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The US government has been subsidizing bad food choices for lower income people. Now, it looks to want to change that:

The ‘N’ In SNAP Means Nutrition

May 17, 2025

SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, is one of the nation’s largest welfare programs. …

The “N” in SNAP stands for nutrition. The point of the whole program is to help poor Americans eat and not forgo nutrition as result of insufficient funds to buy food. So why should government funds be used to purchase foods that are not fundamental to meeting the requirements of basic nutrition?

The program is funded by the federal government but administered by the states.

Now three Republican governors—governors of Arkansas, Idaho and Indiana—are joining the governor of West Virginia in seeking waivers from the federal government to permit them to remove soda, candy, and other sweets from the foods that can be purchased with SNAP funds.

SNAP funds flow from the Department of Agriculture, and new Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins showed her support for this move by appearing alongside of Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders when she announced that her state would seek a waiver to eliminate soda and candy.

According to the Foundation for Government Accountability, “Soda is the number one commodity purchased with food stamps. More food stamp money is spent on soda, candy, snacks, ice cream, and cakes than on fruit, vegetables, eggs, pasta, beans, and rice. Purchases of sweetened beverages, desserts, salty snacks, and candy exceed the program’s combined sales of fruits and vegetables by $9.4 billion a year.”

FGA goes on to point out that the incidence of obesity is higher among food stamp recipients than among those not on food stamps at similar income levels and that food stamp participants are “more likely to be at very high or extremely high risk” of the many health problems that result from obesity.

Per the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, in 1975, federal funding to the SNAP program was $4.6 billion. By 2000, it was $14.6 billion. In 2023, it was up to $111.2 billion.

Per Pew Research, in 1974, there were 12.9 million Americans receiving SNAP funds. In 2023, it was up to 42.4 million. https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/n-snap-means-nutrition

Tax dollars should not subsidize sodas or candy.

The US government plans to take other steps:

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) – New dietary guidelines for Americans will be released before August and will be four pages long, directing Americans to “eat whole food,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. told a U.S. House of Representatives committee on Wednesday. The current U.S. dietary guidelines are 160 pages longer than those to be proposed by the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. … Kennedy has had support from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and from President Donald Trump in efforts so far to phase out synthetic food dyes and to overhaul the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are released every five years. … The guidelines are written by HHS and the USDA and shape federal nutrition and school lunch programs. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/new-us-dietary-guidelines-come-before-august-kennedy-says-2025-05-14/

The above is good news as hopefully more healthy foods will be encouraged and dangerous items discouraged.

The UK, sadly, has decided to not promote healthier foods:

UK government dropped health push after lobbying by ultra-processed food firms

17 May 2025

Government legal guidance urging retailers in England to offer millions of consumers deals and discounts on minimally processed and nutritious food was dropped after a lobbying campaign by the world’s biggest ultra-processed food firms, the Guardian can reveal.

Ahead of new regulations banning junk food promotions from October, the Department of Health and Social Care issued advice to thousands of shops, supermarkets, online retailers and other businesses to help them comply with the law.

The guidance said: “The aim of this policy is to shift the balance of promotions towards healthier options – such as minimally processed and nutritious food.” This might include, for example, two-for-one deals, discounts or extra loyalty points on fruit, vegetables, whole grains, fresh meat and fish.

Promotions on minimally processed and nutritious food would be gamechanging, making it more affordable for families and improving the diets of millions. https://www.theguardian.com/society/ng-interactive/2025/may/17/uk-government-drops-healthy-eating-push-after-lobbying-by-ultra-processed-food-firms

Consider the following:

This Food Was Just Linked To Heart Disease And A Serious Brain Condition—And It’s Probably In Your Kitchen

May 16, 2025

If you haven’t stayed up-to-date on health news lately, here’s a quick headline for you: Ultra-processed foods aren’t so great for your health. In fact, studies have linked them to a slew of health issues including diabetes and cancer risk, and having a lot of ultra-processed foods in your diet can even potentially make you age faster. But up to 70 percent of the food supply in America is made up of these products, making them tough to entirely avoid.

