Frozen Food or Frisée For Dinner: What Would You Buy If $4 Was All You Could Afford?

What was once considered a vain preoccupation, the quest to drop 5 (or 50) pounds has swept America in a call-to-arms, complete with militant nutritionists who bark out commands to "put down that cookie dough and pick up a carrot!" and refuse to acknowledge the financial burden of maintaining a healthy diet. As a nation we have never fought so hard to lose, but we rarely question why so many of our ranks have fallen.

A new study sheds light on the high cost of the battle and proves that loosing a few inches around the waist is much harder when you have to tighten your belt. Adam Drewnowski, Director of the University of Washington's Center for Public Health and Nutrition and advocate-extraordinaire for struggling single moms everywhere, recently conducted a study in Seattle which reveals a 20 percent increase in the cost of healthy food between 2004 and 2006; over and above the 5 percent overall increase of food. Simultaneously the cost of junk food dropped.

Drewnowski argues that the relationship between poverty and obesity is causal, after having found in another study that the major mechanism behind this link is the inverse relationship between energy-density (MJ/kg) and energy-cost (US dollars/MJ) of food. The premise is simple, confirming what any struggling college student will tell you in line at the university food court: two slices of pizza for $2.50 will go further than an $8.00 salad.

While there is no question that everyday life in America is a minefield littered with pressures to eat poorly, the lower socio-economic class as a subgroup stands out as a nutritional black hole. Fast-food restaurants are concentrated in poorer neighborhoods and ads continually remind residents that they can "Feed the Family for Under $4 Each" at KFC. The USDA's Healthy Eating Index, which measures the nutritional quality of an individual's overall diet, produces consistently high scores for wealthy and low scores for poor individuals. As a quantifying example, 10% of high-earning adults eat 3 or more servings of whole grain products per day and fulfill their fruit and vegetable requirements while only 5% of low-earning adults do so."

Drewnowski and other nutritionists claim that obesity in the US is a socioeconomic burden born by those living in low-income communities where a "toxic nutritional environment" (a phrase coined by Marion Nestle) is created and re-created. "It's not a question of being sensible or silly when it comes to food choices," he says. "It is the opposite of choice. People are not poor by choice, and they become obese primarily because they are poor."

Therefore, as a former struggling college student (hell, as a struggling college graduate) I have this to say to those tiny, annoying Pomeranians who bark and growl from the nutrition columns and early morning news shows--bite me.

Comments

[shano]

There has been a solution to this problem that started in the '60's with food co-ops.

http://www.coopdirectory.org/index.htm

Even if people are overworked, membership in, or starting a food coop can help thousands of American consumers and farmers, who are always the losers in this food system.

While it will be nice if the government improves the farm bill, this is something you can do NOW. Why blame the poor? People everywhere can take some action themselves and stop participating in this terrible corporate food rip-off.

With the power of a buying group, people can reclaim their health. Look what Alice Waters has done with the school lunch program in California. Look at the sucess of urban co-op garden plots and how this has changed lives.
What is it with this type of learned helplessness, people can help each other while helping themselves.

[rlehman]

I feed 11 people per week on 125 dollars. Milk costs just under $4 a gallon, we drink 7 per week. Fresh veggies to make two salads (with dark greens instead of iceburg) costs about $20. Animal protein about once a week costs about $12. This week $20 went to sundries: Toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, laundry detergent, pain reliever and lightbulbs. That leaves a whopping $45 to finish feeding us. A few canned veggies and two ten pound bags of potatoes came home with me. Not the healthiest diet but for the life of me I can't come up with better. I read and use cookbooks for fun and have been reading and studying nutrition and nutritional trends for a good thirty years now. I do a fair job with what is available to me.

Yet I read all these comments about how healthily people have managed to eat on next to no money and hear once again the notion that those of us who struggle with the finances it takes to keep a family healthy are at fault.
The money isn't available to fill us up in a truly healthy way. We are lucky to have parks and sidewalks so exercise can help mitigate the way we eat. We are within walking distance of a grocery store which makes the cost just the cost of groceries, not COG + the cost of getting there.

