Eating healthy is something that most of us have tried to do at some point during this summer. Cutting out all of the so called “goodies” that comfort us through the tough times and  make our stomach feel extremely full can lead to a healthier lifestyle overall. However, what happens when eating healthy can eat up your pockets?

Organic foods have a a slightly higher price tag than the foods and beverages that are no good for our bodies. No one said walking the righteous food path would be cheap.  A report from the Journal of Health Affairs says the new U.S. nutritional guidelines, now referred to as “My Plate” as opposed to everyone’s favorite food pyramid of yesteryear, would require Americans to dish out hundreds more dollars than they are already spending for food right now. According to MSNBC, the new guidelines called for Americans to try eating things with more potassium, dietary fiber, calcium and Vitamin D.

Pablo Monsiviais says the new guidelines will be extremely hard to meet. In an interview with MSNBC, Monsiviais said because the foods recommended cost so much more, the guidelines are a bit unreasonable for people:

“If you were to guide people toward the most affordable sources of potassium, you could do it more cheaply.”

Monsiviais says individuals would have to spend an extra $1.04 a day to get the foods recommended, racking up a healthy eating bill of $380 a year per person. Now not only do we have to worry about rising taxes and the decrease of the value of a dollar, healthy food options are luxury items with a price tag to match a monthly car note.

I’m all for eating healthy and making smart choices at the market, but sometimes it’s so much cheaper to straddle the line between healthy and wealthy.