Why healthy eating
feels hard

Overview

Cost is the leading barrier adults name when healthy eating feels hard, even though many already think about ultra-processed food.

Roughly 40% say healthy foods are too expensive. About 32% say it was at least somewhat hard for their household to regularly get and eat healthy foods over the last 12 months.

Topline

40% say healthy foods are too expensive.

Which, if any, of the following reasons were true for you or your household in the last 12 months.

Healthy foods are too expensive. 39.9%
None of the above. 35.2%
Some of the traditional foods in my family are not very healthy. 18.5%
I don't have enough time to cook or shop for healthy foods. 12.8%
I or my family don't like the taste of healthy foods. 8.7%
Stores or food pantries with healthy foods are too far away, hard to reach, or I don't have a car or other transportation to reach them. 8.3%

2026 · base n 1,000 · +/- 3.5%

Module 5: Health, Community, & Personal Values

View source data

Cost is the most common barrier to healthy eating

About 40% of adults say healthy foods are too expensive, making cost the most common barrier selected in this question.

Other barriers are less common. Roughly 19% point to traditional family foods, 13% say they do not have enough time to cook or shop, and 9% say they or their family do not like the taste of healthy foods.

Topline

51% try to avoid or never eat ultra-processed foods.

Do you think about whether a food is ultra-processed when deciding whether or not to eat it?

Yes, I try to avoid eating ultra-processed foods 47.2%
No 39.0%
Don't know 7.3%
Yes, I never eat any ultra-processed foods 4.2%
Yes, I try to eat ultra-processed foods 1.9%
Yes, I only ever eat ultra-processed foods 0.3%

2026 · base n 1,000 · +/- 3.5%

Module 5: Health, Community, & Personal Values

View source data

Healthy eating is hard for about one-third of adults

About 32% of adults say it was very hard, hard, or somewhat hard for their household to regularly get and eat healthy foods over the last 12 months.

A larger share says it was not very hard or not hard at all, but the barrier question shows cost remains the clearest friction among those named.

Many adults already think about ultra-processed food

About 51% of adults say they either try to avoid ultra-processed foods or never eat them, while 39% say they do not think about whether a food is ultra-processed when deciding whether to eat it.

Familiarity with formal dietary guidance is mixed. Roughly 52% say they are at least somewhat familiar with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, while 48% are not very familiar or not at all familiar.

Methodology

Full methodology

Mode: Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting
Population: US adults age 18+
Field dates: 2026-03-06 → 2026-03-16
Base (unweighted): 1,000
Margin of error: +/- 3.5%
Module: Module 5: Health, Community, & Personal Values
Sponsor: Verasight
Weight variable: weight
Weighting targets: age, race/ethnicity, sex, income, education, region, metropolitan status

Sources

[4]

Citation

Verasight Client Omnibus Survey #2026-044, fielded March 6-16, 2026, N=1,000 US adults age 18+, +/- 3.5%.

https://reports.verasight.io/reports/omnibus-2026-044#q-5-29