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I disagree that healthy food is not available to people on a fixed income... There is a definite perception that healthy food is too expensive, and some healthy food is too expensive. But there is enough for a well rounded diet that is affordable.
I agree with you on the need for better nutrition education and of the importance of nutrition in academic performance, but I respectfully disagree with you on the cost of healthy foods versus less healthy foods. Several studies have indicated, that, on a per calorie basis, diets composed of whole grains, fish and fresh vegetables and fruit are far more expensive than refined grains, added sugars and added fats, which provide empty calories. See
here,
here and
here.
Have you ever been to a grocery store located in a largely poor area? There's a reason these places are called
food deserts. Even if the prices of healthy foods are comparable to less healthy foods, there still exists a widespread lack of accessibility to contend with. Take for instance the Kroger in the Over-the-Rhine section of Cincinnati, one of the city's poorest areas and one I am well familiar with. You will find maybe a couple stands of wilted produce and aisle after aisle of processed foods. You will also find many more fast food restaurants in low-income areas than you will farmer's markets. Let's say that you're on public assistance with limited food funds. Which would you buy: A 99-cent fast food burger that has nearly all food groups represented or a 99-cent green pepper that is representative of only one food group and not nearly as fulfilling?
And even if you do buy the healthy stuff, you still have the challenge of getting your kids to eat it. I heard an interview on NPR a while back with a food bank that provides meals to kids during the summer. The director said that when they served healthy vegetables and other foods, the kids wouldn’t eat it. When they served pizza or burgers, the kids clamored for it. I can see where an already frazzled single mother holding down two jobs might opt for mac and cheese instead of getting her kids to eat lentils. And while I am very much a personal proponent of healthy food, I also recognize that chips, ice cream and even candy in moderation can ALL be part of an overall healthy and balanced diet. Those of us with histories of eating disorders should be among the first to realize that de-personifying foods as "good" or "bad," as well as a refusal to measure our self-worth by the foods we eat, are integral steps in developing a healthy relationship with food.
I'm a food historian and I've worked with poverty groups in the past, so the issue of class and food is a frequent one on my blog. Here are a few experiments we've discussed:
The One Dollar Diet Project: High school social studies teachers Christopher Greenslate and Kerri Leonard took this challenge for one month in order to raise money for a community center. Not only did they have count, measure, calculate and weigh every ingredient, they also suffered from a lack of energy even as their diet required even more of their time -- and that's without any children to complicate matters.
Healthy Food on a Food Stamp Budget: I issued this challenge to readers using a real-life scenario of a single-parent household with 2 - 3 children. After plugging in the numbers to the USDA's Food Stamp calculator tool, it was found that this hypothetical mother would receive $273 to $283 a month in food stamps or about $70 a week or $10 a day. Another blogger
self-conducted a similar challenge, with the result being lots of beans and rice for dinner. Is it doable? Certainly. But not without lots and lots of planning, something a single mother usually lacks the time for.
In short, the problem with putting nutrition regulations on food stamps is that there are a lot of more pressing issues you'd have to confront and resolve before this could even be feasible.
