Can You Afford To Eat Healthy?

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – A report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization earlier this year revealed what many of us suspected – The Bahamas’ cost of a healthy diet is nearly five percent higher than the regional average.

Group Corporate Wellness Manager for CG Atlantic and Zest Wellness and certified Nutritionist Donovan Ingraham tells us it’s also contributing to food insecurity.

“The Bahamas imports almost 80–90 percent of its food as well, so that puts us in a position [that] causes insecurity when it comes to food,” he said.

However, how does it drive up the cost of healthy food?

“[Think] of those fruits and vegetables grown in California or in Canada, the amount of time it takes to get here to The Bahamas in terms of transportation whether by air, by boat, by freight, in cars or in trucks…that takes time, that takes fuel and that hikes up the cost by the time it gets here into the country…”

“It poses another question when we import those foods, what nutrients are left in those foods for us to actually absorb?,” Ingraham said.

Ingraham says this simple cooperative action can flourish into a sustainable solution for this national issue.

“One of the big things that we can do as a country is to create more food markets, create food growing programs, something that CG Atlantic favours itself on, creating farms and getting communities involved, [and] creating farmers markets within communities,” he said.