By Mary Shedden
Media General News Service

Feeling nickel-and-dimed to death at the grocery store?

Wait until you start getting hammered with hospital bills a decade from now, thanks to what’s in your shopping cart today.

A steady rise in food prices has pushed consumers to their wits’ end and changed shopping habits. Eating out has been nixed by many who say it’s too expensive. But they can’t avoid the grocery store and the sticker shock from prices that jumped 7.5 percent in the past year.

Cutting back can mean avoiding fresh produce and steering toward bulk buys of less-expensive, but higher-calorie, processed foods. Health advocates worry these kinds of choices make an overweight nation even more at risk for chronic illnesses associated with obesity, such as heart disease and stroke.

Fresh fruit and vegetable prices have increased more than items from other food groups, making them more likely to be left off a shopping list.

Processed foods, which are often high in calories and low in nutrients, are more filling and less-expensive to buy.

This is a health threat most consumers don’t have the time or money to worry about, said Carol Bryant, co-director of the Florida Prevention Research Center at the University of South Florida.

“You’ve got to get through today. You’ve got to get to two jobs. You’ve got to keep your kids happy, figure out some way to pay your bills and somehow just get through the damn day,” she said. “Thinking about the increased risk of the cost 10 years from now or 20 years from now just is going to pale to the challenges you have to solve right now.”

• Obesity’s Cost Runs In Billions

Adults considered overweight or obese need to worry about more than the cost of bigger clothes. Chronic health problems — high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and diabetes — are often the costly consequence of weight problems.

That cost is significant, according to a 2004 U.S. Department of Agriculture study. Obese people facing those five chronic diseases will pay $10,000 more in medical costs over their lifetimes than the non-obese facing the same illnesses. In fact, Harvard University researchers estimate $117 billion is spent each year in the United States on direct and indirect costs associated with obesity.

“People don’t take into account the long-term risk,” said Sean Snaith, director of the Center for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida.

It’s easy to see why.

Consumers are facing the biggest increases in prices since the 1970s. The August Consumer Price Index shows that prices for food at home are 7.5 percent higher than a year ago. When the price of a gallon of milk hit $4 this year, shoppers were appalled. Getting less attention, but just as painful, is the 32 percent jump in the price of apples, the 34 percent jump in cost of potatoes or the 41 percent jump in the price of oranges and tangerines.

Cost is the major issue consumers look at when deciding where to shop, the Food Marketing Institute’s 2008 Grocery Shopper Trends survey recently reported.

Snaith said the surge in energy prices is at the heart of rising food costs. In particular, oil prices affect the cost of transportation, and the growing popularity of corn-based ethanol and its demand for more crops increases the cost of corn-based foods.

Prices likely will continue to rise for about a year before significant changes are seen, he said.

Rita Debate, an associate professor in USF’s department of community and family health, said for families living paycheck to paycheck, finding time to plan and prepare healthy meals also is a problem that adds to the stress.

“It’s not just about the affordability,” she said.

Convenience is a priority for shoppers, who may value it almost as much as taste. But those quick-fix meal kits or ready-to-heat prepared dinners are likely to be high-carbohydrate or calorie-dense processed foods that can contribute to obesity, said Denise Edwards, director of USF’s Healthy Weight Clinic.

Her patients, regardless of age, are likely to choose an uneven balance of food types.

“I can tell you that in the morning, they are having cereal. At lunch, they are having some kind of oodles of noodles, or pasta in a can or something else. At dinner, it’s a meat and a starch and a starchy vegetable,” she said. “It’s meat and potatoes and corn.”

• Healthy Choices Come At A Price

Consumers worry about eating well, but that doesn’t translate into better buying, the national grocery survey of more than 2,000 shoppers showed. Although 41 percent of shoppers said they were “very concerned” about nutrition, 62 percent said their diets needed to be healthier.

It’s true that cost dominates decision-making, said Joy Klockow of Lakeland.

“We are probably not eating as healthy as we once did,” she said. “A couple of months ago, I was about to order sub sandwiches at Publix when I realized that with ground chuck at $1.99 a pound, with a pack of buns, that would go a lot further than the subs. That ground beef has become burgers, sloppy Joes and taco casserole.”

Nutrition consultant Barbara Roberts, said pairing thrifty shopping and better nutrition is possible.

For example: Processed food products such as macaroni and cheese and Hamburger Helper load up on sodium, additives and fats. Try plain noodles and ground beef instead, she advised.

Frozen vegetables are cheaper — and just as nutritious — as fresh, said Cynthia Hardy, the health department’s assistant community health nursing director.

“A lot of people don’t think they have choices, but they do,” she said.

Americans also tend to overeat, Hardy said. The government’s daily recommended meat and beans allotment for men and women is 6 ounces and 5 ounces, respectively. That’s smaller than some of the smallest steakhouse filets.

Bryant said any food-buying strategy that tries to address cost, nutrition and convenience isn’t going to be easy. But neither are the possible chronic health problems down the road. It’s a difficult question that everyone must address each time they head to the grocery store, she said.

“Where does the investment in long-term health become a priority in your life?”