Post 3: "Real" vs. "fake" food

As a child, my mom always told me I needed to eat more fruit. She constantly made sure I was having an adequate amount of fruit on my plate every meal. It was easy consuming this "real" fruit growing up because my parents paid for it, I had it prepared for me, and I was almost forced to eat it. Now, being a college student, my eating habits have definitely changed due to three main factors: cost, convenience, and lack of time.

As a college student, I find myself being forced to consume "fake" food. "Real" food costs a good amount more than "fake" good, and living on a college budget, I try saving my money by purchasing processed foods that are lower in cost. Living in the dorms, finding a grocery store to buy fresh "real" fruit is very inconvenient to me especially because for the past four and a half months I have been getting around on crutches. I also find myself short on time, and even to attempt to make it to a grocery store would be a struggle because I am an athlete and it is already hard balancing school and practice every day. For these three reasons, I have gone from eating fresh fruit to eating "fake" foods like pop tarts.

Pop tarts are said to contain real fruit. This fact is somewhat true, but not really. Pop tarts only contain about ten percent fruit. An article from the Washington Post titled, "Is That Right? Pop-Tarts are Made with Real Fruit?" explains why many individuals are mislead as to pop tarts containing a filling made up of "real" fruit. I agree with the content in this article mainly because I was one of those individuals who were mislead, and once I found out just what ingredients pop tarts contained, I wanted to cut back on my intake. Pop tarts look almost like a pastry, which is very pleasing to the eye. They taste much more sugary than regular fresh fruits and smell sweeter as well. I really enjoy eating pop tarts, but wouldn't choose to eat them on a daily basis anymore considering how bad they really are. This "fake" food doesn't provide you with the essential vitamins and nutrients that "real" fresh fruit contain and is not equivalent to eating real fruit. Pop tarts used to claim to be made with real fruit, but no longer go by this motto because of the false information it gave off.

After I am done with college and can afford to buy "real" food again, I will definitely be switching back to buying more fresh fruit. "Real" fruit is one hundred times better for you and is more refreshing than eating a pastry-like pop tart. When I am financially stable, living on my own, and have more time on my hands, I know for a fact I will return to eating the "real" version of fruit.