A panhandling woman in a wheelchair stopped me yesterday at Waterfront Skytrain station asking for help. Unless I’ve become familiar with the panhandler, I don’t like giving out money, so I offered to buy her some food. 

“Oh yes, I want a Frappuccino,” she said, indicating the Starbucks behind me.

I hesitated. I am a health nut who has taken kinesiology courses in health and nutrition in university. Frankly, the thought of a Frappuccino disgusted me. It is essentially a concoction of caffeine, saturated fat, sugar (a ton of it), and very likely also some artificial additives. 

There’s not much in there that’s good for you – especially if you are already a poorly nourished low-income person to begin with, and especially if you are a poorly nourished low-income person who chooses to eat junk over nutrient-dense foods. It’s not that I never eat unhealthy food myself, but I make sure to limit these foods and to balance it out with other healthy choices. 

I offered to buy the woman bakery goods, expensive fruit smoothies, water – anything but the frappuccino, but the Frappuccino was all she wanted. I wished her good luck and turned to go. She seemed quite upset and she chased me with the words: “Why should I have to eat [only] what you like?”

A damn good point.

Health and nutrition are important. That I could get laughed at in certain social circles for saying this is telling of why our society is where it is; The top 3 leading causes of death in Canada are cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke — all of which are diet-related diseases (source: Statistics Canada and my Kinesiology course materials). And if that weren’t enough, there are still other consequences. Our government will end up paying billions of dollars in medical costs for poor food choices. Additionally, many junk foods are manufactured by corporations using methods that are harmful to the environment and to good working conditions.

This is not what I want to support with my money, and it is certainly not what I would feel is ethical to give to someone else to put in their body. When I come across coupons for free food from McDonalds, I throw them away. I don’t consider McDonalds food — I would gladly buy a panhandler something from a cafe instead (and I have on many occasions). Once when I felt unable to say no to a more aggressive (but by no means dangerous) panhandler, he got me to buy him $30 worth of candy bars and pop. I felt like a sinking stone for the rest of the day. In contrast, there is another panhandler I see sometimes by Waterfront. His face lights up like nothing else when I give him bananas and I feel good about that transaction.

It’s like when my grandfather was dying in the hospital, and the hospital meals sometimes consisted of processed foods with artificial additives in the ingredients. I thought, can’t we do any better for our grandpa? I want him to have healthy, fresh, and wholesome food. On the other hand, a nurse told us to stress less about my grandpa’s diet and to feed the dying man whatever he asked for – ice cream, sweets, whatever. Your grandpa’s happiness is what’s important now, he told us. But what an affront it is to be dying from poor diet choices due to a culture that celebrates exactly that — and then to continue those poor diet choices until your death because it’s what makes you happy! Is there no end to this cycle?

But I know what it’s like to be deprived of choice due to a limited budget. Obviously I am nowhere as economically limited as the people whom I give food to, but I can imagine. The free market has its problems, but it allows me to eat rice whenever I want, or buy extra food for friends if I’m inviting them over. I can buy ingredients to bake a cake or make a salad when I want. Having money gives you the freedom of choice, and to be deprived of your ability to choose is demeaning. I get that. Even if I don’t want to eat out, I’d like to have enough money to be able to choose in case I do.

So while I could be feeding someone’s dignity by getting them what they want, usually when I ask panhandlers for their preference, I am asked to buy the equivalent of McDonalds. I’ve been asked to buy cigarettes even. Is an individual’s dignity and right to choose worth the health, environmental and social consequences? I don’t think so, but neither is it a small sacrifice.

It’s tempting to be classist and say that this is a class problem, that low-income people are uneducated and more likely to choose poor quality foods. But I know plenty of middle-class people like myself who eat absolute junk (I had a colleague at Agriculture Canada who ate and still exclusively eats meat dishes and fast food). I know I have already put myself in a classist position just by being in a situation where I can choose for low-income people what they can or cannot eat.

I strongly believe that when it comes to health, people who can’t make good choices must be taught and encouraged, especially if they have pressing nutritional needs. They must be taught and encouraged to use their freedom of choice responsibly. Cosmo’s grandmother, who is recovering poorly from a stroke, still eats nothing but saturated fats and refuses to eat fruits and vegetables. There’s a reason why Food Banks have nutritionist advisors. Choosing what you want to eat is not like choosing what you want to watch on TV. The consequences can be much more dire, and we all pay the price. 

I don’t want to be judgemental. Very often it makes me the bad guy. I guess this is my way of caring, and I don’t understand why people wouldn’t.