Trump assaults food stamps -- Your help needed

[Open Heart]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ue-apron-type-program/?utm_term=.5cdccf3a3310

Basically, Trump has decided to revamp the food stamp program so that we receive a box of canned goods instead of being able to shop for our own food. That means no fresh fruits and vegetables, no eggs, no cheese, no chicken on sale... Just processed foods with extra sugar and salt and chemicals.

I'm a recovering diabetic who is presently on disability while I finish my internship. Once I go back to work, it will be part time, so I will continue to be on food stamps, I'm afraid. It is very important that I be on a strict diet that is low carb, with lots of fresh vegetables. NO SUGAR and no artificial sweetners. I simply can't be eating these substandard food-like substances that they put into cans. This kind of change to the food stamp program would just be unhealthy for me--it would be downright dangerous.

I'm sure there are many like me. Diabetes and other metabolic syndrome disorders are much more common among the poor simply because the bad for you foods are cheaper. (That's why Trump wants to do this -- he wants to give us the bad for you foods because it's a cheaper program.) Such a program is going to end up putting people in the hospital, even in the morgue.

Please write to Trump and beg him not to do this. Tell him you are scandelized. Give him rational arguments. Give him emotional arguments. Say anything. But please write and say something. Write or Call the White House

 

[Shimshon]

Oh please! Stop.

Do you even read the article?

But under the Trump proposal, which the Agriculture Department has dubbed “America’s Harvest Box,” all households receiving more than $90 per month in benefits — 81 percent of SNAP households overall — would begin receiving about half their benefits in the form of government-purchased, nonperishable food items.

Those foods would include shelf-stable milk, juice, grains, cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans and canned meat, fruits and vegetables, according to the USDA. The department estimates that it could supply these goods at about half the cost of retail, slashing the cost of SNAP while still feeding the hungry.

They still get half of the benefits to use as they already do. Nothing but canned food??

 

[archer75]

Oh please! Stop.

Do you even read the article?

They still get half of the benefits to use as they already do. Nothing but canned food??

This probably won't go anywhere, but it is still unacceptable. It is designed to be cheaper, may be more expensive, and will humiliate the recipients.

 

[Tallguy88]

It's a bad idea.

 

[FireDragon76]

This takes flexibility away from poor people. Some people cannot even consume dairy or wheat. For a while I was so sick from IBS I had to be strictly gluten free and dairy free.

 

[Shimshon]

This probably won't go anywhere, but it is still unacceptable. It is designed to be cheaper, may be more expensive, and will humiliate the recipients.

Then maybe since the country can't afford the program anyway we should just cut it all together? Something is better than nothing. It may work too. But I'm not an advocate of social welfare as a right. That would be socialism. I'm libertarian, so I believe individuals should care for the needy, not the government. It's a local interaction between citizens, not a social welfare program. In my opinion if the family unit had not been so decimated by identity politics we would all have been able to care for each other the way God intended.

 

[CherubRam]

Preserved food is often higher in salt and sugar along with other harmful chemicals. Perhaps the government should produce the higher quality foods for the public, to lower food cost, and too boost nutrition.

 

[JCFantasy23]

It's a horrible idea. I had to be on food stamps for an amount of time when only able to find part-time work. We didn't buy canned goods - I bought frozen and fresh vegetables because of the salt content and preservatives in canned goods. It's just as cheap around here to do that. I definitely never used canned meat! What is shelf-stable milk?

 

[FireDragon76]

It's a horrible idea. I had to be on food stamps for an amount of time when only able to find part-time work. We didn't buy canned goods - I bought frozen and fresh vegetables because of the salt content and preservatives in canned goods. It's just as cheap around here to do that. I definitely never used canned meat! What is shelf-stable milk?

Probably tetra-packed milk in cartons. It will last about a year or so.

 

[JCFantasy23]

Probably tetra-packed milk in cartons. It will last about a year or so.

Again not something I'd use. I don't even buy fully fat-free milk because of the chemicals. I buy a half gallon of it at the local Dollar General store for under 3 bucks, lasts me two weeks, and doesn't get wasted. Not seeing how this would save anything. I'm guessing it depends on a person's diet, but I don't even use powdered milk, yech.

 

[Open Heart]

Oh please! Stop.

Do you even read the article?

They still get half of the benefits to use as they already do. Nothing but canned food??

