The amount of highly processed carbohydrates is frightening and far from "healthy"[1]. It's unfortunate, but to eat healthy costs more, because healthy food spoils.
I look at it like this: if a food doesn't spoil[2], it is most likely because bacteria and fungus can get no nutritional value from it. Do I want to eat that?
it is most likely because bacteria and fungus can get no nutritional value from it.
Here are two other reasons bacteria might not be able to eat something you can eat:
1. They can't stand the chemical environment -- pH, poisons, salinity. You're just eating it, and can compensate for a lot; they have to live in it! Examples: Honey, garlic, onions, hard liquor, vinegar, salted butter.
2. It's too dry; you can drink extra water, but they need it to come from the environment they live in. Examples: Any dry food, really, but stale bread and dried meat are good examples.
. . . and cheating a bit, here's one more:
3. The food could spoil, but is in an otherwise inhospitable environment -- too cold, too hot, no oxygen, already sterile/sealed. Examples: Frozen food, food in the slow cooker, canned food.
None of those have much to do with nutrition! You're just a more robust organism than bacteria, is all.
Even "poisons" in the first one is misleading -- a lot of what the microbial world sees as poison, you and I see as tasty. :)
The higher cost of healthy food may have something to do with the shelf life, but I think subsidies have a lot to do with swaying consumer choice. It's deadly especially when coupled with the fact that obesity is a slow and gradual change that can go unnoticed for years.
I look at it like this: if a food doesn't spoil[2], it is most likely because bacteria and fungus can get no nutritional value from it. Do I want to eat that?
1. http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Controversial-Scienc...
2. There are some exceptions, of course, but surprisingly few.