Doing my back-to-school shopping at Wal-Mart last week, I chose the checkout line with mind-numbingly slow progress, as usual. After ten minutes of observing the two ladies in front of me, I quickly understood why everyone else had abandoned this line.
But it was too late.
I had 3 carts of folks behind me trapped in the part of the line that has already entered the zone of no return between the racks of chips, soft drinks, gum and candy and the other side full of sample size hand sanitizer, lighters, keychains shaped like little dolls and other items essential to extracting every penny out of your wallet before you leave the store.
In front of me, two large ladies, one in an electric mini-scooter, because I suspect she was too large to make it from one of the warehouse-sized store to the other, sorted out two swelling overloaded baskets to determine what they could and could not afford on their EBT cards. If you don’t know, an EBT card is the credit-card like method for delivery of what has been historically referred to as “foodstamps.” We are now to call it SNAP “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.”
The checkout lady patiently helped them ring up and subtotal their purchases which I am unable to list individually as I was not taking notes, but I can report what I remember: several packages of hot dog and hamburger buns, multiple bags of frozen chicken wings, at least 8 two liter bottles of soft drinks, a similar number of cases of soft drinks non-diet soda, ice cream, popsicles, Doritos, Cheetos, Cheese-Puffs, extra large boxes of Reese’s Puffs and Frosted Flakes, hot dogs, bologna, a few boxes of doughnuts, Oreos, chocolate milk, and cases of Capri-Sun. Nary a fruit or vegetable in sight. After one card was filled, the next cart came through and they scanned and subtotaled until they maxed out their other card. The rest of the items, at least half of one cart, were handed over to the checkout lady to be re-shelved.
I was fairly enraged after my 20 minutes of watching this debacle. Besides the exasperating fact that I was waiting thirty minutes to pay for my stuff, I had to witness two obviously sadly morbidly obese women using taxpayer funds to poison themselves and their families with unhealthy food. Not only do we provide the funds to buy the garbage they are eating, then we pay for the health care in the form of Medicaid, Medicare and other state programs to treat all of their health problems related to the crap they were dumping in their scooter – which was probably also government subsidized.
I became even more incensed when I got home and started looking up the data. For example, did you know that the U.S. Department of Commerce reports that 97% of families living in poverty in the United States own a color television? More than half own microwaves and DVD players. Two-thirds have cable or satellite television and air conditioning. The CDC reports that health care costs for obesity in this country run around $147 billion a year. Obese patients run up annual health care costs around 42% higher than an average sized patient.
So I guess, the question I have found asking myself is, “If the government is buying your food, why could they not restrict what you can buy?” Eggs, milk, vegetables, flour, sugar, bread, tea, coffee, and meat. Whole food. Store brands only? Fresh local produce. Farmer’s markets subsidies, go for it. Use your SNAP benefits at the local farmer’s market and the customer receives a 20% discount paid back to the local farmer by the government. Localism and revenue for family farmers. Why not?
The government already dictates what my child eats at school through the “School Nutrition Program” and many of yours too.
I pay $2.00 a day for my child to eat lunch at school. Kids qualifying for reduced meals pay $.40 a day. And of course some receive breakfast and lunch for free through the “School Nutrition Program,” which is a federally subsidized program that has been exceedingly successful in feeding children living in poverty, so much so that now a child living in poverty is ‘over nourished’ on cheap sugary calories and more likely to be obese than children from middle and higher income families.
The Senate passed a new version of the “School Nutrition Program” now named the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act” in the final days of the summer session. This bill, if passed by the House, changes the rules for food provided for children at school and makes some headway in requiring schools to provide healthier food. However, the program will vastly expand free and reduced meals to children by eliminating the need for parents to show documentation of family income.
If I am told what I can bring to school for my child’s classroom snack and birthday celebration, why can’t the SNAP program regulate what recipients of that program purchase? In fact, this year we have been instructed not to bring junk snacks to school. We have a list of acceptable items including celery and carrot sticks, fresh fruit, raisins, yogurt, and whole grain crackers that are proper classroom snacks. I am told quite specifically what is allowed in my child’s classroom.
For my youngest son’s state-funded Pre-K program we are not even allowed to bring HOMEMADE food like cookies, cupcakes or cakes because it violates their NAEYC accreditation. To bring cupcakes for my son’s birthday tomorrow, I MUST purchase them from a nut-free retail store. Everywhere I turn the government is legislating what my kids can and cannot eat at school, yet one of the largest nutritional entitlement programs in our country allows participants to squander their benefits on harmful food products that ultimately have bloated our population the highest obesity levels on record.
And do we really need to review the quality of the food served in schools? It is a well-publicized problem featured in Jamie Oliver’s series Food Revolution as well as an endless parade of news stories about the slop served to our children in public schools.
Of course, I do understand how ridiculous it would be to only allow people to buy what is good for them.
Our elected officials could never really afford to desert the big food lobby. And while Michelle Obama tends to her organic White House garden and pushes for the biggest expansion of the school lunch program in 30 years, we will not see Congress, the president or his wife dare alienate to powers that be at a Cargill, Monsanto, or Archer-Daniels Midland during an election year by making substantive changes to the way we provide food to our children or anyone else.
They would never want to give their constituents a little healthy dose of old-fashioned tough love. Politicians only want votes. Cheesey-Pooffs and soft drinks I guess are just the price for those votes. In today’s America having your cake and eating it too is subsidized and almost a fundemental right.
Our children and their children, will be stuck paying the human toll of fighting out-of-control obesity and also all of those hefty healthcare bills that come with it.
