Everything that's good for you is jacked up high: Social, cultural and economic meanings of and constraints to eating right

COLLEEN WALSH; BAILY, HEATHER; MONTEBAN, MADALENA; DARCY FREEDMAN

Minneapolis

Encuentro; Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association; 2016

American Anthropological Association

As U.S. policymakers and government agencies refine recommendations for ?healthy diets? and seek to improve nutritious food access, particularly among Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP) recipients, there is a need to understand what it means to ?eat right? among local populations and if meanings align with the current scientific recommendations. As part of a dissemination and implementation study around nutritious food access in Cleveland, Ohio, we used semi-structured and social network mapping interviews with 30 SNAP recipients to explore the time, cost, and social-cultural constraints (and facilitators) related to food habits, including the influence of social networks. To better understand how participants define a ?healthy diet,? we asked them to tell us what they think it means to ?eat right.? In this paper we discuss varying perceptions of ?eating right? and how participants describe the complex ways that they identify resources and utilize networks to feed their families the ?right foods.? Participants often defined ?eating right? as eating more fruits and vegetables, baking instead of frying meats, and an awareness of food as a determinant for health. Constraints to eating right included lack of social support and the cost of the ?right foods.? We take a critical approach to social capital theory to see, for example, how lack of social support can limit one?s ability to eat the ?right foods.? In addition, we discuss how findings informed a pilot intervention aimed at improving access to nutritious food among SNAP recipients, and what the findings mean for nutrition programs and policies.