My brother and his family definitely don't have that. No parks or sidewalks close by. They live in an area with no decent grocery store. Buying healthy food for them means a 35 minute bus ride and carrying it home or getting the car out and driving with the gasoline that was meant for getting to the job where the bus doesn't go.

Poverty means more than not having the money to buy stuff. It also means living where it isn't safe, stuff isn't easily available, and where unsafe and unhealthy alternatives are easily come by.

[shano]

And why are these students buying pizza when they could pack a much better lunch-p&j or cheese sandwich an apple or bannana, some home brewed tea, for less money?

[shano]

Funny, as a college student, I read a book by Doctor Joyce Brothers about eating well on a budget. I still remember and follow some of her advice. And I save money on good food.

Buy oatmeal, very healthy, instead of eating pancakes. Buy powdered milk and add a bit of honey. Buy fruits and vegetables that are in season and on sale.

It is possible to do if you really shop the sale items, especially for frozen vegetables. Go to farmers markets.
For every bad choice there is a healthier one. Buy whole wheat instead of white bread, plain yogurt and mix it with your own jam.

Sometimes it may take some preparation, but how long does it take to put together a meal of pasta with some greens? Carrots are pretty cheap, too.

My mother always made poke for us, a wild green that grows everywhere. Each spring I love the fresh young dandilion greens, a delicacy in France.

Everyone could have a pot of something growing in their kitchen-some basil, some lettuce, some wheat grass, and parsley is one of the most nutritious greens there is-more calcium than milk.

I do agree the quality of life in America is harder. We need to change the farm bill to include fruits and vegetable instead of continually subsidising the commodities market. Untill this changes, some creative eating and cooking helps...

People must stop buying soda and junk food, then they will find room in their budget for better choices.

[Desiderata]

I find some of these comments more in line with far-right thought than progressive. I've noticed for sometime now that even progressives a quick to deride those in poverty and the choices they are confronted with. Perhaps this is due to some fear that to recognize with compassion the plight of those trapped in poverty may require some activity beyond reading about it.

My mother often told me we do not pay for our sins in the afterlife, but in this life. And that those you ridicule and condemn among the not-so-fortunate, you risk walking in their shoes tomorrow.

How very right she was.

[gretchenart]

Even at McDonalds, there are healthier choices, including salads, wraps, etc. so that $4 goes a ways. However, it is true that fruits and veggies are emormously expensive. One can still find a large bag of potatoes for a dollar or two, but a very small box of raspberries might use up the entire $4!
Part of the problem is that poor people are not as educated about nutrition. Years ago, I had to be on food stamps and managed to eat healthy in spite of the low budget, but I made choices that most poor people never make--as they are used to getting high starch, high calorie foods from their experiences growing up.

[Woofer58]

Well... you can also add-on to the arguement by expressing that poor folks also don't have a tendancy to read much. So ? Uh, recipes pop to mind. As well as hundreds of articles in magazines on all aspects of diet, menu planning and nutrition. The info is there but you have to spend some money to get it. You also have to plan, shop, and (ugh) actually prepare meals that are healthier. Some poor folks don't have the time to do creative cooking, what with several jobs just to pay the basic living expenses.
There are no simple answers. While it is possible to eat well on a small budget, it does take a lot of time and effort. It isn't "easy" or convienent.
I won't even get into maintaining a small veggie garden....

[aigeanta]

Wow, that sounds like my food budget. I really can't afford to feed us healthily anymore, and my old stand-by, junk food, is also getting pricier. Fresh fruits and veggies used to be at our table, but are just plain too expensive anymore. I've been struggling trying to keep food on the table for several years now, and I'm at the point where I'm considering going to food banks to supplement myself. I work full-time, my wage is *finally* decent, I've got benefits, but in the land of opportunity I'm starving.

[sorenmeetsdylan]

I'd get a second job and stop bellyaching.