Can't Get The Right Daily Nutrition? Here's How!

Interviewer: When it comes to starting or trying to maintain a proper diet, so many people have problems sticking with that or turning toward a proper diet, cost is a big part of it. What do you say to that? It's so easy to buy cheap food, fast food, the processed food, a lot of that cheap. Is that one of the big problems?

Helayne Waldman: You know, I don't think the problem is cost. I think the problem is access because truly if you look at the cost of buying a package of food versus buying a couple of oranges at the farmer's market, you're going to do better buying a few pieces of fruit at the farmer's market financially, and, of course, your body is going to do better, as well. So I think that's really a false objection. I think, though, the real problem is that there are people who don't have access to farmer's markets and in their neighborhoods there are only 7-Elevens and they may not have cars and they may not be able to get out of their neighborhoods very easily and I think that's a real serious problem and I don't have an answer to it. So I think access is really a problem that needs to be looked at and addressed in a much more comprehensive way. But I do think that when people say, "I can't afford to buy healthy or fruits and vegetables." I say, "Go to your farmer's market and compare the price of a couple of apples to a package of whatever your favorite snack is, you know, Doritos, and I think you'll find the Doritos are more expensive.

Interviewer: What about time. People say I don't have time to get my X amount of servings of vegetables or fruits in each day.

Helayne Waldman: Smoothies.

Interviewer: Okay.

Helayne Waldman: Smoothies. Take smoothies and you make soups. You get a blender. A Vitamix is wonderful, but can do very, very well with $59 blenders, as well and you take some, whatever you want for a base, you take a little bit of yogurt and you put in whatever's fresh, you put in some cantaloupe, you put in some berries, you put in a little bit watermelon, maybe you put in a banana if you have one, half an avocado, a smoothie will take as many things, a blender will accept as many things as you want to put in it. I take a little green tea extract, I add that. I take a little a green powder, I add that. I have some pomegranate concentrate I get at my local grocery store. You can add that. You can ten servings of fruits and veggies. I go out... I grow some herbs on my deck in just little box, don't take up a lot of space, I go and I get some parsley and take a handful of parsley, I throw it in. That's how I get my fruits and vegetables because otherwise it would be really hard.

Interviewer: Sure.

Helayne Waldman: I just throw them in the blender.