Federal programs overfeed fat people

[CardiacCoug]

I don't think I disagree with you. I suspect one problem may be that increasing nutritional education and program oversight would cost money, even if it would ultimately save money spent on healthcare.
All that said, it is still a great program.
Having access to government assistance doesn't cause poor people to develop bad eating habits, if anything it makes them less reliant on fast food.

Part of the problem is that you can buy so many more calories per dollar than you could 30 years ago.

Maybe there could be a caloric limit on what people buy with food stamps -- maybe 2500 calories per day. That would probably have better results than investing millions more in education programs. How much education do people really need? You can sum up everything people need to know in 5 words: Eat less and move more.

[wuapinmon]

A few years ago I read about an idea that would give EBT recipients more buying power depending on what they bought. If you bought $4 of fresh broccoli, it would only cost you $2 on your EBT, but if you bought a box of Little Debbie snack cakes for $3, it would cost you $5 on your EBT.

That seems like a good idea, but very complex to explain to people.


One reason that many EBT people get fat is, yes, cheap calories, but also, we've got to remember that there are millions (yes, millions) of teenage single-parent pregnancies, and these are kids having kids, and there is a high measure of laziness and convenience built into ready-made foods that single parents rely on to make quick meals.

There's also the issue of junk food tasting really good and parents who don't give a damn about their kids just giving them junk food to shut them up.

No one ever admits this, but my anecdotal experience in New Orleans proved this to me.

Also, giving kids juice all the time instead of water or milk is a bad way to go if your genes are prone to obesity.

[CardiacCoug]

A few years ago I read about an idea that would give EBT recipients more buying power depending on what they bought. If you bought $4 of fresh broccoli, it would only cost you $2 on your EBT, but if you bought a box of Little Debbie snack cakes for $3, it would cost you $5 on your EBT.

That seems like a good idea, but very complex to explain to people.


One reason that many EBT people get fat is, yes, cheap calories, but also, we've got to remember that there are millions (yes, millions) of teenage single-parent pregnancies, and these are kids having kids, and there is a high measure of laziness and convenience built into ready-made foods that single parents rely on to make quick meals.

There's also the issue of junk food tasting really good and parents who don't give a damn about their kids just giving them junk food to shut them up.

No one ever admits this, but my anecdotal experience in New Orleans proved this to me.

Also, giving kids juice all the time instead of water or milk is a bad way to go if your genes are prone to obesity.

Good post. Making some changes to favor buying vegetables and fruits with the EBT seems like a great idea.

I think even a very simple change like putting some limits on what sugared drinks could be purchased could make a big difference.

[SoonerCoug]

We once had an endocrinologist give lecture where he mentioned that even diet soda pop correlates with obesity. He seemed to think there was a direct link, but I'm guessing that the correlation is mostly because people who drink diet coke usually do it with fries and a burger.

[wuapinmon]

We once had an endocrinologist give lecture where he mentioned that even diet soda pop correlates with obesity. He seemed to think there was a direct link, but I'm guessing that the correlation is mostly because people who drink diet coke usually do it with fries and a burger.

I was fat before I switched to diet drinks. I think you're right.

[frank ryan]

A few years ago I read about an idea that would give EBT recipients more buying power depending on what they bought. If you bought $4 of fresh broccoli, it would only cost you $2 on your EBT, but if you bought a box of Little Debbie snack cakes for $3, it would cost you $5 on your EBT.

That seems like a good idea, but very complex to explain to people.


One reason that many EBT people get fat is, yes, cheap calories, but also, we've got to remember that there are millions (yes, millions) of teenage single-parent pregnancies, and these are kids having kids, and there is a high measure of laziness and convenience built into ready-made foods that single parents rely on to make quick meals.

There's also the issue of junk food tasting really good and parents who don't give a damn about their kids just giving them junk food to shut them up.

No one ever admits this, but my anecdotal experience in New Orleans proved this to me.

Also, giving kids juice all the time instead of water or milk is a bad way to go if your genes are prone to obesity.

I like that idea, but it would need to be coupled with nutrition and probably basic cooking classes, to be effective imho

[woot]

We once had an endocrinologist give lecture where he mentioned that even diet soda pop correlates with obesity. He seemed to think there was a direct link, but I'm guessing that the correlation is mostly because people who drink diet coke usually do it with fries and a burger.

I read something recently claiming that your body recognizes the sweetness and releases insulin to process it despite there being nothing to process. That's probably something I should get a primary source on though. And it still wouldn't explain obesity so much as diabetes.

[Jarid in Cedar]

I read something recently claiming that your body recognizes the sweetness and releases insulin to process it despite there being nothing to process. That's probably something I should get a primary source on though. And it still wouldn't explain obesity so much as diabetes.

the rat study on this showed that when presented with a normal sucrose meal, the rat had a slight increase in internal body temp. Resulting in a thermogenesis around mealtime. The rats that ate nutrasweet eventually lost that increase in body temp at mealtime. the theory was that the body learned to recognize that the nutrasweet did not give any calories, so it did not prepare for digesting food in the same manner. This was true whether they ate other food with the nutrasweet that did have calories.

[woot]

Regarding food stamps, it seems that the best way to fix this problem would be to get rid of the government subsidies that make junk food so much cheaper than healthy food. If you have limited spending power, you can't put too much blame on someone who would rather have a thousand calories of fast food than 200 calories of broccoli for the same price.

[woot]

the rat study on this showed that when presented with a normal sucrose meal, the rat had a slight increase in internal body temp. Resulting in a thermogenesis around mealtime. The rats that ate nutrasweet eventually lost that increase in body temp at mealtime. the theory was that the body learned to recognize that the nutrasweet did not give any calories, so it did not prepare for digesting food in the same manner. This was true whether they ate other food with the nutrasweet that did have calories.

Cool thanks.

[pellegrino]

A few years ago I read about an idea that would give EBT recipients more buying power depending on what they bought. If you bought $4 of fresh broccoli, it would only cost you $2 on your EBT, but if you bought a box of Little Debbie snack cakes for $3, it would cost you $5 on your EBT.

That seems like a good idea, but very complex to explain to people.


One reason that many EBT people get fat is, yes, cheap calories, but also, we've got to remember that there are millions (yes, millions) of teenage single-parent pregnancies, and these are kids having kids, and there is a high measure of laziness and convenience built into ready-made foods that single parents rely on to make quick meals.

There's also the issue of junk food tasting really good and parents who don't give a damn about their kids just giving them junk food to shut them up.

No one ever admits this, but my anecdotal experience in New Orleans proved this to me.

Also, giving kids juice all the time instead of water or milk is a bad way to go if your genes are prone to obesity.

I really like this idea, and I think combined with basic nutrition information/education (make it mandatory to pass a simple nutrition exam with 80% or more before getting/renewing food stamp benefits) along with simple, healthy, even ethnic recipes would be an improvement on an important program.