Food Stamp Users May Get Fat
Call me insensitive, but if someone is on food stamps, I assume they're hungry, underfed and skinny, not at increased risk of becoming obese!
It's ironic, but it may be true. A new study shows a "strong linkage" between U.S. Food Stamp Programs and weight-gain.
So, what's the problem? It comes down to money. Food stamps might feed you, but not feed you healthfully.
The research, published in the journal Economics and Human Biology, examined weight fluctuations in 4,000 people receiving food stamps, and 6,000 people not in any program for 14 years.
Data revealed female food stamps users had a Body Mass Index 1.15 points higher than women not participating in a food stamp program. This translates into an average increase of 5.8 pounds of weight.
Here's why: monthly food stamp allotment amounts to roughly $81 per person. What would you buy--pricey fruits and vegetables? Or, a 50-pound bag of coco sugar puffs that will last a month?
Via Reuters.
It isn't that food stamps allow people to buy unhealthy food. It's that it allows people to buy the most calorically dense food.
If you get $81 dollars and spend it on fruits and vegetables, you'll starve.
Evolutionarily speaking, it's no surprise to find people seeking out the most calorically dense food. Biological processes require first sufficient energy. Your body doesn't care if you're eating healthy if you're also starving.
Reply$81 would buy a lot of rice, dried beans, corn, even bread. Heck, i always have a tupperware in the fridge full of lima beans (cooked from dried) that i snack on.. my friends think im nuts.
ReplyI agree with Barry.
ReplyIt's worth observing that ultimately, almost all government social programs are trying to act in opposition to natural selection.
Natural selection would allow those unfit for survival to die off. Government is trying to keep those not fit for survival alive as long as possible. Humane perhaps. Wise for the long-term betterment of society in general? Who knows.
ReplyHi Hitler!
ReplyOh look another hippy blind to reality
ReplyJust saying that anyone espousing "Social Darwinism" is treading on thin social ice!
ReplyI agree it is unpalatable but that doesn't mean that we can reverse evolution in it's entirety under the premise that it is more "humane". For that matter the article basically says we are just killing them slowly, isn't that more cruel?
Reply"Government is trying to keep those not fit for survival alive as long as possible."
You mean like banks and car companies? Y'know, those organizations run by the fair-weather capitalists with Harvard MBAs?
ReplyThe government is not acting contrary to evolution that's ridiculous. That's a complete straw man of the welfare system. Do you even understand basic logic and philosophy. The obesity issue I believe is cause by the massive ignorance and foolish behavior of most impoverished people sadly the young of those generations must suffer for their parents mistakes and the dysfunction of their surrounding community. The obesity is just another factor of what poor environment has on dysfunctional behavior. Its sad that many poor people must endure such hardship especially so because many poor are actually very capable but are not given even ground having to endure a dysfunctional community background due to their economic impoverished environment in other words ghetto is ghetto. The world is duplicitous natural selection is over millions of years moron it has nothing to do with individual states or environments ever heard of the philosophy of functionalism my god the ignorance. You must be reading way too much Thomas Sowell rhetoric.
ReplyWhy don't they limit what types of food items food stamps can be spent on? They are already limited to food - meaning you can't use them to buy toilet paper or tampons (both essentials of life as well). Why can't they just limit it so that food stamps can only be spent on produce, dairy, meat, and bread? Then if people still want coco puffs, they spend their own money on it.
ReplyIt's a hard thing to police. Where's the line? Is rice okay? Pasta? What about canned fruits and veggies? Only okay if not preserved in syrup? What about oatmeal? Pasta sauce?
ReplyAnn - I know a few people who use what is considered "food stamps" - around here they give you a dollar amount on a pre-paid credit card so you could buy whatever you wanted at the grocery store if it were food or other essentials needs.
ReplyPam, what you're seeing is an EBT or electronic benefits card. But those cards can be loaded with two different kinds of benefits: food stamps and "cash." Cash is funds like child support that have to be paid in to agencies, and can be spent on a variety of necessities. Food stamps can only be spent on food or plants and seeds that grow food, like tomato plants or seeds to plant squash, for example. Food stamps cannot be used on prepared foods, like a meal from the deli, or for other necessities like toilet paper or dish soap. If you see someone using an EBT card for those kinds of purchases, they're using a different benefit, not food stamps. HTH.
ReplyLOL! Toilet paper and tampons are NOT necessities of life! They are modern conveniences. Please think about what people did before we had such amenities. In my own lifetime (I'll be 40 this year), while growing up poor, my mother sometimes being on food stamps or living in another country that was years behind the western countries, we relied on water and cloth cut into strips and folded. You washed and reused them.
ReplyI agree with her, because it made me kind of angry when I saw a woman buying over 10 boxes of candy canes with food stamps! That is abusing the privilege, in my opinion...
ReplyYeah let's bash on the poor fatties some more! Target-rich environment.
