One, because the math doesn't work. You can live on a few dollars a day if you eat unhealthy food. If you buy healthy food with those same dollars, you're going to see people going hungry again.
Two, because the choices aren't equally available.
At least in Detroit (the only city I'm qualified to share anecdotes about) it's not as if healthy and unhealthy food choices are across the aisle, or even across the street from one another.
You simply can't make healthy choices without special scheduling, trips and thus even higher cost. Can people do it? Sure. Do they? Absolutely. The local gardens and the Eastern market are the absolute brightest spots in this city. The problem is that they simply can't afford (in time, energy or money) to make that choice nearly often enough.
So, to me, the question isn't "why don't people make better choices?" nearly as much as "why do we, as a society, make it so much harder to make better choices?".
There's certainly a willpower and personal responsibility component to this problem, but the larger issue is why our society has stacked the deck against it.
Another issue which is often ignored in discussions about food and health is that healthy food doesn't keep well. By that factor alone it's going to be more limited and more expensive, because it's harder to produce, transport and store.
You can live on a few dollars a day if you eat unhealthy food.
In my experience this is only true about processed and prepared foods. Check the price on dry beans or rice in bulk. If you're willing to bake your own bread the cost is competitive to even the cheapest products. Learning these techniques requires a time investment initially, but if your time is really so valuable why are you living on a few dollars a day?
because the choices aren't equally available.
This is a big problem, and a free-market paradox in my opinion. When healthy food isn't available, it's removed from the culture and unless everyone has good education about nutrition demand disappears.
Two, because the choices aren't equally available. At least in Detroit (the only city I'm qualified to share anecdotes about) it's not as if healthy and unhealthy food choices are across the aisle, or even across the street from one another.
You simply can't make healthy choices without special scheduling, trips and thus even higher cost. Can people do it? Sure. Do they? Absolutely. The local gardens and the Eastern market are the absolute brightest spots in this city. The problem is that they simply can't afford (in time, energy or money) to make that choice nearly often enough.
So, to me, the question isn't "why don't people make better choices?" nearly as much as "why do we, as a society, make it so much harder to make better choices?".
There's certainly a willpower and personal responsibility component to this problem, but the larger issue is why our society has stacked the deck against it.