America: land of the brave and home of the free. Free. One of my favorite words. Yes, equality and rights to freedom are excellent, but what I really enjoy are free giveaways.

Today Starbucks is holding free pastry day – anyone who comes in with a coupon, easily printed off the Internet, and orders a beverage will receive one free pastry of choice. It was the perfect way to start off my morning. I ordered the necessary soy latte and got a complimentary butter croissant on the side.

But after finishing my delicious breakfast, I’ve been reconsidering my pastry choice. Was it the healthiest? Maybe I should have picked a whole grain roll. Would it have made a difference?

Growing up, my family never had a ton of money for food. Cheap food, or the food that was given to us by various benefactors, never seemed to hold significant nutritional value. In fact, most food we could afford was heavy in preservatives and corn syrup. This resulted in a Sarah that never seemed to lose her “baby fat.” Or at least that’s what my mom told me it was. Now, a college student working to put the food on my own table, I see how the economy shapes my eating decisions, and I still feel stuck in the mindset of cheap reigns over healthy.

It’s no wonder the obesity rate in America seems to climb higher every year. Sure, many people have problems with overeating, but I think much of this stems from a declining economy. When you don’t know when your next meal will be, you’ll make the best of what you have in front of you at the moment – the poor person’s diet. It’s easy to simply say, “make healthy choices.” What’s difficult is habitually choosing the whole grains over the butter croissant. Old habits die hard, but in the end health is more important than the number of Ben Franklins in our wallets.

It will take time for America to break these habits, to learn to buy less of something healthy instead of more of the succulent, starchy sale foods. But we can do it, one fresh piece of produce at a time.