Assignment 7 - Testing the Hypothesis

• Many people in the U.S. who make under a certain amount of money do not have ready access to healthy, nutritional food for themselves and their families. This is partially the reason why we have such a high obesity rate in our country.
• The who: Lower/middle class Americans and their families
• The what: They lack access to healthy food, like fruits and vegetables
• The why: The wages that they make cannot afford them these options
• Testing the who: As mentioned, this mainly affects lower/middle class Americans, but it can also affect many students who feel like they do not have time to balance working and studying.
• Testing the what: It may not affect all people in this category depending on where they live, local prices, and if they have access to fresh produce some other way (if they have a garden, etc.)
• Testing the why: I believe that the majority of people who have this need may blame the minimum wage, which would make fresh foods inaccessible. However, for other people it may also have to do with lack of time to cook healthy food due to long work hours or something similar to this. This still normally ties back into wages, however. If they are working long hours to make better money, this would give them less time in the day to provide meals for their family. 
• Interview #1: Melony
• Melony is my roommate and has been for the past two years. She not only grew up in a low-income household, but has had to support herself independently since she has moved to Gainesville for college. To afford rent, food, car payments, and more, she has has to work full time throughout her entire college career in addition to being a full-time student. Not only does she find that her budget is still tight even with her less healthy, processed diet, but she is rarely home to make healthier meals for herself. She does not have the time to eat healthier because of her income. 
• Interview #2: Natalie
• Natalie is one of my friends that I met in class almost 4 years ago now, and she has some support from her mother as far as money. However, her mom cannot provide her with much due to being a single mother. Natalie works part time and is a student at UF, and her mom bought her a meal plan knowing that she is usually either on campus or at work. Natalie feels that most meal plan options could be healthier, and she frequently finds herself eating fast food because of convenience and affordability. 
• Interview #3: Jacqui
• Jacqui is my boss at my place of work, and has been a manager for 2 years now. She luckily makes decent income for someone in her upper 20's, but she has a large family back home that she has to help provide for. Not to mention, she is usually in the office from 8 am to 7pm. She tries to go to the gym after work, but then arrives home at around 8:30 - 9 PM, leaving her exhausted after her 13 hour day. The financial stress that she has having to support other family members leaves her with these long work days, after which she has less money and time to provide herself with healthy options. 
• Interview #4: Ryan
• Ryan is a manager at a local fast food restaurant that is in his low 30's. He is going back to school at Santa Fe, but also has a baby and a girlfriend that he provides partial funding for. With the cost of classes combined with the expenses of a young child, as well as a spouse, he finds it very difficult to plan healthy meals for everyone. He usually ends up eating pre-packaged foods, or fast food when he is at work. 
• Interview #5: Marco
• Marco is a maintenance serviceman at my apartment complex. He works long hours, often being on property at 7am and leaving at 6pm. He lives an hour outside of Gainesville with his wife and kids, but makes $35,000 a year. This living wage does not provide for feeding five people healthy food on a daily basis, so he frequently gets his kids cheap fast food and things like Lunchables. 
• I have found that people's situations are often more complicated than it just being how much money they make. The lack of nutritious food in their diets is often related to food and time, but each person usually has their own situation which is unique to them.