Correlation Between Obesity And SNAP

For each of these three recommended actions to be implemented into policy, several things need to occur. For the SNAP policy update and increase in funding recommendation, a general consensus among the United States Department of Agriculture needs to be on board that this is a necessary action. The USDA regulates the SNAP program, so they are the primary agency that would update the policies to further enhance eligible food items and restrict purchasing of unhealthy food. They have the resources of dieticians and medical doctors that understand nutrition, and can differentiate between what healthy and unhealthy food products are. They already have restrictions based on eligible food items, but they do not have any restrictions based on the

House of Representatives member, Phil Roe, introduced a bill to amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008. The Healthy Food Choices Act of 2016 would require the participants of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to use their benefits to purchase items that meet the nutrition requirement proposed by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children or WIC program (Roe, 2016). According to the United States Department of Agriculture (2016), there were 45,766,672 people participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the 2015 fiscal year. This means that nearly forty-six million people will be affected by the passing of this act and would no longer be able to use SNAP to purchase sugary

Pomeranz, J. L., & Miller, D. P. (2015). Research report: Policies to promote healthy portion

This article discusses some of the facts about SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It talks about how three out of four SNAP households have a child, a disabled person, or someone sixty years of age or older. It talks about how on average, the benefits from SNAP boosted monthly income by thirty-nine percent, and forty-five percent for households with a child. It also talks about how much the program is growing with an average of forty-five million people receiving benefits during the 2011 fiscal year. The reason for so many recipients is because a few years back, the labor market went down causing more people to meet eligibilities of the program along with those already receiving

of 2008-2009. For households that struggle to meet their basic nutritional needs, SNAP benefits can relieve hunger and food insecurity. Research shows SNAP participants gain access to more essential nutrients in their home food supply compared to eligible non-participants. Program participation is especially strong among children, and research shows child SNAP participation is associated with a number of positive

For states that have needed more help to become healthier in their food choices such as southern states like Alabama and Georgia, they could receive a higher rebate of $0.45 for every dollar they spend on fruits and vegetables. Adding this incentive into the program is expected to actually increase consumption of fruits and vegetables by twenty-five percent, according to the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Massachusetts. This policy should be enacted because as of right now there is no other way to promote spending on healthier choices when the prices on these choices are already so high for low-income families. In order to expand the SNAP program to fund this incentive, we need to allow for more government spending on this program. Though this would lead to higher debt for our domestic consumption, it would help those in the U.S. who have virtually nothing to eat. We plan on getting the money to fund this by allocating money from other unneeded government purchases such as the ones in our so called, “waste book”.

Obesity rates in the US are rising due to food insecurity. One in six people in the U.S. are food insecure, while two-thirds of adults and one-third Americans are overweight or obese.14 Studies have found that wealthy districts have three times as many supermarkets compared to the poor.15 Kevin Conocannon of the USDA noted in an interview that people in poorer areas sometimes have narrower variety of food options.16 SNAP recipients face barriers to achieving nutritious diets due to lack of availability in their neighborhood. Healthy food often comes with higher costs, so most people with lower income result to eating foods with lower cost and higher calories. According to a 2009 report by the USDA, as many as 23.5 million Americans live more than one mile from a supermarket with limited access to a vehicle.17 Food Deserts are particularly prevalent in low-income communities.18

Tom Vilsack once said “The lack of access to proper nutrition is not only fueling obesity, it is leading to food insecurity and hunger among our children”. In recent years an unruly amount of homes were classified as food insecure, which is a government measurement for when all people are not able to access nutritious foods to help maintain a healthy lifestyle. Hunger is a worldwide problem and is also a crisis in the United States of America. Because of this concern the federal government configured a temporary solution for society, called Food Stamps or now known as SNAPS. SNAPS stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Although this program helps to alleviate America’s hunger problems, it also created a new problem in the

