O/T "Hunger" In America; Maybe It's Just Me But. . .

Does anyone see the dichotomy here? All the time on television and in the stores there are campaigns to "stamp out hunger" in the United States.

Every time I see a "poor" person at the grocery store or in Walmart, they are usually of the non-slim variety with LOADS of junque food in their cart purchased courtesy of EBT (Every Bodies Taxes).

Meanwhile we hear constantly of a child obesity pandemic in the U.S.

I will admit that there is a MALNOURISHMENT problem in that people on social services tend to buy pre-prepared junk with their EBT cards. And it was surprising to see all the stuff WIC covers nowadays! Breakfast cereal that may or may not be loaded with artificial dyes and chemicals as long as it proclaims "whole grain" on the box.

Donning my flame suit.

thinkthrice's blog
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I feel like I should point

I feel like I should point out... organic does not equal healthy.

My bioson was always

My bioson was always extremely thin as well. Didn't get that from ME!! LOL! A local radio commentator was saying the other day how the "community gardens" always go to hell because the "poor people" couldn't be bothered weeding, sowing or harvesting.

I used to work for subsidized housing and boy it opened my eyes. Most people on these programs have an entitlement mentality that would knock your socks off.

one thing i did learn pretty

one thing i did learn pretty quickly having worked in a grocery store is that if the state (at least here in MA) has garnished a dad's wages for child support, the child support is paid to the mom via an EBT card. so its not always foodstamps or WIC that's on that card.

that said, tho, the gross abuse i saw with EBT was awful. nothing can stop a poor mom from living with a rich boyfriend whose income does not count.

i always knew the truly very poor families by what they bought - ground meat, bags of potatoes, things that would make multiple meals and stretch across the month. they didnt wear designer clothes and their handbags were not from Prada or Coach (nor were they even nice knockoffs).

i support WIC as its very specific in what you can buy - i.e., one gallon store brand milk, one pound of store brand cheese, one dozen large eggs. oddly, i saw very few of these vouchers come thru my line.

Poor people have always

Poor people have always typically been the heaviest. This is because cheap processed food is very carb heavy. Imagine you go to a store with 2 dollars to spend on food for your family. A bag of chips could be bought that everyone could eat or you could get a tiny amount of fruit that will not fill everyone up. Not arguing this is good, just saying that is why it happens.
In the case of people who have food stamps and make bad choices with it, often they are young and not well educated. Often the food stamp allotment is the most "money" they have ever had to manage and they don't do it well.
I have volunteered at the feeding program at my church for years. I cam promise you there are many hungry people in the USA.

What if you live in a food

What if you live in a food desert and don't have access to the aforementioned healthy fare?

Where are you going to put

Where are you going to put chickens or grow enough veggies to make a difference if you live on the 16th floor of a housing project? :jawdrop:

Community gardens are a joke if you live in a high population area. The few gardens that are here in Bed-Stuy can't produce enough to feed the people that live on the block they are located on, much less the whole community. There can be a few hundred families living on one block here.

The community gardens that have been in place, have to fight with the money hungry developers who want the land to build more high rises thanks to gentification. :sick:

The true hungry go without.

The true hungry go without. The people who are the working poor. Make barely over the cut off for services.

When BS was little and I wasn't in the best job, I applied for subsidized childcare so he could go to preschool. Prior to that I had been paying $300 per month for in home daycare. But I really wanted him to go to preschool. Realized that either you had to be RICH or POOR.

Anyways, I applied and I met the qualifications. But I had the highest co pay the director of the daycare/preschool had even seen. I think I paid $310 per month.

We had to check in on this computer and you could always see what everyone else had to pay and me being nosey would look at it (it was right there) and most people paid $40 per month, $100 per month (multiple kids) and they were all driving nice cars (luxury cars) and had fancy phones (I still had a basic), their kids were dressed in nice clothes.

Then a few months later I had to re-qualify and I made $1 over so I no longer qualified. So there went that and I had to pull BS out of preschool.

I do not believe, for ONE

I do not believe, for ONE second that poor people are obese because they have to eat unhealthy because it is all they can afford. Even if they have to eat unhealthy, there is a thing called portion control. At least 95% of people that I have seen using a food stamp card are overweight and drive nicer cars and have nicer phones etc. than I do. Their houses are usually crap but they would rather spend money on cars, clothes, and phones before giving their kids a nice place to live. Weird...

In my day and age, you STARTED poor and WORKED your way up. Now days, everyone want everything handed to them. If you NEEDED help, you got help...for a few months. NOT years!! People worked their asses off and it was uncomfortable for a few years but you still WORKED for what you had. You did not sit around waiting on a hand out. Ok...off my soap box.

I disagree. When I was in

I disagree. When I was in college working two jobs and dh worked full time we barely had any money to pay for groceries so we ate TONS of pb&j sandwiches, ramen noodles, and the $2 frozen pizzas. It was seriously the most unhealthy diet ever but $50 in groceries would last a week.

Well they are no longer

Well they are no longer starving. Most are spending their money on cars, jewelry, phones, games, alcohol/drugs and relying on the government for the rest.

You know what? I sat here

You know what? I sat here for 20 minutes typing out my story. Then revised it because it was too identifying. Then posted a shorter version. Then realized that I'd still get flamed for that.

Shit,i just don't feel like being flamed right now.

I was also in that position

I was also in that position as a single mom trying to finish college with a baby daddy who ran for the hills.

