Buy now, pay later

THE EDITOR, Madam:

To eat, or not to eat, that is the question – whether it is more affordable in the pocket to eat the healthier foods and vegetables grown by local farmers or, to follow your heart and appetite for junk food, and in doing so, pays bitterly.

News are, that the fast-food industry is expanding in Jamaica thus providing more jobs and economic options for locals as people become more oriented to the convenience of cheaper meals at their fingertips. But, words from health experts and economists alike is that the ‘crispy goodness’ is not always nicer or cheaper in the long run. Health professionals and economists are offering reasons why food on the go is deleterious to human health and the economy at the same time . For instance, some doctors are positing that in a few years down the road those ‘delicious’ fries and additives that sweet you today will sour you tomorrow in the form of diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks and even accelerated ageing for those who wants to ear their cake and have it.

Economists predict that the apparent jobs and lucrative benefits that the fast-food industry is creating is self-destructive and unsustainable – much like a cow giving a pail of milk and kicking it over or, like a tobacco company becoming so successful that hardly anyone is left alive to support it

Further, buying fast and cheap is likely to increase insurance premiums as insurance companies respond to a more unhealthy population. Thus, the money that is saved by eating at fast-food joints is paid back by hundred times in dealing with health issues, and paying high insurance costs. However, healthy eating will never be popular with most people whether it is affordable or not. The philosophy for many is lets eat and drink and make merry today, for tomorrow we shall die – for happiness has no known schedule.

Only thing is that tomorrow may be a long way off and so is the process of dying, which will be painful and expensive. So, whether it is more delicious in thoughts to stop and bite and taste later, or pass, and avoid the consequences, the freedom is up to each who chooses to eat.

HOMER SYLVESTER

Jacksonville, Florida