There is six percent of the population that has limited access to healthy food (Lake Health, 2016). The obesity rate has only dropped .1% in four years (Lake Health, 2016). Additionally, eighty percent of the population has access to exercise opportunities (Lake Health, 2016). Unfortunately, it costs money to do everything and it costs sixty-nine dollars a month for a family to join the YMCA (Lake County, 2014). Meanwhile, the average cost of a healthy diet for one person is more than $550 more per year (Rao, Afshin, Singh, & Mozaffarian, 2013). However, there are assistance programs available for people with lower incomes such as for school lunches, WIC, or food

The Food Stamp Program, recently renamed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, has been helping serve the citizens of America since 1939. This program focuses on providing food at a discounted price to those who qualify. The past has helped shaped and grow this government program, however, it has also had to adjust and change due to new demands and the changing demographics of the population. SNAP has allowed Americans to provide themselves and their families with nutritious meals at a discounted price. However, if the newly proposed restrictions are implemented there would be fewer options available and limit the recipient’s purchasing power.

In the United State, there is a federal nutrition program for low income people to help food budget and buy healthy food. People who have low income in the United States get the food stamps, also known as “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)”. For every month, eligible people who have low income get benefits deposited in to their EBT account. Once they get food stamp, people can purchase food items including seeds and plants to grow food in their house or backyard. It can be used at a grocery store, a supermarket, a farmer 's market, and a shelter that serves meals. However, with all these great benefits, people still eat unhealthy because of too much time consuming, limited money, some food dessert area, and the benefits allow people to eat junk food.

“Food is life. It is necessity and pleasure, family and community, culture and power.” Food is what lets us take a break during the day, and most importantly, healthy food gets us ready and energized for the busy day ahead. However, many Americans do not have access to healthy foods. Many low-income communities in the inner cities do not have access to healthy foods. Many of these communities live more than a mile away from a supermarket and transportation is often unavailable. Even when transportation is available, or one lives close to a supermarket, purchasing healthy food and fresh produce can be very expensive. Many people end up buying unhealthy food products from their local corner stores, which can’t afford to stock healthy fruits and vegetables like large grocery stores. Lack of access to healthy food is a race issue. Disproportionate access to healthy foods between whites and African Americans is extremely common. The data shows that African Americans have greater health issues and limited access to healthy food. Obesity rates are 50% higher for

The first intervention program this paper will review is called SNAP-Education, or SNAP-Ed. Assisting food insecure families through this program provides education on how to eat nutritiously and could decrease obesity rates among SNAP participants. SNAP-Education “supports evidence-based nutrition education and obesity prevention interventions and projects for persons eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) through complementary direct

Jamie Oliver’s Ted Talk “Teaching every child about food,” captures his great passion and investment in fighting childhood obesity, improving children’s health, and lengthening their life expectancy. Obesity affects not just those that are obese, but family, friends, community, and country. The healthcare expense for obesity in the United States per year is two hundred and ten billion per year and growing, this expense is then passed down to Americans who have to pay more money in health insurance premiums as well as tax dollars to help cover this massive expense. (Oliver, J., 2010)

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has become an immense support for food insecurity, particularly in low-income families in our country. The SNAP program has been initiated to reduce hunger during economic crisis and has become crucial in helping its participants to meet their dietary needs (Blumenthal, 2012 pg.50). However, there is a main concern is that SNAP participants are also at risk for developing obesity and other chronic disease. The SNAP program finds that the obesity epidemic is associated with huge economic burdens on medical cost, if not addressed at right time. The Farm Bill containing SNAP program was signed into law in February, 2014 after intense debate on its effectiveness and efficiency (Farm Bill, 2014). During the debate, the congressional legislation addressed the importance of healthy eating for participants to receive proper nutrition in their diet (Blumenthal, 2012 pg.50). The policy reports that SNAP program will focus on food insecurity and also provide health outcome for obesity among participants. This policy needs to be modified to expand other nutrition assistance program for SNAP participants to select healthy food choices. Such an educational program would benefit most states offering nutrition information to assist SNAP participants to eat healthier and be physically active.