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Food Stamp Reform - Healthy Food Choices

Page 1 of 19

Danielle Green

3/23/14

Toulmin argument paper

Healthy food choices

        Millions of Americans everyday depend on government assisted programs such as SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid, Social Security, Disability and WIC. These programs are offered to those who qualify under certain income or status guidelines. Each program is designed to help people through difficult times in their lives by providing either supplemental income, an allowance for food purchases or coverage for medical treatment. Any and all government assisted programs are funded through the taxpayers’ dollars which are filtered to each program. On November 1, 2013 food stamp benefits were cut by 40 billion over the next 10 years. This means that about $36 dollars a year for each participant.

Over 10 years that will equal to $360 from food stamp benefits. These cuts were made to fund Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” program to fund schools for healthier lunch food choices and school actives to help end child obesity (nypost.com) My argument is about the proposed Act by Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn. He proposed that “junk” food be banned from the food stamp program. Rep. Phil Roe named this bill the Healthy Food Choices Act H.R 3073. This bill would only allow healthy food to be purchased. I want you to understand that making these cuts and bans would be depriving families from meals and forcing more families into food pantries.

        SNAP was designed to help needy families to not go hungry. The average amount of food stamps offered to a family of four is $668.00 before the reduction in food stamps on November 1, 2013. These families will now receive $36.00 less each month reducing their benefits to $632 a month.  This may not seem like a lot of money, but to a family already on a tight budget this is another notch in the belt.  Each participant will receive either a $36.00 reduction or 9% reduction depending on the amount they already receive. SNAP benefits were meant and designed as a supplement to their income not as an only source for the family to buy food.  For many families this is a dependency because they live on a tight budget as it is. My sister is on SNAP and she only receives $96.00 a month. Her SNAP was reduced from $115.00.  She lives entirely on her daughters SSI of $681.00 a month because she cannot work due to medical reasons. She has been denied Disability assistance. She cannot afford food as it is and this cut hurt her even more. She now relies on food pantries for support.

        Michelle Obama launched Let’s Move on February 9, 2010. This program was introduced to put an end on childhood obesity and increase childhood physical activities (Letsmove.gov).  Childhood obesity is a current problem. Some sources have linked lower class children and adults to be the prime category to be overweight (nyu.edu). Obesity can be linked to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and joint problems (nlm.nih.gov). Rising obesity rates are contributed to many factors such as rising costs of foods, food accessibility, busy schedules and convenience. Fast food has been a source for many people to rely on when they are in a hurry. Fast food contributes to high fats, calories and cholesterols.

Rising costs in a grocery store are a huge contributor to obesity. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they have estimated that the price of fresh vegetables have risen 4.7%, fish, chicken and meat have risen 1.1% in the last year (foxbusiness.com). Every time you walk into the store you notice certain foods have risen from the last you were there. The average price for a loaf of bread is $1.41, when last year it was $1.37 and eggs are on average $1.73 a dozen, when last year they were priced at $1.66 a dozen. The rising costs of these such foods makes the healthy foods out of reach; such as whole grain bread and fresh fruits and vegetables.

The average SNAP participant receives $632.00 monthly benefit. Based on Michelle Obama’s Lets move initiative meals need to consist of fresh, healthy foods that are home cooked. On her website she gives a sample menu for a week consisting of a breakfast, lunch, dinner, one snack and beverage. She states that her menu will show how you can incorporate fresh and healthy foods at or below cost without breaking the bank. I put this menu to the test and took it to the grocery store (Payless) to find how accessible the items were and how much this sample menu would cost for the week (Letsmove.gov). Some items on the menu were difficult to find since they were a healthy alternative to the regular food that could be found. On day one for a lunch she wants ground turkey used for Taco salad. Ground turkey priced at Payless is $3.99 a pound compared to $2.99 a pound for ground beef. On day two the menu calls for roast beef for roast beef sandwiches. Roast beef at Payless would be $8.99 a pound. These two meals were just considered lunch plans. On day two, the dinner consisted of salmon on beet greens with quinoa and slivered almonds. Salmon was priced at $6.99 for the frozen filets. I could not find beet greens so I went with mustard greens as an alternative. These greens were priced at $1.99 a bunch. Quinoa was priced at $3.89 and the almonds were $4.99 for an 8oz package. These items alone I cannot afford to buy due to the cost of the item and how much I would need due to the fact that I am a family of five. I totaled the cost of all foods counting for all items. Items that were repeated such as canola oil I did not count more than once since they come in a bottle and can be used more than once. Michelle Obama’s sample menu totaled $357.94 for a week. Average cost of an item was $2.99 and an average cost of a day’s menu was $51.13. For a month worth of these kinds of groceries it would cost $1431.76. I subtracted the $632.00 in SNAP benefits it left a deficit of $799.76. This number is way out of reach for many participants who are on a fixed income or for your working middle class. I then turned and made a seven day menu based on fresh and healthy foods that were more accessible and practical than Michelle Obama’s sample menu. My menu allowed for three meals a day plus one snack and a beverage. My menu consisted of Tilapia which is equally nutritious but less expensive at $4.99 a pound, ground chuck which is 80% lean at $10.99 for 3 pounds, frozen chicken breast at $8.99 for 3 pounds and pork chops at$4.99 a pound. I priced for buying in larger quantities to maximize my budget. My menu came out to $178.32 for a weeks’ worth of food. This equaled out to $713.28 for the month and averaging $25.47 a meal leaving only a deficit of $81.28. This is more manageable but still can be out of reach for many and forcing those families into food pantries.

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