I had the privilege of speaking with a group that is doing research on how to utilize behavior change in low income diabetics in order to affect health markets. While I’m not qualified to utilize my skill set in a medically prescriptive manner, I do specialize in weight loss and that will be the number one factor for reducing the symptoms of T2D. So while I’m not chasing that outcome in my work, the process is similar.
The most difficult part of this conversation was the overwhelming grandiosity of the problem and the lack of resources to combat it. Most research is done in middle class white women. Most of my work is done with middle and upper middle class women. Most of the diet industry is also driven by this same demographic. And the conversation around food shows how systemic racism through classist attitudes around food has shaped our narrative around health.
When we discuss healthy eating what comes to mind? Organic vegetables? Grass fed meat? Free range eggs?
What if the entirety of your food budget was in SNAP benefits? What if the risk of buying fresh vegetables which could go bad was the risk of losing a great portion of food to buy your family? What if you lived in a food dessert and your shopping was limited to bodegas and corner stores filled with hyperpalatable foods? How would you define healthy eating then?
We base our assumptions of health on what we see IG influencers and Goop articles selling. We base our idea of progress on abs and what people see us do. Health is a spectrum. It’s not visual and it definitely isn’t moral. It’s humanity. Take off the blinders and start viewing life through a wider lens.
