Poor fat kids

I have worked in social services for a little more than two years, and the one trend that crosses all agencies is this: crap food.

People in poverty tend to focus on meeting their needs and surviving more than getting in five fruits and veggies each day. In fact, for those using food stamps and relying on commodities, fruits and veggies are basically the greatest luxury in the fridge. Instead, noodles, rice, boxed meals and starches tend to fill their stomachs from childhood to adulthood. These trends are passed on to each generation, just like alcoholism. So now, we are facing a nation of fat people who don't know how to eat. Thanks, government!

I was working at SCH last week when the food bank order arrived. The food was split amongst three houses, feeding about 12 kids and 7 women. I helped carry in and put away the food distributed to the main house.

We had a lot of sugar and flour; pancake mix and boxes of mac and cheese; hamburger helper galore (except no one can afford the hamburger) and a shelf of white rice. Ritz crackers and boxes of brownie mix, tubs of frosting and cans of salty soups. No veggies in a can, or fruit in a can (ok, maybe there were a few). The yogurt in the fridge was paid for by each of the women individually, and they share responsibility for picking up milk. The four tubs of cottage cheese in the fridge - well, they don't like it. Off-brand Chex cereal is the morning meal. The ladies have been admonished to stop drinking pop, so now they'll do it out of the house and make their smoking cessation/drug and alcohol recovery even harder to manage without a shot of Pepsi. Although it's a good idea, there's just so much someone can handle at at time, right?

So next time you read something about how fat all the poor people is, remember it's not because they choose to eat junk food. Considering a bag of grapes is $3 and Big Mac is $1, they are just making sure their food dollars stretch through the day.