I've worked with many tax payer funded nutrition programs including, WIC, Head Start, Cooperative Extensions, and Public Schools. We would often have to "beg, borrow and steal" in order to get families interested in attending nutrition education. We would offer free food, prizes, childcare and even transportation. Our turnout rates were still less than 1%. Frequently the one or two families that would attend, were the ones that already had an interest in nutrition and didn't need the information.
With childhood obesity growing at alarming rates, the "feed the children" campaigns have lost their fuel. They have accomplished with gusto to feed the hungry and now we have one out three kids who are overweight. So, now what? Now our families "can't afford" nutritious foods or they just don't have the education they need to make healthy choices.
The media would like for us to believe that families can only afford to eat at McDonald's or other food outlets because its cheaper than eating at home. With an average meal costing $6.66 at your favorite fast food chain, the bill equals about $25 for a family of four. That's a hefty budget for one meal.
Think about what you can make your family for dinner with $25. I live in Boulder which has a high cost of living and thus expensive grocery store prices. I shop the sales and occasionally use coupons. I can make my family an "expensive" meal of steak & shrimp and sauteed asparagus on a budget of less than $5 per person. On a tight budget, we have homemade Chicken Soup or Rice and beans which feeds all four of us for at least two meals and costs about 20 cents a serving.
The average home receiving SNAP benefits (aka. food stamps), gets $133 per person. Add to that free and reduced breakfast & lunches at school and I tally about $850 for an average family of four. Do you spend that on groceries every month? My grocery budget is around $500/ month and we eat about 99% of our meals at home. We also eat "low carb" so I am buying lots of meats, cheeses, nuts and vegetables. (Definitely not the cheapest items at the grocery store.)
I figure a family of four can easily survive on a monthly food budget of $300 or less - yes, they'll have to prepare their own foods at home and eat healthy things like peanut butter, eggs, beans, potatoes, oatmeal, rice, vegetables and meats like chicken, ground turkey and tuna fish.
These foods are infinitely cheaper than the unhealthy options such as processed frozen dinners, pizzas, canned macaroni products, cereal, cookies, chips and the like. Many people think Ramen Noodles are the cheapest route to go at 25 cents a serving but actually a bag of rice and a bag of beans or a bag of potatoes goes a lot further cost-wise with much more nutrition.
So the question remains in my mind, Why are one out of five kids going without nutritious meals? Its not lack of nutrition education options, its not financial assistance, its not lack of food at school? Perhaps its just that the parent doesn't see the need to change. And, well, how do we solve that? I'm sad and sorry to say that all the money, education and best intentions can't help those that don't think they need it.
In looking back on my advanced training with behavior modification, this cardinal rule always comes to mind - "You can only change those that want to be changed."
