing advisors like Dave Ramsey will tell clients is to stop eating out.

1. The Population Is Obese And Already Overspends On Junk Food

In the USA, almost 75% of the population is classified as being overweight, while 40.3% are obese.¹ That’s a lot of extra calories we’re eating.

Getting a specific number is tough, but the average American is eating an excess of 200-600 calories daily, about 10-20% of their daily caloric intake.

If the price of their groceries were all equated on a per-calorie basis, they would spend 10-20% more money than they need. This is wasting money that could be spent on healthier food.

However, we happily eat more than we need because saving money isn’t really the primary concern. Satisfaction is.

It would be like filling up your car with gas and then redlining it while you’re parked in the driveway, just eating up fuel. You then complain about the price of gas.

Check it out!  HIGH-PROTEIN MEAL PREP IDEAS (LOW CALORIE & HIGH CALORIE)

2. A Larger Person Takes More Energy Food) To Support

In general, the claim that healthy food is too expensive is largely an attempt to explain the obesity epidemic. It implies that money is keeping people from buying better food.

But here’s the problem with that. Those who are obese are spending more money on eating more calories to support their larger mass anyway. This creates circular reasoning.

• Healthy food is expensive, so we need to eat cheaper, unhealthy food.
• Unhealthy food is making us gain weight, which requires more calories to support.
• Since we need more food, we need to eat unhealthy food because healthy food is expensive.

Or, we could just eat healthier, exercise, and stay at a healthy weight, which requires less food.

For example, consider this chart that shows the difference in calories needed between a 180-pound man and a 300-pound man.

The 300lb man will have to buy an extra 600-900 calories daily! That’s an extra 2 days of food every week or 25-35% more groceries!

Using the gas analogy again, it’s like buying a massive SUV that gets 15 miles a gallon and then complaining about gas prices.

If proponents were truly worried about money, they’d encourage weight loss so the population wouldn’t need as much food.

Being a healthy weight is actually more efficient economically!

3. Household Food Waste And Poor Food Planning

Many of us are lucky enough to live in a country where we not only have too much food, but we also buy more food than we can eat and throw it away. And we throw away a lot.¹³⁴

• An American household will waste 31% of the food it purchases. 
• The average 4-person household throws out $3,000 of food a year.
• The average 4-person household throws out $1,600 of produce a year.

Ironically, the food that is wasted tends to be the “healthier” food: meat, vegetables, fruit, etc. 

This is due to the misunderstanding of labels or food actually expiring.

This tells us a few things;

• People buy healthy food but never eat it (i.e. it’s not too expensive, they just waste it)
• People likely have poor impulse control as they decide to eat something else
• We need to be better at food planning

That sucks, regardless of what food it is.

The car again…imagine going to the gas station and filling up the car. You then take the pump out and expel another couple of gallons.

Food planning is an issue that everyone has faced, so this isn’t downplaying it. However, that’s where the focus should be, as the average household is literally throwing money away.

This money could be used to eat a healthier diet.

Check it Out! 17 LOW CALORIE DINNER IDEAS FOR WEIGHT LOSS

4. Take-Out, Restaurants & Delivery

Technically, this can apply to eating healthy as well, but people love to eat out and use delivery services. Look at some of these stats first;⁴⁻⁵

• 36.6% of US Adults eat fast food on any given day (Some eat every day)
• 66% of US Adults eat fast food at least once a week
• Americans spent 44.3% of their food budget eating at home, while 55.7% was spent eating out (a record!)
• On average, adults eat out 8-12 times a month (fast food and restaurants). 
• Delivery apps are becoming increasingly popular.

Whenever you eat out, you are spending money for things that have nothing to do with the food, primarily the convenience and preparation. If money is really an issue, paying an upcharge for convenience doesn’t seem efficient.

You’re not paying for food, you’re paying for someone else to cook and bring it to you.

It’s like if you paid a taxi to drive you around.

5. Price Of Healthcare Is Astronomical 

This is a massive one and really deserves an entire essay. However, it’s a crucial topic that we need to address here.

Promoting eating healthy and losing weight is about a lot more than just money. It’s about your health – living longer, fuller lives.

