Experts: Healthy foods available to many, with work

A commonly held view is that many people on low incomes can’t afford healthy foods.

Experts aren’t in agreement with this assumption, however.

Some maintain anyone can eat healthy, regardless of income. Others acknowledge budgetary roadblocks make it difficult for people on low incomes to select foods that are good for them.

There is agreement on one area: Eating healthy is about making good choices when selecting food.

Kim Crawford, director of marketing and community outreach for UnitedHealthcare, said she doesn’t necessarily buy into the notion that people on limited incomes can’t eat healthy.

“I struggle with that one,” she said, “because I don’t know if they can’t afford to eat healthy or they don’t understand how to eat healthy.”

Crawford, who specializes in working with the KanCare program, which serves people on Medicaid in Kansas, said people on low incomes aren’t the only ones who don’t always eat healthy foods.

“You see very wealthy people who have poor eating habits,” she said.

People may be conditioned to purchasing food items that are easy to prepare at home, Crawford said. Many of those foods come prepackaged or microwave-ready and can be made in a matter of minutes.

“Everyone’s in a hurry, going from here to there,” she said. “It does take more time to prepare a healthy meal than it does to go through a drive-through or get something off the shelf.”

Yet, she said, there are healthier options that most people can afford: “You can get canned vegetables and fruit for the same price you can buy a protein bar.”

Education is a key to helping people overcome the tendency to grab food that is fast but not always cheap and rarely healthy, Crawford said.

“One of the worst culprits is your sugary soft drinks,” she said. “When you are consuming a soft drink, you are getting empty calories with no nutritional value.”

“Potato chips — they’re delicious, but there’s not a lot of redeeming qualities in potato chips.”

Look for food labels that include “sneaky words, like no preservatives or artificial flavors” that also could reflect high levels of sugars, salts or fats, Crawford said. UnitedHealthcare often sets up booths in health fairs and brings ingredients to demonstrate how to prepare a healthy dish that won’t break the bank.

In the final analysis, even if certain foods that are healthy also are more expensive, the extra cost may be well worth it in the long run. Eating foods that aren’t healthy could contribute to a number of health problems, Crawford said.

“You’re talking heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes — and all those things end up costing you a lot more money than if you were eating healthy,” she said.

More information on the Food for Thought program can be found on UnitedHealthcare’s website, uhccommunityplan.com.

Stephanie Sisk, an advanced practice registered nurse at Stormont Vail Health, works with people to develop healthy eating habits. People on limited incomes often seek out the cheapest food option, and many times that means they’re eating foods that aren’t always healthy.

Fresh fruits and vegetables tend to be expensive, and lean meats and seafood can be “really pricey,” Sisk said.

As an example, she noted, ground beef that is 73-percent lean can be purchased for about $2.88 a pound, while ground beef that is 93-percent lean is about $5.39 a pound. The choice is an easy one for those on low incomes; most of the time they will buy the less-healthy meat, which is far higher in fat content.

Sisk said many people who are working two jobs to make ends meet come home tired and hungry, “so they tend to go with pastas and soups and frozen meals they can throw in their oven.”

To help people on low incomes stretch their food dollars, Sisk advises them to check grocery ads when they come out each Wednesday and take advantage of specials, stocking up on such items as boneless, skinless chicken breasts when they are on sale and putting them in the freezer for use at a later time.

For weight management, she recommends high-protein diets that include budget-friendly foods, such as eggs, Greek yogurt and beans.

Canned foods are another good option, especially if they are of the no-salt variety. Otherwise, she said, people can rinse off and drain their canned foods before cooking them.

Buying frozen vegetables when they are on sale also is a good option. The vegetables are picked and packaged at the height of their freshness, making them less expensive than similar items in the produce aisle. Frozen vegetables also have a much greater chance of staying fresh and not having to be thrown out.

“You do want to educate yourself,” Sisk said. “Check your labels. You want to buy products that have more proteins and a little less carbs.”

Finally, Sisk said, people can stretch their food dollars and eat healthy if they plan menus in advance — then stick with them. Slow cookers and Crock-Pots are good ways to prepare healthy meals with minimal time and effort, especially for those who find themselves too tired to spend much time in the kitchen.

“It is a time investment at the first of the week,” she said, “but planning does have a lot of benefits.”

Lihlani Skipper, of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School, said low-income people in the United States have a challenge when it comes to eating healthy diets.

