15 Foods You Should Never Buy

This is an interesting read, though if you're eating clean, you probably wouldn't buy any of these things anyway. My husband generally eats the Yoplait yogurts, though he'll settle for just about any yogurt that is on sale.

The one beef I have with this list is the suggested alternatives. Those that are suggested certainly are healthier, but they are also far more expensive. Take the yogurts, for instance. When my husband and I buy our yogurt, he spends about .50 to .60 per carton. Mine never drop under a dollar. Over the course of a month or even a week, the math really adds up. I usually go without yogurt, in fact, because the price is so high. I have no idea what the cost of uncrustables is, because I would never ever buy a premade PB&J - no matter how lazy I feel I can always slap some peanut butter and jelly on a slice of bread - but Rodale suggests organic peanut butter and jelly on spelt bread in its place. In our family, we only purchase whole wheat bread for my husband and the kids and sprouted wheat bread for me. The price difference between my bread and theirs is about two dollars - and an entire family can go through a couple of loaves a week if they're eating sandwiches for lunch every day. 

Another issue is the time factor. The list says that instead of eating the pre-made bagel, one should use locally produced eggs. The unfortunate fact is, most families don't have time to cook breakfast in the mornings. I am a stay-at-home mom and I do all of my work from the comfort of my own sofa. I wake up no later than 5AM every morning and I still don't have time to stand in front of the stove cooking eggs. I can't imagine that households with two working parents could still take the time to cook breakfast each day.

Instead of a list like this, I would suggest something not entirely different but far more accessible to people who don't have time and money to burn. The two biggest reasons people don't eat as healthy as they could is because junky food is cheap and fast. Sometimes, busy moms and dads need fast, and almost always, they need cheap. So instead of telling me to whip up some locally produced, organic eggs in the morning while I'm frantically packing (healthy) lunches, cleaning the kitchen, plotting my next assignment, running a load of laundry, yelling for my son to get dressed, and either holding a baby in one arm or listening to her scream, why not give me a different option? I know that I don't make the best choices in the morning, but I do what I can with the limited amount of time I have. A truly helpful resource would guide me into making realistic choices, not make me scoff at both the "bad" product and the "good" alternative.