Poisoning Our Children

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Rick1234
Rick1234
1 month ago

When food shopping, I look in people’s cart. Even the upper middle class are buying a lot of junk. I see lots of pastries, soda, chips, cookies, ice cream. Very often it looks like 50%+ of the cart is junk. Obversely, very little meats, or cooking ingredients.

Their prerogative to eat that crap. But I detest paying for it.
Years ago they removed the stigma of shame of being on the dole. Soon after, they made junk food eligible under EBT, WIC, SNAP. Disgusting. Most likely by design.

Priscilla King
Priscilla King
1 month ago
Reply to  Rick1234

When tempted to judge people’s food choices, I remember that I don’t know their situations.
I know about buying corn or potato chips because the alternatives contain wheat, which is toxic to me.
I know about buying ready-to-eat junk because you don’t have a place to clean and cut up vegetables, or to cook, or to keep cold food cold. (The upper middle class do that when on the road & not willing to pay for the room with the kitchenette.)
I know about buying junkfood because you use the conveniences at the convenience store, and these days the convenience stores often stock ONLY junkfood.
Those are very common reasons why people don’t buy the groceries other people think they should. There are others. Including the basic understanding that it’s none of those other people’s business, and if a food nanny, even my late lamented Blog Buddy whose screen name was “Grandma,” starts judging my food choices I get a sudden craving to eat the foods that trigger nannyism IN THAT PERSON’S FACE.
Federal “feeding” programs are disgusting. That they let people make their own choices about what to eat is far from the most disgusting aspect of these programs.
(Most disgusting? Try “Minimum benefits for families if the father of the children is in the home. Maximum benefits if he moves out. Very little reduction in benefits if another man moves in.”)

Patriot_One
Patriot_One
1 month ago

I’m glad and I hope this will lead to reform. I recall some years back going to the store and loading up on candy, ice cream, chips, and other junk food and feeling guilty about it looking around to see if anybody was watching. I felt like a little kid stealing a cookie from the cookie jar.

It’s not like we don’t know better. There is something inside all of us that tells us what’s good and what’s bad for us. We do it to ourselves but at the same token Big Food makes it worse by putting bad things in our food to make us sick or addicted. Not to mention when you are poor you look for things that make you feel good even when it’s bad for you. Unlike like drugs and alcohol we have to eat to survive.

Priscilla King
Priscilla King
1 month ago
Reply to  Patriot_One

The diabolical part is that the “healthy” foods may make people sicker, faster, than the junkfood.
If I have to choose between “road” breakfasts of (a) whole wheat toast and milk, or (b) Fritos and Mountain Dew, well I can just skip breakfast, but the breakfast on which I can get things done that morning is (b).

Martha
Martha
1 month ago

It starts with education. People on food stamps are most likely not the highly educated. There should be a mandatory health/nutrition class for people signing up for food stamps/cards. How can one make wise choices if they don’t know what is wise?