I was reading a story where they were linking the socioeconomic condition of a child to its health. In France advertisers have voluntarily withdrawn some of their ads that promoted certain foods.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080515/hl_afp/healthobesityfrancechildren;_ylt=AmYUqc.hjI0IjAzHA 5ADExnVJRIF

Its a common fact that you can buy a box of macaroni and cheese for less than a salad and feed the whole family. its the big problem with food stamps being a set amount of money and not a set amount of items. Mac and cheese and ramen noodles can fill you cheaper than fresh produce and fruit. There have been some changes made to advertising voluntarily by manufacturers of children's products, but not enough to the way we treat those in an impoverished state.

I agree that it has alot to do with the food people can afford to buy. I would love to someday start a program for people on food stamps that teaches them to buy healthier foods, how to prepare them, how to budget so they can buy more good stuff and less junk food, etc. Having once lived on food stamps, I found it really easy to buy lots of junk food because I wasn't working to purchase that food. Now that all the money comes from my or my husband's hard work, I cringe when its wasted on junk.

This is a huge problem and has led to the UK government wanting to put in place a 'fat tax' on unhealthy foods. I don't see how it will help anything because the healthy stuff will still be expensive.

@mommyto5: Around here they have a program just like what you are describing. It is called WIC -Women, Infants and Children.
It is only available to women who are pregnant, or have children under the age of 5, but I think it is way better than a food stamp program.

Mothers are educated on nutrition and preparing cheap nutrtious meals, and instead of getting a set dollar amount, they get certain foods. Like 1 gallon of milk, 1 box of cereal, 5 lbs cheese, 2 lbs chicken, etc.

If it were up to me I would put everyone on WIC instead of foodstamps, or maybe some hybrid type program.

Unfortunately WIC isn't a permanent program. While it helps out alot when your kids are young, at some point you don't get it anymore and then you're stuck with general food stamps again.

I'd really like to see food stamps give a discount on "healthy" things such as produce, whole grains, milk, dairy, and fresh meat as well as the set amount. If we could make the healthy things affordable with the money they get for food stamps it would work better. Even if stores sold these things at cost or a smaller markup it would go a long way.

Oh yes, we have WIC here, and that is exactly what I think the food stamp program should do! Maybe not "you have to buy 2 pounds of hamburger meat today" but "buy 2 units of protein." That allows for many variations and even vegetarian menus. And all junk food should not be allowed. You can't buy toilet paper, which is a necessity, with food stamps, so why can you buy potato chips or cake? I know that everybody should have some junk food now and then if they want, but why can't they spend their own money on that? Government food supplements should be for the health and nutrition not the fattening up and "hypering" up of poor children.

Ok, getting down off my soap box now... :)

Oh, I love the idea of a fat tax! Here in America that could go toward our rising health costs due to obesity and the complications that come with it.

I totally agree with the article: it's been said time and time again that it's easier and cheaper to feed a family junk. When you are a single mom, working two jobs just to make ends meet, buying McD's or a box of Hamburger helper is way cheaper and easier.