Pay for it now or later

Every time I go to the grocery store I'm painfully reminded at the cash register how expensive eating healthy can be.  There aren't many coupons for produce, organic or non-GMO products.  Then factor in non-toxic personal care and household cleaning products and the dollar signs just keep adding up.

On the other hand, equally expensive are rising medical insurance, doctor visits and medication costs.  We have what is considered pretty good medical insurance with a reputable company through a medium to large employer, however, our monthly contribution is extremely costly and co-pays to specialists (all my doctors are "specialists") are $60 a visit.  Most medications are reasonable but a few of mine are new and without generic substitutes so they can get pretty pricey.  It's bad enough to have CRPS/RSD, I sure don't want to develop any other health issues!

But my CRPS/RSD aside, I am trying to eat healthy and use safer products in an effort to avoid more medical complications down the road.  As I've said before, yes we're all going to die of something but it's the quality of life as I age that I'm worried about.  Heart disease, diabetes, dementia to name a few, run in my family.  My diabetic grandfather was only 68 when he died of a heart attack, an uncle only 66 when lung cancer took him and my grandmother wasn't in her right mind for awhile before she died.

Then sometimes I wonder if it's worth it.  There are so many outside environmental factors we can't control, why am I wasting money on organic apples?  Then I taste one or an organic carrot or grapes and I can taste a difference!  Then I realize with every purchase we cast our vote.  Do we want a world of nothing but frozen pizzas?  If so, then let's load up our grocery carts and cast our vote for processed, artery-clogging food.  Or do we want to preserve a world where small-time farmers still exist, still bring their goods to local farmer's markets and local grocery stores?  I want small-time farmers to be around for future generations.  We need to take a stand!  I was pleased to read on Facebook that a new Kroger near my hometown has a lot of organic products.  We need to vote at the cash register and talk to Produce and Store Managers about stocking quality items.

And I also want to cast my vote for companies that spend research time and money to make safe products, instead of seeing how much cheaper and faster they can produce things without caring what affect it has on consumers or the environment.

Yes, these things cost more money but I like to think what we save in the long run is priceless.