Why Don’t Americans Eat More Fruits and Vegetables?

Produce is often expensive and can be hard to find. But it may be easier to improve your diet than you think. Here’s what you can do.

The official U.S. guidelines recommend that half our daily food should come from fruits and vegetables, but few of us approach that ideal. Only 12 percent of Americans eat enough fruit, and only 10 percent eat enough vegetables, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Why do we neglect food that would help us stay thinner and healthier?

Some might say that steak is regarded as manly, vegetables and fruit aren’t available, produce is too pricey and time-consuming to stock and prepare, and vegetables and fruit can’t compete with processed foods.

All of those factors add to the problem.

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Manly meat

Remember the saying “Real men don’t eat quiche”? The truth is that Americans do think that eating meat is a sign of masculinity, according to a review of research.

“To the strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, All-American male, red meat is a strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, All-American food," the authors write. "Soy is not. To eat it, they would have to give up a food they saw as strong and powerful like themselves for a food they saw as weak and wimpy."

In other words, a man is more likely to buy a hamburger than a spinach salad or bean burger (or quiche).

Rather than sticking to a no-meat or all-vegan rule (which also excludes fish and dairy), Americans have become more likely to mix it up, eating meat occasionally but opting for vegetarian or entirely plant-based meals sometimes. About 22 percent of women say they eat an occasional vegan meal, compared to 18 percent of men. Women are also slightly more likely to be vegetarian.  

Lack of vegetables and fruit

Even if we grant that half of the population is culturally biased towards a meat-heavy dinner, at first glance that doesn’t explain why men don’t also eat vegetables or why women eat so few.

Our farm system is geared towards meat production, which affects the price of other food. Less than 2 percent of U.S. farm acres are devoted to vegetables, and that percentage has been shrinking.

Farm policy subsidizes corn and soybeans, which are used as feed for livestock, biofuels, and as processed food ingredients. U.S. farmers are increasing their corn and soybean acreage and have few incentives to grow produce. 

According to Barry Popkin, a nutritionist and economist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, “the difference is such a huge magnitude of long-term investment that it would take an awful lot to make fruits and vegetables cheap like they should be.”

In fact, the country doesn’t produce as much fresh produce as we’d need, or the desired variety, if we all ate healthily. According to figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), more than a third of the vegetables grown and processed for Americans are potatoes, which aren’t the kind of vegetables nutritionists have in mind. Tomatoes and lettuce are the next most popular crops.

There you have it: The standard lettuce-and-tomato side salad and baked or mashed potato or French fries in a meal that stresses steak, along with ice cream for dessert.

Convenience and price

Vegetable prices have risen more slowly than other food prices. Although in some areas and neighborhoods it’s hard to find a variety of fruits and vegetables or they’re very expensive, that’s not generally true.

Around the country, the perception of vegetables and fruits as pricy may have more to do with convenience. We have less time — and money — to spare for parts of the meal that we think of as “extra,” rather than the main event.

It takes a little time to cut up and steam fresh vegetables and toss a salad. It also takes more planning to use fresh food before it goes bad.

As far as cost, when you are out of the habit of eating vegetables, you might focus on an expensive tub of already-washed spring greens or a fruit shipped from far away, decide against it, and skip the “healthy stuff.”

Yet if you consider vegetables and fruit as essentials, you’re more likely to stock up on frozen items, stop by a farmer’s market, or build cheap meals around vegetables and beans. According to a USDA study, it’s possible to satisfy your daily dietary needs for $2 and change.

Competition from processed food

The explanation obvious to any parent or dieter is the availability of convenience foods packed with fat, sugar, and salt, all designed to make you overeat so you’ll spend more money. When a child sees soda, chips, and candy bars in the vending machine, the apple doesn’t taste so sweet.   

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