Food, Again?

So this topic is re-occurring and I'm not sure if it is because it is such a large part of my life or because I now pay attention to it way more than I used to!
Before I moved out on my own I had no idea how much anything cost in the grocery store. I didn't know what the average price was, and I certainly didn't know what a 'good' price was for any of the essential fruits and vegetables. Once I moved out and started to buy my own groceries I realized a few things very quickly: 1) I should have lived at home for longer because there food was free unless I wanted junk food which was a total of $10 a week if that. 2) Food spoils quickly, you cannot stock up for more than one week on fruits and vegetables. 3) Fruits and vegetables cost a lot more and are a lot less filling then buying junk food. It is this last point I would like to concentrate on.
This week I was at one of our kosher supermarkets in town. It is quite extensive and the biggest in the city where I reside. I noticed that the fruits and vegetables were definitely marked up a little more than what I just spent in the produce store down the street. I also noticed that there are so many aisles of already prepared food. What caught my attention, while not realizing this earlier, were the number of aisle dedicated to strictly junk food. What I mean by junk food: potato chips, candies, chocolates and the sub categories of each. There were 4 complete aisles in two separate parts of the store dedicated to these items. That is 4 aisles, both sides of the aisle. Then another aisle, both sides dedicated to pop and juices. Then I started to think of the recent articles that I've read about obesity and the crisis that America is in. It doesn't surprise me that this country is in a crisis. HOW could it now be? When you have more processed food available for purchase, when there is so much junk food, appealing to anyone and everyone, from chocolate to caramel and everything in the middle, how can anyone resist the temptation to buy and eat something that just looks so appealing! With these foods containing so many negative additives that do not break down easily in our bodies, that work against our bodies digestive systems how can Americans be thin?
The temptation to buy unhealthy food is too great to resist for a few different reasons: it tastes good, it's cheaper than anything healthy and there is no preparation time involved. If eaten enough of it, a person can definitely get full on junk food. So what is better - buying something that costs more and is less filling or buying something cheap and filling? Really the option there is an obvious one...right? WRONG? In the long run eating healthy will be beneficial to the individual. Spending less on doctors visits, spending less on dentist visits and overall feeling better. In the short run, it costs more and is more time consuming.
In North America it seems that people are more focused in getting more for you buck and spending as little time as possible doing things that they do not like to do. So, for a lot of people it is much better to eat out, or eat unhealthy foods because there is no prep time involved an no cleaning. Even when we think of Shabbat and all the good that it is, we have to take into the fact of how much food there is on this holy day. We're eating late and eating mass amounts of bread and, of course, there is dessert - it's a shabbat treat! What if we ate healthy on Shabbat too? What if instead of a whole dessert we would eat half of a dessert? Would this behaviour kill us? NO, this behaviour would give us the strength to be healthy. This behaviour would give us the strength to get up early in the morning and go to shul on time for shabbat services. These good eating habits give us the strength to stay up on shabbat day and learn rather than get so full that a nap is a necessity rather than to learn and fill our hearts and souls with Torah and Knowledge.
In conclusion: eating healthy is just a start. It is a start to become healthy not only in body but also in mind and spirit. Fight the urge and evilness of eating junk food. Your body is your domain, don't let it be invaded by something that costs $0.99!