What foods make you shudder? What foods make you say "More, please!"? You can learn a lot about the state of a person's health by their answer to these questions. Is "good" food "bad" tasting? Some people would, reluctantly perhaps, say "yes" to this.

Good food: Cod liver oil
Good TASTING food: Farm-raised Cod deep fried in hydrogenated oil

Good food:  Raw, organic broccoli
Good TASTING food: raw broccoli dipped in commercially-promoted ranch dressing

Good food: Raw, organic red cabbage
Good TASTING food: Cabbage cole slaw with mayonnaise and sugar

You get my point, I'm sure. Some of the best tasting foods are the worst for you. Sadly, some of the absolute best foods for you, at least in the opinions of some people, taste the worst.

Below are the results from a recent survey I found online:

1. 4 out of 10 shoppers believe that healthy food does not taste good. The numbers are worse for fast food aficionados.
2. Over 75% of shoppers believe that healthy food is expensive.
3. 80% would like to see more coupons for healthy foods. (Unfortunately most coupons are for the most heavily processed products like sugar cereals, soft drinks…)
4. Over one third of shoppers said it was hard to shop for healthy meals.
5. Over one third said it was hard to prepare a healthy meal. For families with kids the number shot up to 50%.

What you need to know:
Manufacturers would like you to think that if you want to eat healthfully you’ll need to pay more. While this is certainly true for many prepared products, if you do your own cooking you can actually save money by resorting to a few simple tactics. For example:

• Buy bulk – single ingredients such as brown rice, beans, whole grains are much cheaper than when packaged in boxes or as part of a “mix”.
• Cut your own veggies – Why pay 3 times as much for a bag of cut leafy greens when you can do the same in 5 minutes?
• Replace soft drinks with water, not expensive vitamin waters.
• Instead of buying expensive single serve frozen meals, why not learn to cook your own meal on the weekend and freeze leftovers for the upcoming week?
• Coupons for junk food will cost you more down the road – cheaper not to use them and not to buy the junky foods they lead you to consume.

Ever hear the phrases "The taste grows on you", or "It's an acquired taste", or "You'll learn to like it."? These can be very true. Good, healthy nutrition may be a foreign concept in your home. Make the change, for goodness sake, and watch your body respond. Are you willing to put up with protests from the kids, or your spouse, if you know replacing unhealthy choices with healthy ones will make a huge impact on their future? So much is within our power to control, if we will be willing to eat what we think doesn't taste good, until it does taste good - which is a great indicator that your body is reaching a more healthy state.

If you're short on time and also want to save money, consider replacing at least one meal a day withpowerfully nutritious foods that are live when you prepare them, and create no waste. One of the most expensive habits we have is to purchase fresh produce, only to cart it out to the recycle bin or compost pile, later. What if these foods don't taste utterly and completely delicious to you immediately? Only you can decide if the health benefits outweigh the adjustment your body will have to make from inferior food to super food. For me, it was well worth it. The money savings is a nice side-benefit.