Eat, Save, and Be Healthy

The Louisville-based Yum! Brands is lobbying the KY government to consider allowing the elderly, homeless, and persons with disabilities to be able to use their supplemental nutrition assistance funds to purchase fast food. They argue that some people have difficulty preparing foods and the nutrition provided by their restaurants stacks up well against the foods that are purchased at the grocery store with food assistance dollars like candy and soda. Yet, this decision has many possible negative outcomes, such as:
* eating fast food has been linked with higher rates of obesity and poor health outcomes
* funding for programs like Meals on Wheels that deliver meals to the same groups of people is being cut; Meals on Wheels has to meet certain nutritional standards, the fast food industry does not.
* compromising the resources provided to people participating in the supplemental nutrition assistance programs because prepared food is more expensive and the food dollar will not stretch as far.

What do you think?
More information available by the Courier-Journal.com at http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110402/NEWS01/304030028/Yum-Brands-lobbies-Kentucky-OK-food-stamps-restaurant-use.

Cheers, Julie