Still, it’s a never a bad idea to take a step back to assess what you’re eating on a daily basis, especially when we’re still learning about how ultra-processed foods could affect us. Case in point: Two recent studies have found an association between eating ultra-processed foods and a higher risk of developing heart disease and Parkinson’s disease. Given how life-altering each of these conditions can be, it’s understandable to have concerns. https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a64780422/ultra-processed-food-heart-disease-parkinsons-study/

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has long wanted people to realize risks and harms associated with ultra-processed foods:

RFK Jr. is targeting ultraprocessed foods. What are they, and are they bad for you?

March 12, 2025

In the Trump administration’s quest to “Make America Healthy Again,” there may be no bigger target than ultraprocessed foods.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s new health secretary, has cited “highly chemically processed foods” as a chief culprit behind an epidemic of chronic disease in the U.S., including ailments such as obesity, diabetes and autoimmune disorders.

Such foods are “poisoning” people, particularly children, Kennedy said during Senate confirmation hearings. He has vowed to work to remove such foods from federal programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

“I will do everything in my power to put the health of Americans back on track,” he told lawmakers.

Key to that goal, however, could be making sure that consumers understand basic facts about ultraprocessed foods and the role they play in daily meals.

From sugary cereals at breakfast to frozen pizzas at dinner, plus in-between snacks of potato chips, sodas and ice cream, ultraprocessed foods make up about 60% of the U.S. diet. For kids and teens, it’s even higher — about two-thirds of what they eat.

That’s concerning because ultraprocessed foods have been linked to a host of negative health effects, from obesity and diabetes to heart disease, depression, dementia and more. One recent study suggested that eating these foods may raise the risk of early death. … foods created through industrial processes and with ingredients such as additives, colors and preservatives that you couldn’t duplicate in a home kitchen, said Kevin Hall, a researcher who focuses on metabolism and diet at the National Institutes of Health.

“These are most, but not all, of the packaged foods you see,” Hall said.

Such foods are often made to be both cheap and irresistibly delicious, said Dr. Neena Prasad, director of the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Food Policy Program.

“They have just the right combination of sugar, salt and fat and you just can’t stop eating them,” Prasad said. https://apnews.com/article/ultraprocessed-foods-kennedy-f6a2607b14c4a2787c68801a8e0646bc

Monday, on FNC’s “Hannity,” Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged “radical transparency” in efforts to “Make America Healthy Again.” …

“Well, you know, processed foods and seed oil is one of the components of processed foods,” Kennedy replied. “And that is, you know, all the science indicates that ultra-processed foods are what are behind — the principal culprit. And it’s an extraordinary explosion, the epidemic we have of chronic disease. When my uncle was president, 3% of Americans had chronic disease. Today, 60% do. We have 66% of adults are diabetic or pre-diabetic, 38% of teens. When you and I were kids, Sean, the average pediatrician would see one case of juvenile diabetes in his lifetime, over a 40 or 50-year career. Today, one out of every three kids who walks to his office store is diabetic or pre-diabetic.”

“Diabetes and other mitochondrial diseases are now costing America more than our military budget,” he continued. “We spend two to three times on healthcare what other countries do, and we have the worst outcomes. And it’s not — and we have the best medical system in the world. We are poisoning ourselves and it’s coming from you know principally these ultra-processed foods and what we’re trying to do, and this President Trump wants us to have radical transparency and to incentivize companies like this one to switch to traditional ingredients like beef tallow.” https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2025/03/11/rfk-jr-vows-radical-transparency-on-food-supply-we-are-poisoning-ourselves/

Ultra-processed foods are highly consumed and are dangerous.

Yet, in the USA, various dietitians have pretended that obesity and processed foods are good and healthy (see General Mills funded dieticians who try to claim being obese is healthy and that ultra-processed foods are good).

