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The Food Stamp Diet
The unhealthy result of eating on $3 a day.
BACKGROUND
Staying slim on a budget can take some work. But try munching on rabbit food and lean protein with only access to food stamps? Coined The Food Stamp Diet, this low budget eating plan forces you to eat like the 26 million Americans who live on food stamps, which allots to just about $3 a day.
Made famous by politicians who have tried to step in the shoes of the millions of low-income Americans by surviving on bananas, peanut butter sandwiches and brown rice, The Food Stamp Diet starkly and grimly shows anyone who is willing to try it just how difficult it is to eat a healthy diet filled with fresh fruits and vegetables on a mere $21 per week.
PRO
- Effectively demonstrates how challenging it is to eat a balanced diet on food stamps
- May promote greater awareness and funding for those in need of food stamps
- May encourage healthier foods to be included as part of the food stamp program
CON
- Carbohydrate-rich Food Stamp Diet can lead to weight gain
- Obesity is a serious problem in low-income populations
- Void of nutrients like those found in fresh fruit and vegetables and lean protein
- Weight gain is an enabling factor for a multitude of health conditions
- Inexpensive food tends to be less healthy
DIET and NUTRITION
Given its limited financial budget, The Food Stamp Diet is comprised mostly of carbohydrate-heavy foods and few if any fruits, vegetables, lean proteins or heart-healthy fats. Foods that are included in the food stamp program are generally inexpensive, have a long shelf-life and are not perishable. Politicians who experimented with this diet subsisted largely on peanut butter, processed cheese, bread, tortillas, legumes and bulk grains like oats and cornmeal.
Those on The Food Stamp Diet can eat their daily quota of calories and perhaps even more than they normally eat because the food is fairly energy dense. But it is this lack of low calorie but very nutritious foods like fruit and vegetables that often leaves them craving fresh foods and sometimes even gaining weight.
EXERCISE
There are no exercise recommendations that go along with the Food Stamp Diet.
CONCLUSION
The Food Stamp Diet is an experiential eating plan that gives the individual a direct taste of the challenges that are encountered by the 26 million Americans who try to subsist on food stamps. Given the severe financial restrictions of eating on just $3 per day, most of the food choices are carbohydrate-heavy and void of fresh food items.
In addition, because of The Food Stamp Diet’s reliance on energy dense food, it is easy to observe how weight gain and not getting the proper nutrients are likely consequences of surviving on food stamps. The Food Stamp Diet sheds light on the inadequacy of the food stamp program in the hopes of bringing more awareness and funding to this program so that healthier foods can be made more available for those who rely on food stamps.
Common Misspellings
The Food Stamp Diet, Food Stamps Diet, Food Stamps Deit, Fod Stamps Diet, Food Stamps Diut, Welfare Diet
Related Diets: Carbohydrate Addicts Diet, McDonalds Diet
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This is a bunch of bull! These so called politicians got their programs mixed up. All the food they're talking about in here, like peanut butter, tortillas, bread, legumes and cheese is not what you get on food stamps. You get these from WIC and they are for pregnant woman who need to gain weight. No wonder why these fools gained weight.
Food stamp are something totally different. I get food stamps and I can buy whatever I want, and I never run out. I never have to worry about if I have enough on my ebt card because I always do. I get plenty of baby food and snack for my daughter. I can buy just as much groceries than ppl who have more money than me!
As far as low income ppl being obese, that's not true for me! I buy alot of fruits and veggies with my food stamps. I'm thinner than ppl who dont get food stamps!
This program should be stopped, because they have no idea what they are talking about.
This is madness. That is an unhealthy diet, and even with that darn EBT card, you can still find a way to buy healthy foods. This is just madness.
i was on WIC and it is really hard to eat healthy
