Veg Diet Myth of the Day:

I can't afford it.

 

BUSTED. When $1.99 fast-food "value meals" call out to us from every billboard, television ad, and highway off-ramp, our perception of what "affordable" really means becomes skewed. Remember that those calories are long on fat, sugar, and sodium, but short on the nutrients that fuel a healthy body. What you get at a discount now you could end up paying for later in medical bills. "In the US, over 85 percent of calories come from processed foods and animal products combined," says family physician Joel Fuhrman, MD, author of Eat to Live. "With such a low intake of micronutrient-rich plant foods, inflammation, free-radical excitation, and immune system dysfunction permit disease and accelerate aging." For fresh, affordable produce, visit your local farmers' market or join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program, and stock up on canned beans, whole-wheat bread and pastas, and nutrient-dense brown rice and quinoa.