are all recipients of aid overweight?

i read this in the clarion-ledger today! from what i get from this articale(sp?)this person seems to think all people recivingt help from the state via foodstamps and medicade and medicare are all overweight i dont know how to post a link to this or the web site for the clarion-ledger but its on page 8A.im so angerd by this,yes im overweight,yes i get foodstamps,my husband works to suport our family of 6 and by the state standerds we do qulify for them.i am not ashamed by that fact, my pride will never come before my kids and there needs.but its people who think like this that make reciving help seem so shamefull. well thats just my.02 now i remember why i dont read the paper!

I live in California and they have the same thought here. Although I am not on any type of state aide my sister in law is. And I see the looks she gets when she buys groceries with food stamps. One lady said "I don't know why I work so hard to hardly be able to pay my bills when I could go on Welfare and have it all free"..made me mad!

Well, I dunno, but I have been in the grocery store and have seen people purchasing with food stamps, and they seem to come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, just like the check-writing, cash-paying folks. I have never been on food stamps, but my children have been on WIC, and I got through college on mainly grants. I heard alot of disparaging remarks when I was in school about who got the "free" money to go to school on and how unfair it was - I'll let you use your imagination about what was said, but my standard reply was, "well, you are looking at one of them." I looked at my aid as return on my brothers' and sisters' tax money - and they looked at it the same way. The way I feel is that sometimes you need help, so if you need it, please take it. As my former preacher (Nathan L Barber) once told me, "God loves a cheerful giver, but SOMEBODY has to be the receiver, and it is just as important to be a cheerful receiver as it is to be a cheerful giver." He was (and still is) somebody I would trust my live with. So remember, just because it is in print, doesn't mean the person that wrote it knew what they were talking about. It is not a shame to need help. I think it is more shamefull, to be TOO PROUD to receive help in a graicious (sp) manner. And that's my .02 cents worth!!! Love ya to bits, Arlies

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamen!

Thank you alries that was right on the nose!!! Angie Bea

Good Morning! Well, I've found this post kind of late, but wanted to respond to it. Since I worked in the retail/food business for a long time before I finally got fed up with it, I 've seen many of the people who use foodstamps coming through the checkouts in the store. I know for a fact that having foodstamps has nothing to do with being fat, however.. and this is the large problem, even though the recipients are taught on nutrition and how to shop smart, it's not that easy to shop for an entire month for a family and make everyone happy. The result of this was that most of the time, instead of purchasing fruit and vegetables, the families would purchase items that would actually last the whole month, not spoil after not being used in a week. The high carb foods, bread, potatoes, noodles, that were also cheaper and would last longer and store for a longer time, would be the things that they purchased more of. Prepackaged snack cakes and microwaveable junkfood < yep I mean the chicken nuggets, french fries, spaghetti and mac and cheese for the kids > are so much quicker to prepare if you have kids all coming home at different times of the day who had to get a snack themselves before the parents get home from work. Unlike some believe, most of the parents DO work , they don't just sit home and collect welfare and foodstamps. I believe, it's not a foodstamp issue, it's the whole society that has a problem with obesity between having no time to prepare healthy meals and being forced sometimes, if money is short, to purchase foods that are the "bad" . And if you come from a family with a bunch of kids, you grew up on high carb diets! If you've ever lost your job and had to survive with three kids on just hubby's income, you make do with what you have. Shame on those judging others... who are they to judge anyways? Opinions are like.. ... well, y'all know the saying Have a great day everyone !! Andrea