Despite popular belief, eating healthy doesn’t necessarily mean having to pay more.

“You can eat really healthy without paying a lot,” said associate nutrition professor Judith Lukaszuk. “By cutting down on less nutritious foods such as chips, candy and soda pop, you will have more money to buy fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables.”

If someone is paying more for healthy foods, the nutrition in the foods might be worth the cost.

“When you eat already prepared food, you will always pay more or lose out on nutrition,” said Martha O’Gorman, instructor and nutrition counselor at NIU. “This is true whether you are stopping at a fast food restaurant or fine dining.”

The most noticeably higher costs of eating healthy come when one chooses to eat organically.

“It costs more to buy organically grown produce and grains, because right now it costs more to grow them, deal with additional regulations and to deliver produce to the market,” O’Gorman said. “Growers have to meet set regulations directed by the USDA, including limiting pesticides and herbicides,” she said, adding that there is an initial cost for certification to verify that they are following rigid standards.

It is also thought that organic foods appear to cost more, because conventionally grown food is priced too cheap.

“The biggest factor contributing to the cost variance between conventional and organic production may be that conventional production is priced too cheaply,” said Peggy James, general manager at Duck Soup Coop, 129 E. Hillcrest Drive. “The bottom line incomes of many conventional producers are artificially propped up by government subsidy.”

Regardless, many say eating organically and healthy is worth the cost.

“Benefits of organic production include improving environmental health, from building the soils and lessening or eliminating chemical inputs, to fostering natural habitats and promoting biodiversity,” James said. “We need to consider the true value of the food we buy and be willing to pay a true price for the food that we purchase, a price that reflects the real cost of growing nutritious food in a sustainable way.”