Inflation means higher food prices, which impacts healthy eating

• Federal officials earlier this month said inflation hit a 40-year high and the consumer price index jumped 8.5% annually. For those who were already struggling, the rapid increases are forcing e
  ven tougher choices about what, when and how often to eat.
• On average, Americans spend about 10% of their income on food. The poorest Americans pay closer to 30%.
• Experts worry high food prices mean more children will grow up with poor nutrition, setting more kids up for a lifetime of health problems, from obesity to diabetes.

AURORA, Colo. – Kevin Tave stretches a pot of spaghetti for three days of meals. Esmerelda Cortez gets eggs and bread from the food bank so she can afford laundry detergent at the store. Donnie Whitfield buys generic cereal instead of the Kellogg’s he prefers.

Although unemployment continues dropping and wages are on the rise, all across the country, low-income people are struggling to put food on the table as skyrocketing inflation and high gas prices take a bigger bite of their already-small paychecks.