Recipe Mayhem

Is cost the real reason many people find it so hard to eat healthy? Quite possibly. A study by researchers at the University of Washington found that to increase certain nutrients lacking in the average American diet to meet current dietary guidelines, would add around $500, or more than 10 percent, to the average American adult's food bill. Adding sufficient potassium alone would cost $380 a year. This seems odd because potassium is available in a variety of relatively inexpensive foods, most notably in bananas and potatoes, but also in nuts and dried fruits.

Conversely, adding sugary or fatty foods reduced food costs. For every 1 percent increase in calories from sugar, food costs fell 7 percent, and for every 1 percent increase in calories from saturated fat, food costs fell a staggering 28 percent.

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