“Although the cost of food in the U.S. is lower than that of other countries, the cost of healthy food is much higher than unhealthy food,” she said. “Additionally, fewer healthy food options tend to be available in low-income communities, which creates the additional burdens of transportation costs and increased time commitment to find healthy food.”

Skipper said the Healthy Food Policy Project defines healthy food as food that is minimally processed; fresh, frozen or canned produce that has little, if any, added sugar, salt or fat; food that is culturally relevant; food that meets evidence-based nutrition standards; and food that is both nutritious and safe to eat.

In spite of challenges, low-income individuals can eat foods that are healthy.

“There are many resources available that provide ideas of how to eat healthy food on a tight budget,” Skipper said. “Some ideas include cooking with dried beans, peas and lentils as protein sources and using smaller amounts of meat, poultry and fish.

“Other strategies include buying in bulk to get a lower cost per item, or cooking from scratch to reduce the amount of added sugar, salt and fat consumed.”

“However, time is often a limiting factor for people on limited incomes because they may be working multiple jobs, so it can be difficult to spend extra time cooking at home.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has some “great resources on meal planning, shopping and budgeting, and state SNAP-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education) programs also have many resources and tools” to help people learn ways to eat healthier on a budget, Skipper said.

A major issue that these resources don’t address is where and how to access healthier foods, such as grocery stores, restaurants, corner stores, farmers markets and food shelves that offer healthy food items. Many people live in communities considered “food deserts,” where there is limited access to affordable and nutritious food, or “food swamps,” where unhealthy foods are more readily available than healthy options.

Fortunately, law and policy efforts at the local level can increase access to healthy foods in ways that also have other community benefits, Skipper said. For example, communities may use local zoning to restrict fast-food establishments in certain areas, or require licensed grocery stores to have a certain amount of fresh fruits and vegetables available, such as the Staple Foods Ordinance in Minneapolis, Minn.

“The Healthy Food Policy Project highlights innovative local policies like these that seek to promote access to healthy food, and also contribute to strong local economies, an improved environment,and health equity, with a focus on socially disadvantaged and marginalized groups,” she said. “This project takes a food systems perspective, looking at how policies working at different stages of the food system may increase access to healthy food options.”

There are consequences to not eating healthy diets, Skipper said, including obesity and chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, among other negative health effects.

“According to the federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, ‘about half of all American adults have one or more preventable, diet-related chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and overweight and obesity,’ ” she said. “Foods that are heavily processed with high levels of added sugar, salt and saturated fat and that don’t meet dietary recommendations are considered unhealthy foods. Eating a healthy diet and engaging in regular physical activity can reduce the risks of these chronic diseases.”

Skipper added that it’s “important that healthy food is available to all people, regardless of their income, or other factors such as race or ethnicity, gender, age, mental health, cognitive, sensory or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identity, and-or geographic location. Unequal access to healthy food contributes to and compounds other negative effects often experienced by socially disadvantaged and marginalized groups, such as poorer health outcomes, reduced economic opportunity and worse environmental conditions. Therefore, the Healthy Food Policy Project seeks to promote health equity, with a particular attention to socially disadvantaged and marginalized groups.”

Skipper also said that from a human rights perspective, as reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 25, “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”

To learn more about how local policies and laws can increase access to healthy food across the food system and see examples of what other communities are doing to increase access to healthy foods particularly for socially disadvantaged and marginalized groups, visit healthyfoodpolicyproject.org.

In her position as executive director of the Topeka-based Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging, Susan Harris works with senior adults, many of whom are on fixed incomes and struggle with balancing their budgets with healthy food choices.

“Low-income seniors often state that they cannot afford to eat healthy due to the expense of healthy foods,” Harris said. “Naturally, the foods that are not processed, such as fresh fruits and veggies, are more expensive than more highly processed, less-healthy options.”

People who don’t eat healthy can be at risk for a multitude of health issues, she said. Many seniors, she noted, already have chronic conditions, such as diabetes, that are heavily affected by not eating well.

Harris said people on limited incomes can find ideas to help with healthy and nutritious diets by contacting Kansas State University’s Research and Extension program.

In Topeka, there are regular opportunities through Harvesters, a community food network, to get healthy and nutritious food options at no cost.

“For seniors,” she said, “the barrier is often transportation to get to the distribution sites.”

Scott Nickel, a chef instructor at Washburn Institute of Technology, said people on limited incomes can eat healthy, provided they have a strategy for doing so.

The fact that many people on low incomes don’t eat healthy may be the direct result of them not knowing how to cook and store fresh, homemade food — and don’t understand the savings that are possible.

