Memphis & Nutrition

A new study just put a number on something a lot of us already feel in our bones: Tennessee ranked 43rd out of 50 states for childhood nutrition. Not "needs improvement." Near the bottom, alongside a cluster of other Southern states.

The numbers are hard to look away from. More than 7 in 10 Tennessee kids under 5 have a sugary drink at least once a week, well above the national average. Fewer than half eat vegetables daily. And nearly 1 in 5 young kids in our state live in poverty, which makes "just eat healthier" a lot easier said than done.

Why This Is Personal for Memphis?

Statewide numbers don't fall evenly. Memphis carries more than its share of food insecurity, and that reality touches almost every family here in some way, a cousin, a classroom, a neighbor down the street. This isn't a distant statistic. It's the corner store standing in for a grocery store. It's a household stretching a paycheck between rent and produce. It's a kid whose energy, focus, and mood at school are quietly shaped by what's in the fridge at home.

Why Gen Z and Young People Matter Here

Nutrition habits aren't fixed; they're learned, and they're taught. By parents, older siblings, coaches, mentors, and yes, by what shows up on a Gen Z TikTok feed. Young people in Memphis are uniquely positioned to shift this story:

• You set the tone for the next generation. Habits picked up at 5 years old often trace back to what an older sibling, cousin, or babysitter modeled.

• You have the loudest microphone. Gen Z didn't invent food culture online, they reshaped. it, from meal-prep videos to calling out what's actually in ultra-processed snacks. That same energy can spotlight real access issues in our own city. Y

• ou're the future of this city's health. The choices normalized now. Water over soda, a piece of fruit instead of chips, cooking a simple meal instead of defaulting to fast food, compound over decades.

Small Moves, Real Impact

Nobody needs a lecture about kale. What actually moves the needle in a city like Memphis looks more like:

• Swapping one sugary drink a day for water- that single change, at scale, could undo a big chunk of that above-average soda statistic.

• Supporting or volunteering at local efforts already doing this work. Mid-South Food Bank, church food pantries, schoolbreakfast/lunch programs, community gardens in neighborhoods like Binghampton and Orange Mound.

• Cooking one meal a week with family instead of ordering out, and bringing younger siblings or cousins into the kitchen.

• Talking about food access honestly on social media instead of pretending healthy eating is just a matter of willpower.

The Bottom Line is that Tennessee's ranking isn't a verdict on Memphis families, but is a signal that the systems around food access, affordability, and education need work. But systems change because people, especially youth, are willing to make noise and make small changes.