Food stamps ought not exacerbate childhood obesity

To the editor:

Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon of fighting "child obesity" and "Diabetes" that is a growing epidemic in the United States. I have my own opinion of how to combat the problems. First, revamp the food stamp program to mimic the WIC program that follows the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Healthy food only: Fruits, vegetables, whole wheat bread, canned fish, peanut butter, eggs, cheese, beans, milk, fruit juice and unsweetened cereal (like Kix).

Prohibit what I call the Super C’s: candy, cookies, cakes, Cokes (all sodas), ice cream and chips. There is no need for food stamps to cover these items.

I recently saw something very disturbing in a local grocery store. A baby was in a grocery cart eating a candy bar. Yes, a full-sized Three Musketeers chocolate bar. I asked the parent her age and he said 9 months. What is going on here? Another time a child was in front of me in the cart, and she was so overweight that her socks looked like they were cutting off her circulation. I asked her age and was told 17 months. She was munching out on a bag of pork rinds. Both of these parents paid for their groceries with the Lone Star Card. There is a serious problem with this program. They need to prohibit junk foods.