I've read that health experts fear the economy will make Americans gain "recession pounds." The theory is that lower incomes will force people to cut back on healthy but relatively expensive items such as fresh fish, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in favor of cheaper options high in sugar and saturated fats. Do you think this is true?

Yes I do.

Food prices are a lot higher than they were 2 years ago.
When you have a limited amount of money and your trying to feed yourself/family your going to go for the cheapest most filling foods available to you.

Some lower income people live in areas where the stores don't carry fresh items because they don't sell due to less food dollar to go around. Those people really don't have the financial resources for transportation to stores which do carry the fresher things.

I know someone who has been laid off. There are very few jobs here and a lot of competition for the few there are. His family has been living on his unemployment which has to cover bills and food. There's never enough money to cover it all.
He had begun following a well known weight loss program at home. When I asked how it was going he replied that it has lasted only a few days because they'd been eating hot dogs and bologna.
As he said when you don't have the money you buy what you can get.
That makes me very sad.