Food Stamped

Last night, we watched the documentary Food Stamped where a couple tackles a challenge of eating a nutritionist approved diet on a food stamp budget. They estimate that the average two person household gets fifty dollars a week for groceries. They then attempt to eat a balanced diet on that budget and take their meal recordings to a nutritionist. She says that they did a decent job, but were lacking in calories and total servings of fruits and vegetables. However, the nutritionist goes on to point out their advantages. The woman making the documentary, Shira Potash, is a nutrition educator, and is very knowledgeable in healthy foods and balanced diets. With all of her know-how, and the commitment to this journey, the couple still struggled to maintain a balanced diet. 

The video goes on to talk about how low food budgets effect the outside communities as well. The film highlights positive things like food banks and food stamps at the farmers market as well as the unfortunate realities of low budget foods. One interviewee accredits the farm bill for making unhealthy foods, made with corn syrup and processed wheat, more affordable. The film also laments on the budget given to school lunches, and the packaged foods that are available. However, the documentary also includes a select few schools who are doing it right highlighting schools with community gardens, farm to fork programs, and healthy cooking classes. 

Overall, the film causes you consider the problem of obesity and the convenience of unhealthy foods. The documentary does a nice job of laying out facts and giving a plethora of opinions but leaves the conclusion somewhat open-ended. However, the case is clearly made that something should be done about inequality of price in healthy and food with little nutritional value. The 'what do we do now' aspect is really left for the viewer to ponder.