When food money is stretched, poor Americans try to get as much volume as possible for the money and the only way to do that is to go heavy on starch, Rice, Beans, Potatoes, and cheap noodles, and that causes obesity, and all the attended problems of heart, and Diabetes.

In other times and places it is vegetables and whole grains that feed the poor, but with the move to cities and a processed starch diet obesity rises again, even as diseases of malnutrition also rise.

But that is too much nuance for minds that really couldn't care anyway and any excuse to ignore the plight of others will be jumped on like a frog on a bug.

...why not expand the WIC voucher program to people besides pregnant/nursing mothers, babies, and small children? Maybe to everyone on food stamps in addition to food stamps?

I've never been on WIC, but I have seen the lists of "approved" foods: things like milk, cheese, dry beans, rice, eggs, bread, fresh fruits and vegetables, etc.

The whole idea behind WIC was that mothers and babies needed certain HEALTHY foods for the best start in life, but those foods were often not purchased by low-income women for a variety of reasons (cost and ignorance being the two main ones). The thing is, though, those foods are good for pretty much everybody regardless of age.

The lazy easy assumptions about the recipients of food stamps shown in the letters to this forum are enlightening. and horrifying....Go into any grocery store here in Oahu and see the people presenting their EBT cards; look into their carts (some are wise shoppers and some not)...They will be all kinds of people and not a lot of "ghetto" types by which I've been led to think is an euphemism for African-Americans. There aren't a lot of "ghetto"s here. I don't know why these myths continue to have such a hold on the American people...Ronald Reagan anyone?

Does anyone remember when the Congressmen tried to subsist on the average food stamp budget of 3$ a day? And the surprise about the statistics on the recipients?

"On their blogs, the participating members of Congress seemed genuinely humbled and moved by experiencing the plight faced by too many Americans, even if only for a week. About 26 million of us get food stamps, and the demographic breakdown from a 2005 government study may surprise you. Half of recipients are children and 8% are 60 or older. Many recipients have jobs: 40% of participating individuals worked or at least lived in a household with earnings." Remember the scandal concerning the lower grades of enlisted military families having to resort to food stamps to buy food?

The food banks here try to supplement for those without addresses, but their food is starchy and fatty. Spam anyone?

I suggest some here save their outrage and sense of superiority and thank their lucky starts that they don't have an EBT card in their pockets.

You know, those "statistics" barked and belched from every Rush-wannabee's loudmouth radio program? Never in history have so many people been so highly paid for spewing pure propaganda and causing hatred and divisions. Ms McArdle would do well to do some real research before the next time she shoots off her keyboard, but then again, writing mental junkfood is so much easier.

I've been welfare commodities-lumpy-powdered-milk-and-powdered eggs-gluey-peanut butter poor. And though I am grateful that at least we had that stinky canned "generic spam" and I was able to make loaves of bread from the flour and the powdered milk and eggs they gave us, I would sure never want to do that again. I've used food stamps and bought the most nutritious foods I could get; and made my kids' treats while they were teased for not having packaged treats and potato chips. Kids can be so cruel, especially when their parents listen to the drivel spewed out by people who are highly paid to make them think that the poor mother with a shopping cart full of spaghetti and beans actually *wants* some of the tax money they have worked so hard to evade paying.

Get a life. What that mom gets in food stamps and cash aid wouldn't even pay your kids' activity fees for a month.

No honest person gets rich off of government aid. No person with an ounce of self-respect goes to the welfare office to be humilitated and dehumanized unless it's a last resort.

In America, poverty is widely viewed as a form of Divine Punishment for moral failings. I reject this entirely, but I must say that I am always struck by the number of hugely overweight shoppers in a local Savealot store.

My sense is that poverty is depressing to the poor--especially fed by TV's promises of Nirvana for big spenders--and eating is one of the few feel-good options open to the poor. Food stamps provide a way of eating and feeling better.

Savealot stores are chock-full of really disgusting junk-food offerings, and this is likely to feed into the eating habits of the poor. Food stamps without any strictures on soft-drinks and calorie-laden junk foods likely provide a major link between poverty and obesity.

For a self-proclaimed christian nation there sure are a lot of hypocrites when it comes to the "love thy neighbor" stuff. The attitude of some of the writers is beyond disgusting as is some of the ignorance. For the ones against the idea of using govt aid to buy drugs what a mean-spirited person. If I was sitting on a stoop somewhere in a 100% humid 98 degree night with no prospect of any releif except a hit or whatever its called of crack I know where myu intentions would lie. Sounds like some people really get it off on throwing rocks at cripples.

One issue that seems to be glossed over in the name of political correctness is that the numbers suggest more poor are obese and many more blacks than whites are obese. It is possible to assign some connection between black history and obesity -- eat as much as you can cause who knows what and when the next meal will be, poor = less educated = less knowledge about food nutrition and cooking, dissolution of the nuclear family and the stay at home parents removes time to prepare foods.

Also forgotten is the fact that food is comfort, like touch or sex. If you can't afford $12 for a movie and you have $5 for a coloso-burger that makes you feel good for a couple of hours what you gonna do?

Besides what is the real problem? In previous ages, people died young aided in part by poor nutrition and overwork. Now they die older from the other side of the coin, too much food and not enough exercise.

Rampant obesity is not a problem because money can solve it. Peoples' attitudes with the money issue is the problem. Unless truly draconian measures are adopted such as let the fat die in the street and/or don't feed the poor; it is merely pay me nopw or pay me later!