The problem I saw was that so many people were able to "work" the system. People would drive up in brand new cars! I was happy if my car didn't break down once a month! I couldn't afford a basic phone line and worried constantly that something would happen to my son and I couldn't call an ambulance.

Also, even when I was on food stamps, I still used coupons. I used to have a LOT of food stamps left over every month. The government needs to spend more on educating the poor rather than just throwing money at the problem to make it go away. Too much abuse of the system and not much hope for people wanting to better their lives.

I do have to say that if the government TRULY wanted to help poor children, make "food" stamps able to buy diapers and toilet paper instead of soda and candy bars....or even worse, take and bake pizza chain pizzas!

Let me rephrase...Most of the

Let me rephrase...Most of the ones I have seen in my part of the world. And I have seen a lot. I actually worked in grocery stores for several years. One of those 2 jobs I had to have to survive.

Now I do agree the government is trying to control the economy along with many other things. And my distain is not aimed at anyone that tries to help themselves and not live off of the government for too long. I just don't see much of that around here.

I am just throwing my opinion out there. Not trying to sway anyone's opinion nor will my opinion be changed.

A woman after my own heart.

A woman after my own heart. Due to my health issues, I have been trying to educate myself on the role nutrition plays and making better choices. But you are right. The media brainwashes us and it is so very tempting and easy to throw in the processed crap.

i work on average 50 hours

i work on average 50 hours per week and i often have night meetings.
i always cook a real meal. how hard is it to cook chicken in a skillet and steam some veggies? i really dont buy this "im so tired i need to get take out" mentality. too much running around today by parents as well. your kid doesnt need to play 2 sports every season and take piano or dance lessons on top of it.

Please come cook for me then.

Please come cook for me then. When I get off work and have to cook dinner before I have to take BS to sport and then still have to wash dishes, clean cat boxes, pack lunches, help BS with homework, etc etc etc- yeah take out is most defintely my savior. My DH doesnt cook or clean, so it all falls on me. I try to cook a meal at least 2 days during the week but its super hard when I have so much on my plate. Plus trying to fit in some "me" time to go to Zumba.

how old are your kids? they

how old are your kids? they should be packing their own lunches if they are over, say 8.

Yup. It's faster to cook than

Yup. It's faster to cook than to drive to McDonald's or wherever, wait in the drive through, drive back.

Example, I have pasta pre boiled. Then I brown some sausage, takes under a minute to put in pan, walk away, low heat 20 minutes, dump some minced garlic, one minute. Add a little canned tomato, salt pepper, five minutes later. Dinner. It took half hour, but the actual work was less than 5 minutes.

they can afford nice cars,

they can afford nice cars, phones etc. because whatever income they have can go towards all that stuff. their food and housing is all paid for.

You know what I find funny?

You know what I find funny? People complain about how foodstamps are used, childhood obesity....Yet,when Michelle Obama came out with the Let's Move program and helped to get school meals changed, people freaked out.

I just don't understand complaining about a problem, then complaining when someone steps up to fix the problem.

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Screaming, yelling,

Screaming, yelling, bitching...about the country becoming a nanny state,the government shouldn't tell us how to feed our kids, Mrs. Obama ate french fries (or something unhealthy)so she shouldn't talk about what our kids eat....

My problem with her plan is

My problem with her plan is the waste it generates and the fact that her and Mr Obama are opposed to GMO labeling. It's hypocritical at best to allow our food to be poisoned by Monsanto, but worried about kids drinking a coke at school.

The program got kids moving

The program got kids moving and improved the meals that are served. White starches are no longer served in my school. They serve brown rice, whole wheat pasta, multi grain breads... The kids have a salad bar available to them each day.

The cafeteria food today is nothing like it was when I was in school or even when my son was in school.

IMHO - waste is the biggest

IMHO - waste is the biggest issue. Do some research on the amount of food wasted in America. If there was no waste everyone could eat much cheaper.
My H works at a hospital and there is tons of food wasted every day. Employees are not allowed to take it and it's not allowed to be given to the homeless shelters. It's food that is prepared that's never touched - literally taken out of the oven and dumped because of over estimating, etc. H asked if he could take and and feed the chickens he offered to sign a waiver - nope it's not allowed. It's sickening to see people just down the street begging for food and the hospital just dumped a trash can full of perfectly good food.
We collect a ton of food for United Way and it's a BIG DEAL. Schools waste tons of food per week. Lots of waste because food is not aesthetically perfect. Think about how much you waste off your plate, and spoiled food in the fridge...? We American's take a lot for granted
I try to compost everything and anything else goes to the chickens. I also grow a lot of my own food chemical free. I'm not going to say I don't waste but I try really hard not to ever put food items in the trash.

Yes and yes. It is cheap to

Yes and yes. It is cheap to keep stocked up on carbs : pasta, potatoes, rice, dry beans. Stock freezer with meat bought on sale. Frozen veggies. Some staples, example-all types of canned tomatoes.

It just takes education. I know in areas of extreme poverty, it's different. But for most of the lower middle class to middle class and up, it's just as cheap if not cheaper to eat healthy from scratch.

Why is the focus always on

Why is the focus always on the poor? Middle class folks have poor diets as well. Middle class families are in the grocery stores pushing around carts of crap just like the poor people. The only difference is that they aren't using EBT cards to pay for their crap.