Why can't people afford a healthy dinner?

I was at the grocer yesterday. Just picked up a few items. Our grocery shopping style is typically quick visits throughout the week over one major trip per week. I'm a big fan of red peppers. Green peppers aren't bad--it's just that red peppers are so sweet and delicious! I was completely shocked when I went to select a few of the red ones from the produce section. The price listed below the peppers? $4.99 per pound! Really? How is that possible? I quickly looked around, expecting to find myself in the organics section or something. Nope. This was the "standard" produce. At those prices how can people afford to incorporate fresh vegetables into their meals? How can they afford to put a priority on fresh produce if they cannot pay to get it on their tables?

While at this same store I overheard two elderly women discussing what they had in their carts. The first woman pointed at a head of iceberg lettuce and several tv dinners in her cart. The other woman complained about the high price of heads of iceberg lettuce. Something like $1.25 a head. They seemed pretty shocked at the sticker price. What they had in their carts did not reflect healthy eating by any means. It looked that they are eating what they could afford--regardless of its nutritious value. Will these food choices keep them strong and healthy into their years ahead? I think not.

Limited access to fresh and affordable produce will have its consequences. Our bodies will not be fully nourished and will become increasingly vulnerable to sickness. Food that is cheap is usually unhealthy. Frozen pizzas, chips, soda, and other such things will put on the pounds. This extra weight can lead to a whole slew of health issues down the road. With the state of our economy and where people stand with money, they're forced to make food choices that weaken them as people. Food decisions are made in the present--but the consequences reach far into the future, unseen now. It's no wonder we have an obesity crisis in this country. People can't afford to make healthy decisions.

For one week a few folks in Congress tried to live like a lot of Americans live. They had to make all food purchases on the average food stamp allotment ($21 per week). Sound tough? Read the article here. Details of what they ate and reflections on the experience are on a blog tracking the challenge here. Could you meet all of your food needs for a week with $21? What would that be like?

Keep your eye on this when at the grocery store. Imagine shopping with a paycheck half of what you get now. Imagine shopping to feed four or five kids. Imagine trying to buy food for healthy meals if you worked for $7 per hour. People all over the country live this daily--it's real and it's hard.