In a country with McDonald’s and Burger King at every corner, it can be hard to pass up cheap, quick, and tasty meals for a walk down the produce aisle or half an hour of dinner prep at home. Low-income families in America are faced daily with the problem of attaining food for their entire family that is efficient and does not drain the already low bank.

Often times, busy parents are willing to sacrifice good nutrition in order to feed their hungry family. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that this leads parents working with low-income jobs to commonly resort to quicker meals, contributing to childhood obesity.1 The prices of nutritious items, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, may appear to be too high in comparison to the quantity of food in a five-dollar family meal from KFC.

Choices for food shift to fast foods, which are more energy-dense than fresh produce, lean proteins, and whole grains.2 Thus, it is extremely difficult for low-income families to find cheap and nutritious meals.3 In the end, parents are faced with choosing higher cost nutritious meals, or letting their children fall asleep with stomachs filled with food at night.

Children growing up in these low-income communities are raised in a culture centered around fast food. There is a greater density of fast food restaurants in low-income areas, especially around schools.4 Even when healthy food is sold, it is often not of very good quality, causing fast food to become even more appealing.5 Thus, low-income communities intake less valuable nutrients like fiber and vitamin C, according to the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.” 

While the current economic standing for the lower class of this country is declining, low-income families are tending to forget the importance of nutrition7. However, there is a way to work towards improving nutrition and preventing the high rates of obesity in these areas: education and application. In this situation, informing families on how to change their lifestyle

1 Colleen Shaddox.  Mix of Programs Helping Low-Income Families Build Healthy Eating Habits. H  artford Courant. January 26, 2017. 2.
2 Adam Drewnowski & Petra Eichelsdoerfer.  Can Low-Income Americans Afford a Healthy Diet? N  ational Center for Biotechnology. November, 2010. 1.
3 Ibid.   1.
4  Why Low-Income and Food-Insecure People are Vulnerable to Poor Nutrition and Obesity. F  ood Research and Action Center. April 10, 2017. 6.
5  Low-Income and Food-Insecure People.  5.
6  The Eating Habits of Low-Income Populations.  SFGate. April 9, 2014. 3.
7 Drewnowski & Eichelsdoerfer.  Low-Income Afford a Healthy Diet? 1  .

through information, and displays of what to do, and ignition of cultural shifts are all ways to attack this issue head-on.
To uphold good nutrition in American society, people must know how to attain affordable nutritious foods that follow “social norms.”8 First of all, it is critical to tell people basic nutritional rules such as the food pyramid, and that half of their dinner plates should be vegetables. However, that information is useless unless people are shown  how  they can make good choices and form healthy habits, while overcoming the obstacle of price. A father can explain to his daughter how to ride a bike, but, she won’t be able to ride   until he helps her get on the bike and practice her pedaling.
Fast food may seem cheaper in the moment, but in truth money spent on a healthy meal with ingredients from the grocery store and prepared at home can cost less than a dinner from McDonald’s. A family meal made at home that consists of chicken, vegetables, and salad can actually cost just around $14.9 However, a meal for four family members from a fast food restaurant- such as McDonald’s- can end up at about $25.10
While this information saves money, it does not address the issue of busy schedules. This is where a balance comes in. Time can be stretched by purchasing ingredients that are pre-washed or pre-cooked in the grocery store.11 Although these items are more expensive, in time their prices will actually be lower than that of repeatedly purchased fast food meals12. Patricia Esposito, clinical nutrition manager at Children’s Medical Center, exposes parents to these nutrition tips for feeding their families.13 She teaches parents what to physically do to make nutritional changes- a technique that is the game changing factor in leading people to healthy habits.
The next step to changing a poor nutritional diet is to shift the culture in low-income communities, and even American society as a whole, away from pre-prepared food. Especially in low-income areas, fast food can be viewed as a normal, and even daily, part of life.14 This idea needs to be shifted, so that fast food is viewed as occasional treats, and cooking at home becomes a mainstream routine.
The best way to push for this change is through the media. Advertising a culture of purchasing healthy items in a local grocery store and preparing easy, nutritional meals at home can influence people to follow a healthier diet.
The media’s influence on a healthier lifestyle has already been proven fairly successful in the employment of anti-smoking ads.15 Images of people that have cigarettes in their mouths and holes in their throats diminish what used to be the glamor of   smoking. Now, smoking is not as socially acceptable, and fewer people engage in this bad habit.16 The media needs to start advertising healthier diets and nutritional habits now, and, with time, American society will likely shift its culture.
8 Ibid.   1.
9 Brad Tuttle  News Flash: A Healthy Home-Cooked Meal Costs Less Than Fast Food. S  eptember 26, 2011. 2.
10 Tuttle.  A Healthy Home-Cooked Meal Costs Less.  2.
11 Shaddox.  Programs Helping Low-Income Families.  8.
12 ibid.   8.
13 ibid.   8.
14 Tuttle.  A Healthy Home-Cooked Meal Costs Less.  6.
15 ibid.   6.
16 ibid. .  6.

Another way to improve cultural acceptance of a healthy diet is to start young. Research shows that exposing children to a wide variety of foods and healthier diet early on can influence their food habits for the rest of their lives.17 Children develop what they like to eat based on what they are fed starting early.18 This is the same reason that many Chinese people are perfectly fine with consuming chile-lime crickets: they have done so since the age of three. So, if children are fed more peas and carrots growing up, they are more likely to carry on consuming these foods into adulthood.
Laboratory studies have concluded that repeatedly giving children the chance to taste foods they aren’t used to can lead them to like these foods and continue to eat them.19 In fact, in a school-based study where mothers exposed their children to vegetables- raw red bell peppers, carrots- early on, the children were more likely to like these foods as they grew older.20 Therefore, as part of shifting cultural society to follow a healthy diet, children must be raised to accept a variety of healthy foods.
American society needs to address the issue of bad nutrition in low-income areas immediately. There are practical ways for low-income families to achieve good nutrition that can fit smoothly into daily life; these ideas just need to be shared. It is up to our country, as a whole, to push for the popularization of these healthy options across the nation. Hopefully in the near future, Burger King will be saved for special Friday nights, and people will know the produce section like the back of their hands.
17 L. Cooke.  The Importance of exposure for healthy eating in childhood: a review.  Whiley Online Library. July 17, 2007. 1.
18 Cook.  Exposure for healthy eating in childhood.  1.
19 Ibid.   1.
20 Ibid.   1.