When the economy decides what is on your plate, something deeper than hunger is being taken from you.

There is a version of eating that has nothing to do with choice. You do not decide what your body is asking for or what would nourish you best at the end of a long day. You turn to whatever is there. You cook what you can afford and eat because the alternative is not eating at all, and you have already done that too many times this week.

In my survey of 231 Nigerians, 92 people said that, compared with 2023, their eating patterns had changed and they were now eating whatever was available. They did not focus on healthy choices or dietary preferences, just whatever was available. That phrase makes it sound like our agency is leaving the room.

That is not a small number. It represents 40% of everyone I surveyed. When I looked more closely at who these people are and what else they are carrying alongside this change in eating patterns, the picture became much harder to look away from.

The 92 people eating whatever is available are not a homogeneous group. They are students and full-time employees, young adults and people over 50, men and women. However, they share a striking financial profile. Of the 92, 72 rated their financial stress at 4 or 5 out of 5. Another 62 said the economy had severely or moderately affected their ability to afford nutritious food, while 80 said it had affected their mental health, either slightly or significantly.

What this tells me is that eating whatever is available rarely travels alone. It comes packaged with poor sleep, social withdrawal, skipped meals and persistent anxiety. These things feed each other in a cycle that is very hard to interrupt from the inside. The food situation worsens the mental state, and the mental state makes it harder to think clearly about food. And so it goes.

“It feels like I am constantly calculating.” One respondent wrote that. Another said it feels like “a never-ending loop of living dangerously below your means.” These are people doing the mathematics of survival every single day, and food is one of the hardest sums to solve.

The WHO definition of food security includes not just access to enough food, but access to nutritious food that supports an active and healthy life. By that definition, 92 people in my survey, about 40%, are living in a state of food insecurity, and most of them know it. Only one of the 92 said the economy had not affected their ability to afford nutritious food.

What people are doing
Within this group, 29 people said they were still trying to eat intentionally for their health. This is remarkable, given what they are working against. It means that almost a third of the people eating whatever is available are simultaneously trying to make that whatever count. They are being resourceful inside a very tight space.

God, prayer, family, and hope are common themes I see as anchors. One person wrote simply: “Nothing. I am hanging on a tiny line of hope that one day everything will be better.” Another said what keeps them strong is “my mom and fruits.” That response made me smile and hurt at the same time because the fruits cost something too.

What can help
The FAO and WHO both frame nutrition under economic pressure as a question of food diversity, not food perfection. The goal is to widen the range of what is available slightly, using the cheapest possible additions, rather than trying to achieve an ideal diet that the budget cannot support.

As a mental health nutritionist, I recommend the following approaches, which are grounded in evidence and workable within Nigerian food realities:

1. Add colour where you can, not where you cannot
Dark green leaves like ugu, bitter leaf, and waterleaf are among the cheapest and most nutritious vegetables in Nigerian markets. Adding a handful to whatever soup or stew you are already making costs almost nothing and meaningfully improves a meal’s nutritional profile.

2. Legumes are the most underused mental health food in Nigeria
Beans, cowpeas and lentils are affordable, filling and rich in folate, magnesium and tryptophan, all of which support mood regulation and reduce anxiety. Research published in nutritional psychiatry journals consistently identifies legume consumption as protective against symptoms of depression, even in low-resource settings. If there is one shift to make when the budget is tight, it is to eat beans more regularly.

3. Prioritise at least one intentional meal a day

Even if two meals are reactive and unplanned, deciding what one meal will be and preparing it with some thought changes the psychological relationship with food. Research on perceived dietary control shows that people who feel some agency over what they eat report lower stress and better mood, independent of the food’s actual nutritional quality.

Whatever is available does not have to mean whatever comes. Even inside a tight space, small choices exist. Finding them, naming them, and prioritising them is where nutritional recovery begins.

Forty per cent of my survey respondents are eating whatever is available. This is a systemic problem that needs systemic solutions, but while we wait, the body still needs to eat tomorrow.

Jane Ibude is a mental health nutritionist and founder of Thrive and Heal Hub, a platform that creates safe spaces for Nigerians and people in the diaspora to unpack their experiences through food, culture, and mental wellbeing.