Sarah Hill, Ph.D, professor of psychology, contributed insights to an AOL article, “Eating Habits of People Who Grew Up Poor,” exploring how early life poverty continues to foster food preferences and mental associations around eating. The piece examines why many adults raised in low-income households feel “unnatural” when switching from inexpensive comfort foods to fresh produce and how habits formed in scarcity can linger long after financial hardships subside.
Hill emphasizes that these patterns aren’t just personal quirks but deeply ingrained coping strategies.
“For someone who rarely saw fresh fruits or vegetables growing up, the cost, smell, even the way they cut or cook produce, can feel foreign,” she wrote.
The article also discusses how scarcity conditioning can lead to behaviors like eating beyond fullness to avoid waste, attachment to “cheap staples” or resistance to change in diet, even when healthy choices are available. Hill argues that recognizing these habits with compassion, as adaptations rather than flaws, is key to promoting lasting healthy change.