“They then focus on foods that are pre-packaged, quick and require little labor, but may be lacking in nutritional value.Most people don’t know that pork chops are great, moist, simple and flexible,” Nickel said. “Something as simple as knowing that already-sliced loin chops in the meat department are higher cost than the loin itself creates the possibility of cost savings. However, you can pick up a whole loin in the meat department, hand the loin to the employee, and they will slice it up for you, charging nothing for the service.”

Even though this is exactly what the packaged slices are, Nickel said, “this protocol will save 25 cents to 50 cents” per pound, depending on the store.

“Vegetables can be bought at stores for much lower cost if you find them in the ‘too old’ area,” he added. “Someone recently brought some trashy looking carrots to church. The carrots came from Harvesters. Nobody wants these because they aren’t ‘pretty.’ I am making three different dishes with them for Thanksgiving. Trashy is cheap — and sometimes free — but still nutritious and tastes the same.”

Individuals can gain more knowledge on cooking by going online and searching Google, YouTube and “thousands of other sites that showcase easy, basic techniques,” Nickel said.

Harvesters and many other outlets offer monthly food giveaways with no income requirement, but many people don’t know what to do with the contents.

“Most people are intimidated,” he said. “How many people know what to do with a turnip? A parsnip? Butternut squash? Quinoa? Brussel sprouts? Cream of wheat for dinner? Cornmeal for something other than cornbread? All it takes is some creativity, curiosity and a decision to try something new. The farmers markets are great places to go find nutritious food. And all of those veggies that other people don’t know what to do with tend to be cheap.

“Cuts of meat tend to be the same. If they are tough, they tend to be cheap. It’s just that you need to know how to cook them to make them taste good and not tough. Bottom round beef is about as cheap as it gets, but it must be cooked correctly. … A Crock-Pot and-or pressure cooker are miracle workers for cheap cuts of meat.”

A way to save money that many people ignore is to buy day-old or out-of-date or lightly dented canned items. Canned items that are out-of-date are generally still good but sold at a lower cost.

“Lightly wilted or bruised fresh veggies and fruit are sold the same way — cheaper,” he said. “Sometimes you can talk with the produce employees to reduce the cost of an item that is blemished that they didn’t notice.

“Another aspect of our current world is grocery store delivery. In the past, grocery stores had delivery, but then it dropped out of use. Because of Amazon getting into Whole Foods markets, grocery chains are starting to adopt delivery services. Food deserts might be a lucrative market for these grocery store chains.”

Nickel said some grocery stores are more than glad to help customers devise healthy eating plans.

“Met a dietitian at Hy-Vee and that is what they do — help their customers shop better,” he said. “Grocery department employees love showing off their knowledge. One of the problems in the low-income world is access to better food. This concept of areas without food choices is called a ‘food desert.’

“As an example, since the old Dillons store closed in central Topeka, that area has become a food desert. The elderly, the disabled, those without a car must rely on public transport, and that is a difficult option. Many in these areas need to utilize convenience stores and fast food — low-nutrition, high-cost, high-calorie selections only. How to fix the problem and find better food options? Difficult, to say the least.”

Nickel encouraged people to talk with family members and neighbors to learn healthy-eating tips cooking techniques.

The results of people not eating healthy diets are evident in the Topeka area, he said.

“I did a study recently while writing a grant request to get some renovation money to upgrade one of my classrooms,” Nickel said. “Studies recently show that Shawnee County is one of the most-obese counties in the country. Bad eating habits lead to a variety of ills, both directly and indirectly — obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and just today (I) saw a study that ties obesity to a variety of cancers. And obesity leads to other ills. such as joint problems, foot problems, back problems and bad knees.

“Lately, the pendulum has swung to ‘white’ stuff including white flour, white potatoes, white rice, white sugar and corn stuff,” he said. “An overabundance of carbs is still considered bad. Fatty — with some exceptions — and fried foods are still very bad. Processed foods are being seen as culprits of obesity and bad eating habits.”

Nickel noted people can take advantage of local food pantries, many of which are based in Topeka-area churches. Other possible sources, he said, include Topeka Rescue Mission, New Hope Food Pantry and The Salvation Army, along with Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, Doorstep Inc. and other charities.

“One way or another, our society pays for unhealthy citizens,” Nickel said. “Eating the way our bodies were designed to eat and eating the things we were designed to eat is a way to reduce the burden on taxpayers (and) medical service providers and ultimately create a citizenry that weighs less and is healthier.”

Let's block ads! (Why?)