The Cost of Living an Organic Lifestyle

In Hjelmar’s article, a variety of consumers in Denmark were studied to determine the reasons behind why shoppers choose to buy organic or inorganic foods. From analyzing the data from the study, two factors were highlighted: convenience behaviors and reflexive practices. When I am shopping for food, I also consider both of these factors, so they seem like reasonable categories to address. People want to have the convenience of finding all the food they want to buy in the same store, and generally, most of us desire to eat healthily and take care of our bodies. So why don’t we?

The article by Keebaugh, et al. raises a quite valid point: buying organic food is pricy. This is very true, and although the subjects of their study were university students, many people from other demographics have the same issue. There really is no doubt about it; if someone is tight on cash or trying to save money, they aren’t going to spend a lot of money buying organic food. Most people will take the cheaper route when buying food, because even the semi-healthy food isn’t cheap to begin with. Personally, I would love to be on an all-organic food diet, eating as healthily as I can to have a greater lifestyle, but that’s not a possibility. Organic food is much too expensive for the people of most socioeconomic statuses to buy all the time.

It seems now as if the biggest obstacles between our current lifestyles and eating healthily and organically are convenience, reflexive practices, and cost. Hjelmar’s solution to this problem makes perfect sense to me. In their article, it said that the government “…needs to actively implement reforms and promote activities which make organic products a convenient choice…” I personally think the government should take an active role in this. Obesity and cardiovascular disease are growing problems in the world. Making healthy organic foods cheaper and more accessible for the average person won’t necessarily fix obesity, but it will definitely give people fewer excuses not to live a healthy lifestyle.