Health and wealth

According to an old saying, health is wealth. Like not a few tropes of vintage provenance it has more than an element of truth in it. Bunny and I often go to a small neighbourhood coffee shop which serves some of the best cappuccino we’ve ever had. While I have regular coffee, Bunny, being allergic to caffeine, has the decaffeinated variety, which costs double that of mine. Even if you’re not allergic to it, too much caffeine can be bad for you, so many people are switching to decaffeinated coffees and teas, even though these more often than not cost considerably more than their regular counterparts. For health reasons Bunny and I try to avoid gluten-containing wheat products, like bread and pizza bases, even though neither of us has celiac disease, which means being pathologically allergic to gluten. Health capsules in popular media often commend gluten-free foods, as these are deemed generally to be healthier than their gluten-unliberated products. Great, so let’s all go gluten-free. Except that gluten-free foods – breads, kulchas, burger buns – can cost twice or three times as much as their standard equivalents. Similarly, so-called organic produce – like fruits, veggies and cereals which supposedly have been grown without the use of insecticides or chemical fertilisers – is billed as being good for your health even as the bill presented for its purchase can be less than good for your household hisaab. There was a time not so long ago when processed, or refined, items – sugar, wheat, rice, daals – were popularly preferred to unrefined items and were costlier, because of the extra expense involved in refining them. Now we’ve come a dietary full circle and many unrefined or less-refined items, such as edible oils, are promoted for reasons of health and are commensurately more costly than refined versions. The same is true of things which have had things taken out of them instead of having things added to them, like decaf coffee, or gluten-free bread. A subtraction has become an addition to cost, a minus in product turned into a plus in payment. So, health is good for wealth. Your health is good for the sellers’ wealth. Like satire? Here are some articles you might like to read: When you are awake and somebody asks, are you woke? Why men will always be barber-ians :)