I don't buy any canned food. Canned food is not real food. It is not good for you. If you want to eat healthy you avoid it. If you are diabetic, you are supposed to be avoiding it because of its added sugar. But honestly, no one should be eating canned foods. No one.

it was before my first kid was born that my health insurance taught me this. I was attending a class on how to lose weight healthily, but it educated us in nutrition in general. (I'm sure the insurance company was into it for reasons of wanting to lower their costs by keeping us healthy). Their advice to us was to simply avoid all processed foods: shop around the perimeter of the store where the real foods are--the produce section, the meat and dairy sections. Since that time, this lesson has been repeated to me by every nutritionist i've seen.

If Trump was smart, he's see the light also. We'd pay a lot less in Medicaid if we kept the poor healthy in the first place, starting with good nutrition.

 

[JCFantasy23]

it was before my first kid was born that my health insurance taught me this. I was attending a class on how to lose weight healthily, but it educated us in nutrition in general.

I was told to avoid it as much as possible by my doctor when pregnant. They said the ridiculous amounts of salt were contributing to my swelling.

 

[Open Heart]

I'm libertarian, so I believe individuals should care for the needy, not the government.

We can work on that for you! Lol

Both the God-formed Israelite community of the Tanakh and the ekklesia of the NT had social based programs to feed the poor. The Israelite government definitely used the tithing system and laws to make sure that no man ever went hungry. The ekklesia, as a group unto itself, was downright communistic.

 

[Zoii]

It did say it would take into consideration special diets and would be cheaper for your country. Id be interested to see how this evaluates

 

[Open Heart]

I was told to avoid it as much as possible by my doctor when pregnant. They said the ridiculous amounts of salt were contributing to my swelling.

Other countries simply don't have Western diseases until they start eating our diet. Enough said.

 

[Open Heart]

It did say it would take into consideration special diets and would be cheaper for your country. Id be interested to see how this evaluates

Letting people die of starvation is cheaper for our country too, and there are those who would choose that option if given the chance. Trump cares only about Trump. I don't think for a second that he has an ounce of compassion for someone that goes hungry. He's simply trying to cut the program as much as he can get away with. You watch him. He will find other ways to cut it. He will find ways to say that more are not qualified for it, or that we need less, etc.

 

[Zoii]

Letting people die of starvation is cheaper for our country too, and there are those who would choose that option if given the chance. Trump cares only about Trump. I don't think for a second that he has an ounce of compassion for someone that goes hungry. He's simply trying to cut the program as much as he can get away with. You watch him. He will find other ways to cut it. He will find ways to say that more are not qualified for it, or that we need less, etc.

Im not intending any offence and am not from your country so I am just looking at the article you attached - my comments are based purely on that.

 

[Stormy]

OP Its only half of the benefit and it is to be called American Harvest. All food will be grown in America. It is to provide healthy food choices to the children and also will save the taxpayers an enormous amount of expense because of deals made to provide the food.

I am sure you take your benefits and buy the food you need. But in some households food never reaches the children. Parents trade for ciggs, drugs, and alcohol. When they do buy food its chips, soda, and candy. This is my opinion, not a reason stated by our President.

He is trying to save money and provide more food and healthier food.

I did have to use food stamps for one short period in my life. We had the funny paper that you had to tear apart... Not the debit card like now. I was extremely grateful for the people paying taxes and helping me survive. I would have never thought to tell them HOW they should feed me. I was just extremely grateful that they were

 

[Open Heart]

Nine ways that processed foods are harming people
9 ways that processed foods are harming people

 

[Open Heart]

Hi Stormy. I realize some folks trade their benefits for cigs and stuff. But this plan will not stop that.

What's going to happen is that a lot of canned foods are going to end up thrown away. You KNOW the stuff they send isn't going to be a balanced diet, it's going to be the leftovers of whatever they grew to much of and couldn't sell to the stores. So you get five cans of carrots, and your personal tongue finds carrots bitter. You are going to find a way to barter or otherwise get rid of the carrots. You'll have guys that will pay you $10 cash for $80 in groceries, and you'll take it because with the $10 you can actually buy something you can eat.

I won't eat unhealthy food. If I get canned food sent to me in a box, I'll donate it to the food bank. And then I'll feel guilty about it.

For now, I'm going going to eat a little tuna salad, made with celery, apple, red onion, craisins, lemon juice, and a wee bit of mayo. YUM. All bought on food stamps, God be praised that I live in this great country. This is food stamps the way it's supposed to be.