After all sorts of fad diets (grapefruits! low carb! low fat! no eating in the evening!), we are coming, as a society, to an understanding that the best diet is one rich in whole foods without much processing.
We have seen McDonald’s profits freefalling, as many American families are rejecting fast food in favor of home-cooked meals. But the healthiness of people’s diets is something that is still discussed ad nauseum in popular culture. It may be tempting to call out a parent feeding their children fast food, but it’s best to think twice. Here are five reasons not to judge folks with unhealthy foods for children.
1. Unhealthy Food Requires Less Infrastructure
It should go without saying that fresh, healthy food has a shorter shelf-life than most processed food. Produce lasts maybe a week or two before going bad, requires a fridge and access to clean, running water (to clean the fruits and veggies), kitchen utensils, and at least a hot plate for preparing cooked dishes. Produce takes up a lot of space per calorie.
Around two percent of households below the poverty line don’t have a refrigerator, but a massive 73 percent are without a freezer. Less than five percent of folks living in poverty are without a microwave or an oven. Although few, households without these necessary appliances face almost insurmountable challenges when it comes to healthy food.
In addition to storing and preparing fresh food, there are challenges in getting to the store and bringing food home without a vehicle.
2. Unhealthy Food Is Often Cheaper
Fresh fruit can be a less attractive choice for folks who often have hungry bellies– a single piece of fruit costs around $1 and has fewer than 100 calories.
The federal poverty guideline for 2016 for a family of four people is $24,300. If we assume that the family pays no taxes, that gives them $2025 per month.
Although prices vary by region and season, most fresh fruits and veggies cost between $1 and $2 per pound. If apples cost $1.50 per pound, and you can get three apples per pound, one apple costs 50 cents. If a single mom has three kids, it will cost her $1.50 per day to give each child one apple. An apple is about 50 calories, which will hardly make a dent in a hungry child’s hunger.
If each child eats one apple per day, the apple cost is $45 per month, or two percent of her take-home income each month. If that mother feeds her children the recommended five fresh fruits and vegetables each day, that bumps the produce cost to a whopping 10 percent of her income.
A McDonald’s value cheeseburger costs $1, and has 300 calories and 12 grams of fat. It costs twice as much as one apple, but provides six times the calories. For the 14 percent of American households (including 34 percent of families with a single mom) that are food insecure, a cheeseburger wins against an apple almost every time.
3. Healthy Food Takes Time
Among well-off, two-parent families, growing, buying, and preparing healthy food takes a lot of time and effort. Take away one parent, or reduce the family income, and the healthy food time and energy requirements almost always prevent healthy eating.
For example, dried beans are a cheap source of protein. Unfortunately, dried beans require around 24 hours of soaking, and several hours of cooking. This requires that a meal must be started around breakfast the day before. In a single-parent family, planning meals days in advance requires a lot of mental energy.
4. Unhealthy Foods For Kids Is A Feminist Issue
Women are way overrepresented as single parents, as minimum wage workers, and in poor households. This is commonly referred to as the “feminization of poverty.” Struggles for financial and food security are exacerbated even further for women of color.
Even women who don’t necessarily struggle financially receive disparaging comments about parenting choices way more than men do. If you are thinking of criticizing a mother’s food choices for her child, ask yourself if you would say the same for a dad. It’s known that moms are unconsciously viewed by employers as being less competent: they receive less pay, and are less likely to receive promotions. This is called the “motherhood penalty.” Men tend to get a boost in reputation at work for having kids.
When I worked outside the home, I couldn’t get through one day without hearing, “Aren’t you worried that someone else is raising your kids?” or, “Don’t you think your kids miss you?” I asked my husband how often he gets those questions at work: he could not remember a single instance of his parenting choices being questioned at work (or in any other context, for that matter). People feel much more free with their criticisms with moms versus dads, and that is a problem.
Adding to that is the fact that, even when a mom and a dad work the same number of hours (in a heterosexual marriage), the mom takes on two-thirds of the child-care duties outside of work. So, in addition to moms being criticized more, moms are also way more likely to be feeding their children than dads.
5. Criticizing Unhealthy Food Choices Doesn’t Encourage Healthier Food Choices
It feels like it could be either really obvious (if you are seen as being overweight), or counter-intuitive (if you have been thin your whole life). Criticizing food choices is similar to fat shaming, and it will never achieve positive results. If your desire is to encourage parents to feed their children healthier food, you will not make progress by criticizing them. They made the choice to feed their children what they are feeding their children for reasons you are not privy to, and you don’t get to jump in and editorialize.
If you genuinely want to help kids to access wholesome food, there are several things you can do. Volunteer and donate to local food banks. Find local charities that help families in crisis– work with them to make and deliver frozen meals. Or even just bring some food over to a parent friend. When I visit a friend with small kids (especially one in financial need), I try to bring some extra produce or some leftovers or a frozen meal. It’s not glamorous, but it helps.
One thing that will be guaranteed to never help is to make a passive-aggressive comment, or to make a post on Facebook mocking a mom.
H/t Everyday Feminism.