ReplyI think some of this is that in the areas where the poor live, there is not access to places that sell some of the healthier foods and/or there is back to back cheap fast food.
I do think there are ways to eat healthier on a limited budget & plenty of information out there on the internet but I doubt some of the poor are researching that OR maybe don't have a computer. I really don't know.
ReplyLet them shop at Whole Foods like me. Yeee I'm so superior!!!
Replydigital divide. You'd be surprised how many people in this country don't have access to the internet. But access to Mickey D's? I'm not sure you can buy food at fast food places with food stamps. I hope not.
Reply$81 a month for food - that's pitiful. You can either stock your pantry with stuff like Hamburger Helper or Kraft dinner and try to eat the recommended serving size in futile hopes of not gaining weight (but still be malnourished), or spend it on lean meats and vegetables - only to starve a week later.
Perhaps they could put a discount on healthier foods for people using food stamps?
ReplyIsn't limiting foods sort of what the WIC program does? Whenever I'm in the grocery store in the center aisles, there are only a few items labeled "WIC Approved," like peanut butter, low sugar cereal, etc. Maybe it's not all incredibly healthy, but at least putting a limit like that would be a start.
ReplyMy aunt and uncle had to go on WIC when they had 2 babies at home and my uncle was only working part time while going to seminary (he's a pastor now). WIC did indeed limit the types of food you could get: they could get milk, cheese, any juice that was 100% juice (no fruit drinks), certain cereals (Cheerios, corn flakes, oatmeal, etc.), formula, peanut butter, meat and certain fruits and veggies. Therefore, most of what they bought at the store was those foods and they used their own money to buy the stuff that wasn't covered (soda, any junk food, etc.). I think the whole food-stamp program needs to be revamped to be more like the WIC program because you see so many people loading up on Ramen noodles and mac and cheese and paying for it with their Quest card.
ReplyGreat post, Gerry. I live in Louisiana where, as you probably know, there are more obese people than any other state except for Mississippi.
I was at a state health care conference a few months back, and one of the speakers said that food stamps are actually contributing to the growing obesity problem in our state. It makes sense if you think about it; low-income people are going to try to get the most for their money, even if they are using food stamps. Hamburger Helper and Ramen noodles are much cheaper than fresh produce. On the other hand, healthy items such as brown rice and dried beans are also very cheap.
I'm not sure what kind of solution there is for this problem, but I think education is part of it.
ReplyBeans, rice, tortillas and cheese are relatively cheap and a main-stay of the Latino diet. Commodity give-aways offer much of the same. In Southern California economically challenged people can eat well with calorie dense food whereas lots of veggies and lean meats would just be too expensive.
So all in all when someone has a limited budget - survival is the top priority as I think it should be. When I was poor I did not worry about getting fat but rather putting enough food on the table for my family.
Later in life - I have the luxury to moderate my foods and increase my activity level. I'm not sure what poor people are supposed to do about this or the point of this article. :)
ReplyIt's about how we rich, thin people can feel all superior to those poor, fat shlubs. Aren't you feeling the superiority?
Bush!
Reply:)
ReplyOK, this is all new to me as we don't have a food stamp system in Australia. So, I hope I don't offend my American colleagues, but $81 a month seems pathetic anyway to be helping people out with food.
We have government and charity run support centres where people who are homeless or struggling can pick up a box of food and a hot meal. So instead of giving money or food stamps they are given the food they need.
ReplyI think someone used $81 as an example. Generally, the amount of dollars in food stamps given are based on income, number of children, etc. Some families may get hundreds of dollars in food stamps per month, based on their needs.
ReplyI don't think it ever goes up to hundreds.
ReplyYes, it does go up into the hundreds. I used to get food stamps when I was on my own, going to college, and working a full-time job. I also have a child. I was receiving about $280 a month. It all just depends on your income, how many children you have, how much your bills are, etc.
ReplyI guess we are the exception. We are on both WIC and EBT Food stamps and we eat healthy foods. I find that when were not on it and I was paying for food on my salary, we could not afford healthy food, so box dinners were the only means. And for the record, we get a lot more than 81 per person. I wont disclose the actual amount due to it being based on income.
Currently I am unemployed so with very little income coming in and EBT food stamps, I know my family is fed. Depending on your situation, being on EBT food stamps is a good way to turn healthy. But you have to be willing to do it. Both my wife and I have alot of weight to lose, but we understand that we brought it on ourselves. We have given up red meat, box meals, pasta (unless it is whole grain) and cut down on potatoes a lot. We eat a lot of veggies, and chicken/Turkey.
ReplyRoger, you make a good point. This is not about food stamps so much as it is about people's eating habits. Some people like the junkier food, and would buy it whether they are spending their own money or food stamps.
Eighty-one dollars is certainly a small amount to spend at the grocery, but I think in theory, it could be done (with the assumption this is all food, no paper towels, etc). It would be bulk stuff, and pretty much everything you would have to prepare yourself. Lot of work, and not much fun, but it could be done.
Replyi worked in a grocery store for many years. i would see two extremes of food stamp users. first were the ones that have been mentioned here several times with the ramen noodles and kraft mac & cheese. those people needed those food stamps just to survive. the other group really ticked me off. the ones with a cart full of porterhouse steaks, lobsters, and out of season organic veggies. they were also the first in line for signing their kids up for the donated xmas gifts and precooked delivered holiday dinners.
ReplyI don't see a problem with people doing that. Organic is recommended for small children. A lobster tastes like heaven when you have no shoes on your feet. If those people had all the money in the world they'd buy the same stuff, so what's the problem?
ReplyThe only difference is the lobster would be from a restaurant for 5 times the price.
ReplyMy family is on food stamps and WIC, we have a family of four and only my husband works. We have a toddler and an infant. WIC and food stamps both are a God send. There were months that me and my husband would basically live on mac and cheese because it was cheap and filling. But we always made sure that our children were fed.
But now that I was able to get us on Food Stamps that has changed and we can actually buy the things that we like to eat. But yes, eating healthy is hard. Especially since we live in a smaller town that doesn't have a farmers market or whole food stores. Luckily Sam's just started taking Food Stamps so being able to buy meat in bulk has been a real help. It allows us to be able to buy the more healthy things like fruits and veggies. It is hard, but if you try you can persevere and not buy all the junk food and unhealthy foods that taste sooo good.
ReplyThis is really the most ignorant piece of garbage I have had the displeasure of reading on the web in quite awhile!& it's not at all factually founded. SAD.
ReplyI just spent $90 on my fruits, veggies, and herbs for ONE week! I think stamps with different food groups on them is a better solution. For instance, for every 1 meat stamp you have they give you 1 starch stamp and 3 produce stamps. Kind of balances it out. Will cost the government more $$ since the higher percentage of produce will cost more, but they don't seem to care about spending money so that shouldn't be an issue.
ReplyI have food stamps, and have lost weight! And am healthy! I make the right decisions, exercise a lot, and there is no excuse for weight gain! It's those people buying boxes of mac n cheese, eating the whole box at a time that makes people gain weight, and being depressed, and sitting about while being depressed. Been there done that, won't do that again!
ReplyYou can also use them at places like Papa Murphy's, which I don't think should be allowed.
ReplyI work with teenage moms, the poor, and the uneducated on a daily basis. That is what I do for a living. Although I find it hard to compete with the vast number of government programs they qualify for, I attempt to teach them how not to be victims.
I ask my students point blank about their finances. Almost all are on welfare or some sort of government aid and almost all of them spend ridiculous amounts of money on soda and other forms of junk food every month - much more than they would be spending if they chose to eat healthy. The only items people cannot purchase with food stamps are alcohol, hot food, and tobacco products. These people are being enabled by the government programs that are there to, supposedly, help them.
I have done math problems with my students at my desk pointing out how much they are spending on sodas and chips every month. They don’t care. They even laugh. Soups and casseroles go a long way and do not cost nearly as much, but they don’t bother cooking healthy dishes. They don’t have to.
For supposed advocates of the poor to say that people receiving food stamps may not have the means to access kitchen equipment or cannot afford healthy food is not only insulting to those receiving this aid but shows how out of touch with reality these advocates truly are. Middle-class guilt can be blinding. This is America — land of over-consumption. I go to yard sales on a regular basis and find beautiful pots, pans, etc. for next to nothing. These items are often new. And healthy food can, indeed, be inexpensive to make. Even rural areas often have discount grocery stores like the Grocery Outlet, Food Maxx, and Winco. When I was growing up, I lived in a rural area, and we did not have such stores available to us. Even though my family qualified for food stamps, we stuck to the basics and made it work without taking aid. Things are actually much easier in this respect in present-day America. Discount stores like the Grocery Outlet often have high quality, even gourmet options at very low prices. I know this because I shop at these establishments.
Why are people using food stamps to purchase food they know is unhealthy? Most of my students don’t work, so time is not the issue. My students either have cars or receive free bus passes from the welfare department, so transportation is not the issue. Every thrift shop has cheap cookbooks, so knowledge is not the issue. My students know that what they are eating on a daily basis is unhealthy. They are not stupid. We need to stop treating poor people in this country like they are ignorant, helpless puppies. They are not idiots. They are just being enabled - enabled by the programs that are supposed to be helping them.
ReplyIt is probably true that if people were not allowed to purchase junk food with food stamps, they would still purchase some of these items with the cash aid they receive. However, the amount of toxic foods being consumed would be greatly reduced. By allowing people to purchase junk food with food stamps we are promoting obesity and showing how little we care about those in need.