I believe WIC stands for "Women Infant Children" and is an acronym for a government food subsidy program for low income families. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Not too long ago I saw a news item online about some unemployed women who were complaining that they couldn't find work and couldn't feed themselves on the welfare/unemployment benefits they were receiving. Both women (mother and daughter IIRC) were remarkably obese, and I remember thinking that a lot of people reading the article would have said, or at least thought, some very unkind things about them being able the "miss a meal," but, in fact, their poverty was quite possibly at the root of their obesity. I'm sure they subsisted on cheap carbs and junk food because they could afford it. Fresh meat would certainly have led to less hunger and improved health, but they probably felt it was too expensive and couldn't imagine a meal without mounds of potatoes and bread.

I'm always wishing they'd come up with a 'nutrient density index' or something along those lines - right next to where they post the unit price of a particular grocery item. Sure, something like a big box of cereal or noodles might seem cheaper, but what am I getting? To me, a box of cereal now seems like nothing more than sugared styrofoam.

After eating so much real food, all processed food starts to taste like that. I remember how plastic-ish a chocolate bar tasted after ONE WEEK of LCing.

I wish my taste buds would change like that. All I get is super sensitivity to saltiness.

Only problem is grains seem nutrient dense until you realize you can't really absorb those nutrients because of the phytates in the grain.

I read somewhere that if you ate wheat off the plant, you'd poop it out because you body can't digest it. Any truth there?

It would make sense since that's how nature spreads plant seeds around. It would also explain why wheat grains are ground into flour for food.

I agree it's all bad, but it's gotten worse...much worse. Arizona WIC standards changed in October 2010. The new standards for non-infant cereal now include:

• Any store brand Crispy Rice
or Toasted Oats
• Quaker Life
• Quaker Oatmeal Squares
(Brown Sugar and Cinnamon)
• General Mills Total
• General Mills Kix
• General Mills Cheerios
(Plain and Multigrain)
• General Mills Chex
(Rice, Corn and Wheat)
• Kellogg’s Corn Flakes
• Kellogg’s Special K
• Kellogg’s All Bran Wheat Flakes
• Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats
(Bite Size)
• Kellogg’s Rice Krispies
• Malt-O-Meal Frosted Mini Spooners
• Malt-O-Meal Crispy Rice
• Post Banana Nut Crunch
• Post Honey Bunches of Oats
(Honey Roasted, Almond or
Vanilla Bunches)
• Post Grape-Nuts

It was bad enough to have Cheerios, Kix and corn flakes. Now let's shove Frosted Mini Wheats down the kiddos in the name of anti-poverty kids' nutrition.

Can't you buy eggs, meat and veggies with WIC?

In Arizona, it's dependent on age and weight of the woman, infant or child. And whether a woman breastfeeds or not. So the newborn checks might have formula. A little older, infant cereal, then infant stage 2 foods. I love the ones for breastfeeding women that include tuna. Healthiest thing outside of eggs to ever come with WIC.

A typical child check may have milk, juice, eggs, peanut butter or lentils (beans), rice/bread/tortillas and milk. The family often gets a voucher for a small quantity of fresh fruits or veggies, but that's a new addition, too. You don't have to take it all. A person could buy just the milk and eggs and veggies, but these checks are like gold to struggling families. I just think that people should have choices in how they want to feed their families, but people with wealth have choices. The government dictates to the poor.

I had WIC when pregnant. Saved my life. Thank God I was able to buy milk and stuff with it.

The cheapest plainwrap cereal was also a staple though, mostly because it was one of the cheapest things. Generally anybody who qualifies for and needs WIC cares a lot about cost, and almost nobody knows what's truly nutritious, so . . .

I was so impressed that I went out and bought some portabello mushrooms--now I just have to figure out what to do with them!



Actually, I just realized that when I go into the store I don't even see the packaged products. It is so natural to just go over to the veggie, dairy and meat areas and the required canned products, such as coconut milk, that it's just as if the rest of the stuff isn't even there.

There is some novel I read as a kid but I can't recall where this is from, where near the end, the main character goes into this room and it's totally filled with luscious cakes and pies and every kind of delicious food. But then something happens and he "sees through" the magic, and they are eating refuse, crap and trash and slimy disgusting brown stuff. But it's enchanted to SEEM like really great food. Sometimes the grocery store seems like that to me. Like this colorful plastic enchantment to convince people that they should consider it 'food'.

PJ

Actually I just got back from the supermarket 45 minutes ago. I had to pick up some paper goods and laundry detergent, but had a hankering for a few specialty items that required me to venture down the aisles. Although this was my usual local supermarket, the Super Stop 'n Shop, I rarely venture down the aisles, so I kept going down the wrong ones, and backtracking, and probably taking far longer than if I had just gone up and down every aisle, but I hate to do that so much. Those rows and rows of bright packages just depress me.

But if anyone had peered into MY shopping cart I'm sure it would have looked very odd and lopsided, and filled with very strange things. In addition to the paper goods, etc my cart contained:
- 5 cans of plain packed pumpkin
- 5 cans of Nestle media crema
- 2 packages KerryGold Irish butter
- 1 package KerryGold Dubliner cheese
- 1 package mascarpone cheese
- 1 container of sour cream
- 4 jars of macadamia nuts (suddenly had a craving for them )
- 1 cannister of plain unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 bars of Ghiardelli unsweetened baking chocolate
- 1 box of Truvia
- 1 small bottle of pure vanilla extract
- 1 bottle of cinnamon
- 1 bottle of garlic/parsley powder
- 2 packages of hot dogs (these are actually for my dog, who has cancer and is on a lot of meds, and I stick his pills inside hot dog chunks)

I'm sure anyone looking in would say to themselves. "That big fat lady sure eats a balanced diet. *NOT*!"

But at least I had no BOXES of CR*P. And then I came home and cooked dinner - chicken livers sauteed in bacon grease, along with chopped up bacon, fresh mushrooms, fresh garlic, some garlic/parsley powder, sour cream, and a tiny splash of brandy.

when i see carts full of frozen and boxed stuff i get nauseated now :/ the same for fast food commercials. something about it being all the same color

i don't do much variety in my shopping tho, i don't know what to do with most veggies and don't have the patience to look up a week's worth of recipes so my staples are broccoli, chicken, steak, mushrooms, spaghetti sauce, frozen spinach and yogurt

Eating low carb definitely makes it easier to shop now. It's funny how before, if I saw something like eggs and bacon in someone's shopping cart, I'd be thinking "oh no, they're killing themselves!", but now I know the truth. Wish everyone did, especially doctors.