Browsing by Author "Terna, Henna"

The aim of the study was to find out what persons with low-incomes eat and how healthy their diet is. Anu Raijas wrote an article to a social policy journal, in which she wondered if all can afford to eat healthy and responsibly. Previous studies have shown that economic factors influence the choice of diet. Following to a healthy diet is more common among highly educated people, but other socio-economic groups are increasingly paying attention to the wholesomeness of food. In addition to the meager dietary content, I was interested in how they get the food in their homes and whether the amount was adequate. My study was carried out through analysing narratives. The data was collected in 2006 by Isola, Larivaara and Mikkonen as a writing competition "Everyday Experience in Poverty". My data was analysed through qualitative content analysis and a descriptive quantitative analysis. My research showed that diet for the poor can be insufficient, one-sided and at times there is shortage. Sometimes, the low-income people had no choice but to receive food aid, steal or to collect waste food from the dumpster. In addition, some of the respondents diversified their diets by picking berries and mushrooms, fishing or growing some of their vegetables themselves. Based on the data, the diet of low-income people did not look very healthy.