Thanks for the info. on that Bev - it just further convinced me that there is a huge correlation between poverty and obesity, high carb (cheap) food and diabetes. I have thought this for years, but up until recently I didn't find many who agreed with me. The fact that many people receiving food benefits are diabetic is a sad result of filling up on junk when higher quality nutritious food is too expensive.

As a poor college student, I was eating ramen noodles and rice almost exclusively, and was gaining 2 pounds a week on average. Glad those days are over for me! And I am glad so many folks are catching on to the connections between diabetes, obesity, and high "bad" carb food.

In other countries, poor people get thin. In the USA, they get fat because there is such an abundance of junk food; white flour and white sugar are incredibly cheap and easy to produce. What's really heart-wrenching is when low income people fill up on "carbage", and then develop a host of health problems without the money or health insurance to get better.

So folks, when donating to your local shelters or drives, check if there are pantries and churches (there are in Oregon) that accept produce, meat, and perishables, in addition to boxed and canned goods.

"Doctors should teach nutrition, not pharmaceutical addiction."

Peace!