Should soda be eliminated as an approved purchase by the Food Stamp program? Well it seems as though the majority of the public would say yes, and for many good reasons. They basically are full of sugar and carbohydrates and are about 180 calories per can. If a person had a habit of drinking a six
pack of cokes a day that would be 1080 extra calories added to their food
diet. The average daily caloric intake is between 1,800 and 2,000 calories a day. Obviously these are the negatives a people being able to buy cokes with
food stamps.
There is really only one positive that should warrant people the option of buying cokes on food stamps. There are people with diabetes and cokes can
actually play a vital role in a situation where someone is experiencing a low
blood sugar. When hypoglycemia occurs it is vital that the patient get sugar and carbohydrates to the brain as soon as possible. Well one can notice on most cokes the sugar and the carbohydrate value are actually the same. Other products such as juice and glucose tablets do not have this feature. Cokes
seem to regulate a low blood sugar a little faster than most other options.
Also if the government were to take away cokes from food stamp users it almost seems like juices that are not made of 100 percent juice would have to go as well. Milk and 100 percent orange juice would be fine but tubs of Hawaiian Punch
would have to go too. Basically anything that is not an all-natural beverage would have to be put on the non-purchasable list; it couldn’t just stop with cokes.
The freedom of the citizen that has food stamps has to be considered as well. It is only fair that they get the same treatment as maybe a family that does not
qualify for food stamps. Each family has to budget within their means and each family should have the option and discretion to keep their families health in mind. Are we talking about getting rid of diet cokes? This is a very important question. There is no sugar, carbohydrates, or calories in a diet coke. For lack of a better term it is nothing more than brown water. It would not be fair to get rid of one and not the other.
It is understood that the majority of the public is going to be in favor of getting rid of the privilege of buying cokes under the food stamp program. Hopefully
this article was able to look at both some of the positive and negatives of either
action. One just has to weigh out the options as we do every day with many decisions, but sometimes we have to step back look at the big picture and accept what the best decision is based upon knowledgeable thinking.