Poverty and Diet

[Nía]

To hopefully get a bit closer to the question in the original post: There definitely is a strong correlation, I think there's no question about that anymore. But there are also other factors that are playing key roles like education, peer-groups, availability.... Sometimes, and not too seldom, poverty/low income/high expenses (and a lot of other factors) are unfortunately also used as an excuse to not buy healthier stuff (for the people and/or the planet). But many times it is simply a question of priorities and choice, just like Aion is making choices for himself - even if many wouldn't admit it. You can live on organic food if you decide to do so even with a very low income, especially, if you cut back on luxury stuff. You can live quite a while on organic potatoes, carrots and onions (and grains, or legumes, if so wished), for example, and maybe some apples and whatever might be in season and/or available locally. Comparing prices is a good option (between farm shops, farmer's markets, wholefood shops, or simply the organic and/or free-from corner in any supermarket, whatever might be available), for some foraging might be an option, as well as growing at least a couple of greens yourself, be it in a container, on a windowsill, or the balcony, if you don't have access to a garden, or allotment, or community garden.... If you want to live healthy (and tread more lightly on the planet's resources), there are ways, and not many limits to creativity. Grains are cheaper than pasta, legumes a cheap source of healthy protein, baking bread yourself is cheaper than buying bread (and much healthier)... I could go on for quite a while, but you get the point. We ourselves are quite short on money and have to do the onion-and-carrot trick frequently, but are eating nearly 100% organic (and vegan, of course). No fake meat and other luxury vegan stuff is obviously a given in this kind of situation, too, and this is also healthier than most of the processed fake meats and cheeses and the like. If you set your priorities and intentions to human-friendly, earth-friendly and animal-friendly rather than yummy food, much is possible which wouldn't seem possible at first glance.