Comments on: You think?

By: shari

shari — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:39:57 +0000

I had a mom who spent my whole childhood telling me I was going to get “porky” if I ate this or that. She called me baby beluga, “the ape”, . When I got my first boyfriend she warned me that boys would think I was easy cuz I was fat, she put me on too many diets to list….when I was little she would not feed me and I remember being so hungry and weak – I learned to hoard and hide food and stuff my face wen she wasnt looking. ANd all her “hard work” to prevent me from the misery of BEING FAT…well now I am a beautful fat woman who is trying to unlearn all the negative thoughts in my head and accept who I am….while my m0m (I am 38 now) offers me financial incentives(the latest is $1000 to buy clothes) if I lose the weight. When my daughter was 10 years old she told her if your mommy loses 50 lbs gramma will send you to disneyland! I am learning to acept who I am bu tit is hard to indo the damage that was odne to my self esteem so young…I am grateful to have found these sites that inspire me. When I wqs gorwing upo inthe 70′s/80′s there were no websites to read, no plus size clothing for kids…it was awful. I am so glad kids these days have these resources to turn to!

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:28:47 +0000

Krista, maybe you can only get it if you’re in one of the states that has the farmer’s market plan. This is the stuff I’m curious about.

Lactose intolerant -> extra cheese is a real head scratcher.

By: Krista

Krista — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 22:18:54 +0000

Where do you get fresh produce on WIC? Not here. Had two children on WIC. http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/benefitsandservices/foodpkgregs.HTM Is the current lists. Arizona only gave carrots and Tuna to nursing mothers. Because I am Lactose Intolerant, I got extra cheese?!?! and Lactaid milk.

I wish we got produce. I did learn to make a delicious quiche with all the extra eggs and cheese. I also learned to use the baby cereal in the bread I was making daily to help us survive. We owned a car, see. At that time, if you owned a car, even if you owed more than it was worth, worth more than $2K, you did not qualify for food stamps.

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:50:36 +0000

(Which is not to say that it can’t be both. Bah, I keep trying to clarify this comment and it’s not coming right.)

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:41:11 +0000

Yeah, Kate, that’s part of why I want to talk to someone who’s actually used it… all I can really get from the website (and granted it was a pretty cursory look) is that there are requirements for a food to be eligible. Whether that plays out as restrictive or liberating would depend a lot on what the rules are and how they work out in practice. I think WIC is perfectly within its rights to only fund certain foods — if they have an agenda that includes things like “make fresh produce more financially accessible” but not “make cookies more financially accessible,” I don’t think I can argue with that. You don’t get to get a federal grant for stuff you want; you get to get a federal grant for stuff the government decides you can have. Problems with that are well out of WIC’s control. But if that means that the people using WIC can only afford to get the food it subsidizes, and if that list is restrictive, that’s a real problem. I think it’s great if it’s a program that lets you buy meat or vegetables where you otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. I don’t think it’s great if it’s a program that means you end up with a fridge full of rotten stuff you didn’t have time to cook, crabby kids, kids whose allergies can’t be accommodated, etc.

By: Meowser

Meowser — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:41:26 +0000

Yes, and that’s even more of an issue in subtropical climates where it’s very humid almost continuously. My mom is always complaining that all the fruits and veggies go bad in her fridge in two or three days. Two or three days!

By: kateharding

kateharding — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:37:49 +0000

Well, my sense is that WIC actually encourages/requires its users to get produce and other foods deemed healthy

To my mind, whether it’s “encourages” or “requires” makes ALL the difference. I am so very, very not okay with making assistance contingent on particular food choices. Especially at a time when low-fat and low-cal foods are considered “healthy” foods for growing children.

Not to mention one thing that always gets left out in all this discussion of how poor communities don’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables: fresh produce has to be eaten quickly and replaced regularly. I’m terrible about letting produce spoil before I get around to using it, and I’ve got all the time in the world to cook and shop. For someone who doesn’t, frozen or canned veggies are a much more sensible option, and equally or nearly as nutritious as fresh.

We do need to keep in mind that there are options in between fresh produce and junk food, and plenty of people no doubt take advantage of them.

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 04:03:25 +0000

Well, my sense is that WIC actually encourages/requires its users to get produce and other foods deemed healthy. I’m curious how that works in practice — is there enough assistance offered that you can really afford to offer healthy meals? Does it come off as restrictive, giving you only a narrow range of foods that meet the healthiness criteria?

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:34:20 +0000

I got WIC when I was pregnant, and until my daughter “aged out” at 5 years old. What do you want to know?

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:16:32 +0000

And farm exchanges are reasonably priced and can deliver, but. you have to a) live near enough to a farm (though it depends — my city has plenty of farm exchanges) and b) be able to pay up front. You get a lot of veggies for your chunk of change, but that change has to be cash in hand at the beginning of the season.

My local farmer’s market, incidentally, accepts WIC vouchers. I seriously want to know more about WIC — they seem to have the right idea. Anybody on it?