Prison Food: Can Inmates Eat A Healthy Diet?

Life in prison is nothing like you imagine it would be, and no one knows what it’s like until they’ve been there. We see inmates portrayed in a variety of different ways in the movies, but one thing they never get right is the food. Did you know that there is such a thing as prison food? No, we don’t mean what is served to the inmates, but recipes and concoctions that inmates have developed over the years. Is it possible for inmates to have a heathy diet and lose weight? Let’ts explore this idea.

Some People Come Out Healthier Than When They Got In

The truth is that inmates don’t have much to do – and some are able to use their never-ending days to improve themselves. If you’ve seen Gucci Mane weight loss photos when he first got out of prison, you will understand what I mean. Of course, some inmates prefer to focus their attention on reading or getting a GED. However, it seems that working out is also a very popular activity. Even if the inmates aren’t eating the healthiest foods, they are exploring the flavors that they can extract from a small piece of meat, or the nutrition they can find behind bars. 

It’s Not Easy To Cook Behind Bars

When you think of all the utensils you need to have with you when making even the simplest of meals, most of them aren’t available to inmates. Most importantly, they don’t have access to knives. When it comes to healthy eating, inmates do not have access to fresh fruit and vegetables – which are very important in practically all healthy diet plans. So inmates have to make do with what they’ve got. They may resort to restricting their calorie intake, eating very small quantities of food because all they have access to is highly processed. If someone wanted to change their lifestyle in prison, the healthiest food they may find would be beans or canned tuna. Of course, neither constitutes a food meal. Note that may prison have also banned food being sent in by the inmates’ relatives or friends from the outside. 

The Bottom Line

Getting in shape in prison may be easy with regards to exercise – all they have is time that can be used to work out. But when it comes to eating better meals, inmates are stuck with measly meals and unhealthy processed foods. They need to improvise more often than not, and most inmates have a very unhealthy diet. Neither the food served to inmates, nor the food available at the commissary, can be considered even remotely healthy by any standards. If you know of anyone who has made it out of prison more fit than when they went in, just know that they had to overcome many obstacles that people on the outside can’t even begin to imagine. Of course, every state and every prison is different, and when you compare the prison system in other countries, there may be some hope for prisoners.

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