First and foremost, we wish to express our abhorrence that federal SNAP benefits (formerly known as the Food Stamp program) have been eliminated for more than two million Americans thanks to the budget that Congress enacted last year.
America is the richest nation in the history of the earth, yet millions of our fellow citizens suffer from food insecurity on a daily basis, a state of affairs that is nothing less than shameful.
However, we think one aspect of the SNAP program everyone can agree upon is that SNAP benefits should not be used for the purchase of junk food items.
For decades, the junk food industry successfully lobbied federal officials to allow SNAP recipients to use their benefits to buy items such as soft drinks, candy, and other sugar-filled, ultra-processed foods, which are “food” only to the extent that they can be consumed.
Not only do these junk foods lack any nutritional value, but they also are incredibly harmful to human health.
It is estimated that 40 percent of all Americans meet the definition of obesity and another 30 percent are overweight. Thanks to our appetite for sugar-filled junk food products, diabetes has reached epidemic proportions throughout our society.
Even worse, these products are highly-addictive. The food industry’s scientists have designed their formulas both to stimulate the pleasure receptors in the brain and to send signals from the stomach to the brain indicating a lack of satiety.
In other words, almost no matter how much junk food you eat, your stomach never tells your brain that it is “full.”
We ourselves know the addictive nature of these products. Our mother’s grocery list always included packaged cupcakes and similar products in boxes of 12 — and we (four boys) would attack them like locusts.
As young adults ourselves, our shopping list at the wholesale clubs for our young families included bulk cartons of candy bars. (They were “for the kids,” wink, wink).
When we lost power during Hurricane Irene in 2011, we had to throw out a bunch of food from our downstairs freezer — which included (no exaggeration) 43 pints of premium ice cream.
In short, we ourselves were lifelong junk-food junkies. And the cumulative result of our decades of a poor diet? A triple by-pass because of clogged arteries. Even though we ran marathons and triathlons for our entire lives, we learned first-hand that you can’t outrun an unhealthy diet.
It is ironic that the “N” in SNAP stands for “Nutrition” (the full acronym is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) when almost 25 percent of SNAP benefits reportedly are used to purchase sugary drinks, candy, and snack products. Soda is the top item bought with SNAP benefits.
Studies have shown that reducing consumption of junk food for just three weeks can reset both our palates and our mind-body connection to make healthier foods more appealing.
For too long the federal government has been subsidizing the purchase of foods that are a major contributor to chronic diseases.
We urge Massachusetts officials to take immediate advantage of a new regulation by the federal government that allows states to eliminate the use of SNAP benefits — of which about 40% are used for children — for the purchase of junk food products.
These addictive and unhealthy foods have no place in the diets of any American, especially our children.