Food Stamps

[Pheo]

One of our biggest health problems is obesity, that condition we get from eating too much.

And whose fault is that?

Quality food is expensive, it's so much cheaper to buy dollar menu hamburgers or mac and cheese than it is to by non-GMO veggies and hormone free meats. I see that having a lot to do with our health problems.

And those foods are cheap in large part because of the way America subsidizes its massive corn crops.  It's sold at a loss so corn and corn derivatives are nearly ubiquitous in fast-food restaurants and grocery stores.  It takes a few years to get a grazing cow to market - corn-fed cows put on weight in less than half the time, although they're no where near as healthy and the corn they eat gives them bad ulcers.

Food Inc. gave a pretty interesting overview of this stuff.

[jovan66102]

Quality food is expensive, it's so much cheaper to buy dollar menu hamburgers or mac and cheese than it is to by non-GMO veggies and hormone free meats. I see that having a lot to do with our health problems.

How true! Before my heart attacks, I ate 'conveniently', KD (mac'n'cheese), ramen noodles and hotdogs and cheap lunch meat. When I had to start paying close attention to my diet, I had no choice but to start eating 'quality'. I'm still a very careful shopper but my food budget just about quadrupled. Luckily, I could afford it. Lots of people can't.

[The Dying Flutchman]

One of our biggest health problems is obesity, that condition we get from eating too much.

And whose fault is that?

Quality food is expensive, it's so much cheaper to buy dollar menu hamburgers or mac and cheese than it is to by non-GMO veggies and hormone free meats. I see that having a lot to do with our health problems.

(edited to fix formatting)

Oh yeah, when I first lived on my own. I gained like 15 pounds. It was either cheap disgusting ramen noodles. or dollar menu at McDonalds or BK. When you can hardly afford rent you can't afford arugula and free range chicken eggs and organic lettuce.

[kayla_veronica]

One of our biggest health problems is obesity, that condition we get from eating too much.

And whose fault is that?

Quality food is expensive, it's so much cheaper to buy dollar menu hamburgers or mac and cheese than it is to by non-GMO veggies and hormone free meats. I see that having a lot to do with our health problems.

And those foods are cheap in large part because of the way America subsidizes its massive corn crops.  It's sold at a loss so corn and corn derivatives are nearly ubiquitous in fast-food restaurants and grocery stores.  It takes a few years to get a grazing cow to market - corn-fed cows put on weight in less than half the time, although they're no where near as healthy and the corn they eat gives them bad ulcers.

Food Inc. gave a pretty interesting overview of this stuff.

I still haven't gotten around to watching Food  Inc. I should check it out.

[DrBombay]

At some point the cheap stuff becomes inedible, at least it did for me.  I would literally have to be starving before I could stomach Ramen Noodles.  I think at some point the body says "no" to the bad stuff and rejects it, for those who pay attention to their body that is.  Like candy or alcohol, you can ignore your body but if you keep forcing that stuff into it, the consequences will be dire.

Velveeta, however, never gets old.  There's a lesson in there for all of us I believe. 

[Deidre]

I've known people who work full time, but make so little that they qualify for (and need) food stamps.  :(( It should be criminal to pay people so little for their work that they can't even feed their families.

[kayla_veronica]

I've known people who work full time, but make so little that they qualify for (and need) food stamps.  :(( It should be criminal to pay people so little for their work that they can't even feed their families.

Agreed!

[Traditional Guy]

I know people who have experienced that. When I was a child I remember my mother taking food out of our pantry to give to others who didn't have any food at their house. Sometimes if the food stamps they do recieve isn't enough they come to the St Vincent de Paul looking for just enough to get them through, then there are the people hwo make $1 too much to qualify for food stamps. In any event, we should, as a society, at a minimum be able to give every child at least one good meal a day.     
:) :) :)

I'm sorry I didn't realize we were living in a Marxist utopia. Speaking of which haven't we been giving out handouts for over 40 years now to black children?

[Traditional Guy]

Regrettably the United States cannot simply open the gates and let everyone in.  For one thing, where the heck are they going to work?  For another, how are all the kids going to be educated?

Regrettably?! Really?! Do you want us to become Brazil with all races and creeds coming into this country?

[Traditional Guy]

I've known people who work full time, but make so little that they qualify for (and need) food stamps.  :(( It should be criminal to pay people so little for their work that they can't even feed their families.

I support a living wage. That is a part of a moral society.