A staple product in almost every deli in the Pittsburgh area is Isaly’s Chipped Chopped Ham. It is the lunch meat equivalent of a hot dog, using the absolute worst grade of meat allowed by health code standards. The meat itself is marbled with fat, allowing for no pretense that it might be even slightly healthy. It is also cheap. Isaly’s is generally served slathered in barbeque sauce within a hamburger bun. Also cheap. When it’s all said and done, a satisfying meal consisting of Isaly’s barbecue sandwiches and maybe some store brand potato chips could feed a family of four for no more than $10 and a clogged artery or two. I grew up in New Castle, PA, a city with a population of about 22,000 people, located an hour north of Pittsburgh. New Castle was once a thriving area economically, but with the decline of its limestone industry, unemployment and financial instability is commonplace. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average per capita income between 2011 and 2015 was $19,206, leaving about 28 percent of the city’s population in poverty. My family fell into that category, but my brother and I were always provided for: a roof over our heads, heat in the winter, running water, and a hot meal on the table every evening. Of course, the rent and utilities bills were of the highest priority when it came to our finances. Inevitably, that provided a very small budget for food.
Isaly’s served as an incredibly affordable way to feed a family on a tight budget, and a weekly meal for ours. Along with this savory pork product, you were likely to find any of the following items in our home on a typical day: -cereal -potato chips -crinkle cut french fries -ground chuck -frozen pot pies -rice -pasta -saltines -hot dogs -white bread -peanut butter & jelly -boxed macaroni and cheese You might be thinking that this list doesn’t seem so bad, and you would be right if it went on to include healthy items like fresh vegetables, poultry, and fruits. But when these items are the primary foods within a person’s diet, it is a recipe for poor health and weight gain. I remember walking through the grocery store with my mom one evening. It was payday, and in my mind that meant an endless pot of funds just waiting to be spent. I loved chicken, but it was not often something in which we had the pleasure of indulging. I asked her with my best attempt at looking adorable if we could have chicken for dinner. I could see her considering it. She walked up to the cooler that held the meats and stared at the package for a long time. I didn’t know why then, but now I do. She was checking the price. With a sincere look of regret on her face, she said, “Not tonight.” Most people would not hesitate to buy a staple food item like chicken, nor would they feel the need to check the price on the package. But for the family that is making just enough money to get by, the difference between a $2 pack of hot dogs and $3.50/pound for chicken is also the difference between being able to keep the electricity on in the following month or not. Faced with this situation, the majority of people would make the same decision: electricity is more important than high priced foods. Unfortunately, in our society almost all of the foods that are healthy fall into this realm of high priced foods: lean meats, fresh produce (especially fruits), and foods with good fats like almonds and avocados. Imagine having to buy those items for a family of four to eat three meals a day for two weeks on only a $100 budget. You couldn’t. Period. So, the options for poor families are fatty, processed, unhealthy food, or nothing at all. This leads to a vicious cycle of problems that can impede a healthy lifestyle, both as a child and as an adult. Some of these implications are obvious: weight gain, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc. Certainly one of the reasons that I already weighed 130 lbs in 3rd grade is because of the foods I was eating at home. When I was about 14, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. At age 15, and then again at 17, I spent entire days in the hospital as doctors tested blood and urine samples for glucose levels to determine that I was borderline diabetic. The doctors cited being overweight as the direct cause for all of these health problems. At 25, I spent more time in surrounded by the sterile walls of the doctor’s office than I’d like to admit, fighting off multiple cold and sinus infections, and once even pneumonia. My immune system was terrible, and the wimpy medications that the doctor prescribed were hard pressed to alleviate the symptoms. But because my blood pressure was high, I could not take the “good stuff.” My doctor bluntly told me that I would continue to experience health problems until I lost some weight. However, when I embarked on my weightloss journey, it became quite apparent to me that I really had no idea HOW to eat healthily. In my adult life, I continued to eat like a poor child because it is what I knew and understood. Even five years later, I sometimes question whether or not something is healthy. I’m not trying to convey a sob story about being unhealthy when I was overweight, but to give a personal example of the unfortunate circumstances low income families face when it comes to nutrition. We sometimes judge overweight people when we see them eating unhealthy foods, and assume that they are eating in such a way because they do not care about their health. While I’m sure this might be accurate in some cases, have you ever considered that those eating habits are a result of their financial circumstances? That the $1 Isaly’s BBQ ham sandwich and 50 cent serving of potato chips that they are eating is all that they could afford? I am fortunate. As an adult, I have the financial freedom to buy more expensive foods and I have used that luxury to learn how to eat properly. Not everyone has that opportunity. Are there ways to maintain a healthy diet on a low budget? Maybe. But in a family in which the parents work multiple jobs and long hours while trying to do the best they can for their children, learning how to do so is probably not a priority. Part of this problem unfortunately lies with the food retail industry. No one is asking food companies to sell caviar and veal for the same price as pre-made hamburger patties, but there should be healthier food options available for families on a tight budget. Our country’s obesity epidemic is constantly in the limelight, yet very few people take into consideration the foundations of bad eating habits. Until these foundations are stabilized, nothing will change.
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August 2017
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