However, it just so happens that living a healthier life results in significantly less money being spent on healthcare each year. Annually, obesity adds up to $173 billion to US healthcare costs.⁶⁻⁷

The CDC and NIH have conducted extensive research on comparing the health costs of individuals based on their weight.  Compared to healthy-weight people, here’s what you can expect to pay extra yearly;⁶⁻⁷

• Overweight (BMI 25–29.9): Additional ~$500 per year in healthcare spending 
• Obesity (BMI ≥30): Additional ~$1,800 per year on average ($1,400 - $3,00)

This is anywhere from 10-42% more money than what a healthy-weight individual would spend – all money coming out of your pocket.

But this is just a direct cost. There are numerous other indirect costs.⁸⁻⁹

• Lost Productivity at Work: Obese workers have more absenteeism and lower productivity at work. This amounts to $2,000–$4,000 per year per person. 
• Lower Wages & Employment Barriers: Studies show obese individuals earn 2–6% less income on average. Part of this is due to productivity and increased health issues.
• Disability & Early Retirement: Higher rates of disability claims and earlier exit from the workforce. These are years not making money.
• Premature Mortality: Indirect “lost lifetime productivity” is valued at $4,000–$9,000 per year of working-age life lost in some estimates.⁹

And we’re only going to briefly mention the loss of quality of life and enjoyment throughout the years. All of this is the real cost of unhealthy eating, and it trumps saving a few bucks at the store.

Check it out: 14 CHEAP MEAL PREP IDEAS $2-$3 A SERVING!

The Reality: Obesity And Unprocessed Food Affect All Economic Classes

The US population is currently obese while simultaneously malnourished which is driven by excessive amounts of unprocessed foods eaten. Recent studies show that ultra-processed foods account for anywhere from 50-70% of total calories consumed in a US diet.¹⁰

This large portion spreads across all economic levels, showing that price isn’t what’s holding us back from eating healthy  – we’re more than willing to waste money on our diets.

But there’s one more important factor to consider. If eating healthy were an issue of money, we would expect to see a relationship with income levels as well as obesity.

In reality, while there are many factors to consider, there is little correlation.

Remember the stat above about 36.6% of adults consuming fast food on any given day? Well, the percentage increased with family income – people with more money ate out more.

When examining income levels with rates of obesity, the only economy class in which a significant portion is a healthy weight is upper-class women making 3.5X the poverty levels. Middle and lower-income women have similar rates of obesity, and men are consistent across the entire range.

Reference

1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Estimating the Cost of Food Waste to American Consumers. April 4, 2025. https://www.epa.gov/land-research/estimating-cost-food-waste-american-consumers
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About Obesity. January 23, 2024. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/php/about/index.html
3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Preventing Wasted Food at Home. Updated June 10, 2025. Accessed August 26, 2025. https://www.epa.gov/recycle/preventing-wasted-food-home
4. Fryar CD, Hughes JP, Herrick KA, Ahluwalia, N. Fast food consumption among adults in the United States, 2013–2016. NCHS Data Brief, no 322. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2018. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30312154/
5. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Food Expenditure Series. Updated August 19, 2025. Accessed August 26, 2025. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-expenditure-series
6. Ward ZJ, Bleich SN, Long MW, Gortmaker SL (2021) Association of body mass index with health care expenditures in the United States by age and sex. PLoS ONE 16(3): e0247307. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247307 
7. Thorpe KE, Joski PJ. Estimated Reduction in Health Care Spending Associated With Weight Loss in Adults. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(12):e2449200. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.49200 
8. Dall, T.M., Sapra, T., Natale, Z. et al. Assessing the economic impact of obesity and overweight on employers: identifying opportunities to improve work force health and well-being. Nutr. Diabetes 14, 96 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41387-024-00352-9 
9. Fontaine KR, Redden DT, Wang C, Westfall AO, Allison DB. Years of Life Lost Due to Obesity. JAMA.2003;289(2):187–193. doi:10.1001/jama.289.2.187 
10. Juul F, Parekh N, Martinez-Steele E, Monteiro CA, Chang VW. Ultra-processed food consumption among US adults from 2001 to 2018. Am J Clin Nutr. 2022;115(1):211-221. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqab305