Food Stamp Users May Get Fat

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.

It'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.

Why 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.

Yeah let's bash on the poor fatties some more! Target-rich environment.

I 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.

$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?

Isn'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.

My 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.

Great 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.

Beans, 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. :)

OK, 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.

I 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.

i 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.

My 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.

This 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.