CBS host confronts Republican rep.: House farm bill is ‘welfare for the wealthy’

[davidthegnome]

67. I don't know anyone...

that lives primarily on candy, chips and soda - and I know several families who receive food stamp benefits. There seems to be this common myth that everyone who receives assistance, blows it all on junk food. While there may be some that do this, I suspect that they are few. Soda is a staple of the average diet for millions and millions people, a huge number of which don't get food stamps, but will spend their last few bucks on a bottle of soda as opposed to milk or juice. Chips and candy - in moderation - are also not likely to lead to immediate death or to bankrupt the Nation.

There also seems to be a great deal of confusion as to what exactly qualifies as nutritional food. Should it be organic? Does processed food count if it isn't terribly fattening? Is it okay to mix acidic fruits with alkaline? Should you not eat certain vegetables together? What about soup? Too much sodium?

Consider that, for quite a long time, Americans largely believed in the myth of the "food pyramid". Now we have a billion and a half diets being peddled every day, all claiming something different.

I don't think it would be right to place such limits on the food stamp program. I think that, if the parents or the children want to have a soda or a candy bar every now and then, then I think that's fine. I suspect we'd have to spend a rather ridiculous amount of money to ensure that families on food stamps didn't buy any junk food with it. I suspect a significant number of them and their children would go hungry more often than they already do - because many of them have no idea how to cook healthy food.