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Experts in the Media: Eating Habits of People Who Grew Up Poor

Sarah Hill, Ph.D, professor of psychology helped reporters explore how early life poverty continues to foster food preferences and mental associations around eating.

Sep 29, 2025

2 min

Sarah Hill


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Sarah Hill, Ph.D, professor of psychology, contributed insights to an AOL article, “Eating Habits of People Who Grew Up Poor,” exploring how early life poverty continues to foster food preferences and mental associations around eating. The piece examines why many adults raised in low-income households feel “unnatural” when switching from inexpensive comfort foods to fresh produce and how habits formed in scarcity can linger long after financial hardships subside.


Hill emphasizes that these patterns aren’t just personal quirks but deeply ingrained coping strategies.


“For someone who rarely saw fresh fruits or vegetables growing up, the cost, smell, even the way they cut or cook produce, can feel foreign,” she wrote.


The article also discusses how scarcity conditioning can lead to behaviors like eating beyond fullness to avoid waste, attachment to “cheap staples” or resistance to change in diet, even when healthy choices are available. Hill argues that recognizing these habits with compassion, as adaptations rather than flaws, is key to promoting lasting healthy change.


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Sarah Hill is currently a researcher and professor at TCU, lead research advisor at 28, and a thought leader in the area of women’s hormones and sexual psychology. Sarah’s groundbreaking research has resulted in more than 80 research publications. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, The Economist, and on television shows like Good Morning and The Today Show.


See her profile here.


The full article is available here:



Looking to know more - simply click on Sarah's icon below to arrange an interview time today.

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Sarah Hill

Sarah Hill

Professor, Psychology

Dr. Hill specializes in research on women's sexual psychology, sex hormones, and the birth control pill.

Women's PsychologySex HormonesThe Birth Control PillInterpersonal RelationshipsMenstrual Cycle
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