The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

Opinion

Discussion

June 17, 2007

Lawmakers learn food stamps can’t buy healthy diet

The old saying “walk a mile in my shoes” is advice meant to provide someone first-hand experience in what it’s like to live the way another person lives.

Some Oklahoma lawmakers took that advice to heart when they participated in a challenge to live on an average food stamp budget of $21 for one person per week. What at least one lawmaker found quickly was healthy foods are out of the price range of those on food stamps.

The lawmakers took the Food Stamp Challenge by agreeing to live on that small amount each week. The lawmakers couldn’t accept meals from anyone else, and they couldn’t eat whatever was already in their cupboard.

It was definitely an eye opener. The Tulsa lawmaker, who recently has been on a nutrition program to lose weight, said he had to sustain a diet primarily of apples, oatmeal, rice and turkey sandwiches. He said he managed to stave away the hunger by eating primarily starchy foods, and the apples were about the only healthy fruit he could afford.

By taking the challenge, this particular lawmaker learned eating healthy on the state’s food stamp program is pretty much impossible. People can survive, but what they eat isn’t necessarily healthy or nutritious.

“It’s a sad thing, but to eat healthy costs money,” he said after the experience. “Without a doubt, the healthier you want to eat, the more expensive it is.”

This experience could serve as a way to work toward revamping the program to include more incentives for healthier foods. Perhaps more credits or points could be provided to go toward the healthier foods, such as fruits and green vegetables. The more these kinds of foods are available through the food stamp program, the better chance children served through the program will get more nutritious food.

Since these lawmakers walked that mile in someone else’s shoes, they are now in a better position to make improvements toward healthier choices for food stamp recipients.

Text Only
Opinion
Featured Ads
AP Video
Sister Says She Reported Brother in Patz Killing Patz Suspect's Sister: I Went to Police in 1980s Diplomatic Expulsions Follow Fresh Syria Report 15 Dead in Northern Italy's 5.8-magnitude Quake Angry Birds Spreading Their Wings Witness Describes Fla. Face-chewing Attack Man Falls Off Crane, Dies After Police Standoff Russia Condemns Ally Syria Over Massacre of 108 Dairy Farm Uses Chiropractor to Help Cows Unexpected Smog in Pristine National Parks Air Canada Plane Makes Emergency Landing New Ticks Spread Across Southeast, Diseases Rise Bring Your Own Tech Programs Charge Up Students Pope's Butler Vows to Help Vatican Investigation Mother of Allegedly Abused Girl Denies Claims Raw Video: 19 Dead in Qatar Shopping Mall Fire Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
NDN Video
Los Angeles Bar Bans Bachelorettes Hamster Plays Dead Beyonce Shows Off 60 Pound Weight Loss at Concert Drunk Women Breaking Into Houses: A New Trend? LeAnn Rimes Rocks Short Shorts Raw Video: Cop Shoots Man Eating Another's Face Gordon Ramsay Carried Off Field Man Dies Getting Lap Dance Kim Kardashian Claims Items Stolen from Her Luggage Bear cools off in Calif. family's pool Ep. 3: Chopped Desserts Air Force dad surprises family at baseball game Justin Bieber Wanted for Questioning for L.A. Scuffle J.Lo and Marc's Friendly Reunion Man Falls Off Crane, Dies After Police Standoff Jet makes emergency landing after debris falls off Raw Video: Deadly Explosion at Minn. Paper Mill Cynthia Nixon Ties the Knot Woman, 80, Falls Out of Skydive Harness Mid-Jump Keira Reveals Engagement Ring
Seasonal Content
House Ads