The cost of being cheap!
I’m not one hundred percent sure of my heritage but I wouldn’t be surprised if I was Scottish. Why you may ask? Well I’m tight, yep I hate spending money. When my wallet opens my mind calculator turns on and develops complicated formulas, the kind of formulas Einstein would be proud of. My mind is constantly telling me to spend as little as possible. Surprisingly, many times this Scottish math’s machine has caused me to make bad buying decisions. For example, there was the shovel that broke off the handle on its first dig, clothes I bought that were too small and make me look like some bad eighties crop top wearing pop star and lets not even go into budget coffee!
But there is one area in particular where being frugal can be a big problem, junk food. I know it may seem shocking that a fitness professional would even consider allowing these tasty, mouthwatering treats past my lips but it’s true, I do like a bit junk food. When I go to the shop I’m presented with amazing deals that promote an unhealthy amount of junk food. For example I can get a king size chocolate bar cheaper than the price of a chunk size bar, which is only a quarter the size of its bigger companion. In this moment, my mind tells me that the choice is obvious, it’s a better deal to get the king size bar and spread it out over a couple nights. The only problem is, I don’t have that much control and that it’s highly likely that will I end up eating the whole king size bar in one night!
What I have learnt over the years is that the healthiest way to buy junk food is in the smallest sizes, even if it cost a little more. When you look at the numbers you can see that the cost of being cheap with my wallet actually cost me a lot in my energy intake. A king size fruit and nut chocolate bar has around 1000 calories while a chunk only has around 250. When you consider that a lot of people will add a large bag of chips and some high energy fizzy drink to this combination you can see that the cost to your health can be massive.
If you are going to have junk food, make sure you make the choice that lets you enjoy these foods but not at a high health cost. Even if the dollar cost doesn’t add up, the health cost does.