Fat of the Land

If obesity is a choice, it's not one the poor get to make

By Billy Manes

There it sits, bottom shelf, aisle four at the Colonialtown Publix. One little packet of sustenance – wheat flour, thiamine mononitrate, canola oil, cottonseed oil, hydrolyzed soy, corn and wheat protein, monosodium glutamate and a laundry list of other stuff you really shouldn't eat – neatly wrapped in red plastic and priced at 20 cents, its 380 calories (120 from fat) all adding up to the universal symbol for just getting by: Top Ramen.

There are 320,000 people currently living on food stamps in Central Florida, many of whom are probably familiar with Nissin's three-minute "oodles of noodles" concoction. Statewide, more than 1 million people benefit from the federal food stamp plan; 28 million in the country. On average, most beneficiaries survive on $85 a month for groceries, even when the United States Department of Agriculture, which oversees the food stamp program, estimates that a family of four on a "moderate cost" shopping plan averages $900 a month at their local market.

A recent University of Washington study put grocery prices to the test. Among the 370 foods sampled, they found that energy-dense junk food cost an average of $1.76 per 1,000 calories, while nutritious, unprocessed foods came in at a whopping $18.16 per 1,000 calories. The disparity helps explain the myth that the nation's obese poor are fat because they choose to be. In reality, there isn't much choice at all.

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