Why Poor People Don't Eat Nutritious Food

A hearty hat tip to lady blog Jezebel for reminding me of this amazing blog post by Michelle, a.k.a. the Fat Nutritionist, about poor people and nutrition. It's an oldie (in Internet time, at least), but it's so good it deserves a second look.

The jumping-off point of Michelle's post is the fact that low-income people tend to have poorer health than wealthier individuals — something that's not exactly news. But Michelle (who really is a nutritionist, by the way) challenges the notion that poor people suffer from worse health simply because they don't know any better and need to be educated about nutrition. Rather, she argues, "The reality is that people who don't have enough money (or the utilities and storage) to buy and prepare decent food in decent quantities, cannot (and should not) be [asked] to worry about the finer nuances of nutrition."

To elaborate on that point, behold the Hierarchy of Food Needs:

Created by "eating and feeding" expert Ellyn Satter and based on the well-known Hierarchy of Needs, the HOFN posits that, to be in a position to consider the nutritional content of one’s food, one has to have reliable access to food in the first place.

In fact, making sure our food is nutritious (i.e., "instrumental" food) is our last priority, according to the HOFN. Before we get to nutrition, we worry about having enough food to survive; having food that is acceptable (i.e., food that is not from the garbage, perhaps, or food that we are not allergic to); having reliable, ongoing access to food; having food that tastes OK; and having novel food experiences (i.e., not eating the same thing every day).

This is a pretty basic concept, really, but it’s something financially stable people — people who never have to worry about the first three rungs of the HOFN — forget when they ask questions like, "Why don't poor mothers just feed their kids salads instead of Happy Meals? Don't they know salads are healthier than hamburgers?" Most of the time, it’s not that poor mothers don’t know salads are healthier, but rather that they're fully consumed with the responsibility of providing three meals a day, every day, that taste decent and will provide enough calories for their family to survive. It's a phenomenon that extends to all of us, in fact, when we're hungry:

"[W]hen it comes down to it, you're likely to choose the tastier option — which is pretty calorically dense and provides some nutrition (as well as the satisfaction of chewing actual food) — more often than not. And it's not because you're stupid, ignorant, lazy, or just a bad, bad person who loves bad, bad food. It's because other needs come first."

As for all the hand-wringing about poor people eating badly, the "Fat Nutritionist" adds, "You want people to eat better? Give them enough money, a place for cooking and storage, and access to a decent variety of food. Then you can worry about the finer points of nutrition."

Photo credit: wEnDy