But they are not healthy.

The Apostle Paul warned:

10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, (1 Timothy 6:10)

Greed, not health, drives much of the food processing industry.

The profit margins on  ultra-processed items are much higher than on whole foods. And that is one reason why a lot of advertising money is spent on sodas and other ultra-processed items and relatively little promoting whole foods.

Eating wrong can increase the production of advanced protein glycation end-products which tend to accumulate in the brain and can contribute to cognitive deterioration. I was the lead scientist on paper published in a major medical journal dealing with that a while ago (see Can Cognitive Deterioration Associated with Down Syndrome be Reduced? Medical Hypotheses, 2005; 64(3):524-532).

It is not good that the youth in the UK, USA, and elsewhere are consuming so much ultra-processed foods.

That said, remember Eve in the Garden:

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. (Genesis 3:6)

Eve reasoned around God’s restriction. The fruit looked like good and desirable food to her. Ultra-processed foods and many unclean meats that God’s word prohibits look like good and desirable foods to many.

Self-control is something Christians should have (e.g. 2 Peter 1:6).

Highly-processed junk foods may look good, taste good, and seem convenient, but if consumed at all, should be a very small part of anyone’s diet.

Yet most in the West deceive themselves that they are not eating too much of them or that they are fine. Plus there is a lot of advertising that promotes them. That brings to mind another warning from the Apostle Paul:

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, … 13 … evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:1-2,13)

Because the negative effects take time, many are wrongly persuaded by advertisements and availability to eat too much highly processed foods. Many also deceive themselves into falsely believing that they cannot cause serious problems–yet they can.

The following scripture came to mind:

11 Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Ecclesiastes 8:11)

As far as food processing goes, it really started to become a problem in the 19th century. This is when refined flour came out. Then we saw degerminated corn meal and white rice. Grits, which once were made of ground, whole organic corn, are now made with degerminated GMO corn, ‘fortified’ with synthetic vitamins. After corn was ‘degerminated’ many people in the Southern USA died from a disease called pellagra. Instead of going back to whole corn, chemically-derived synthetic vitamins were added, which I consider to be dangerous.

In the 19^th century, after natural brown rice became refined on a large scale, white rice became popular. Many preferred white rice because it could be stored longer than natural brown rice, plus it cooked faster.

In the 19^th century, a disease called beriberi began to cause many deaths in parts of Asia. Symptoms of beriberi include weight loss, emotional disturbances, impaired sensory perception, weakness and pain in the limbs, and periods of irregular heart rate.

At first no one connected the consumption of white rice in with beriberi. Leading ‘infectious disease’ experts attempted to figure out what caused this beriberi outbreak, without success. The real cause was the greatly reduced consumption of B-vitamins that was in the portion of the rice that was refined away—but no one realized this at first.

Now, we have even more highly processed items in the food supply–and also genetically-modified substances that there is limited data on the possible long-term health consequences of their consumption.

What should you eat? You should eat real food and for most people, at least two or more servings of fruit and three of more servings of vegetables daily, relatively small amounts of meats, whole grains, and olive oil come to mind. Refined grains, sugars (whether natural or artificial), sodas, and GMOs should be highly limited or not consumed at all

God’s word says:

2 … Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good (Isaiah 55:2).

People should try to eat real, not artificial, foods. And if you take vitamins and minerals, take the type whose nutrients are 100% food (which is what I personally do).

In 2022, the Continuing Church of God put out the following sermon on its ContinuingCOG channel:

It is nice that some are warning about some of the evils affecting the food supply.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Christian Health Matters Should Christians be concerned about their health? Does the Bible give any food and health guidelines? Here are links to three related sermons: Let’s Talk About Food, Evil is Affecting the Food Supply, and Let’s Talk About Health.
American foods that gross out foreigners A study done in the Fall of 2014 found out which foods that non-USA Americans considered weird or gross that Americans eat. This video discusses those foods, ingredients in some of those foods, and warns against consuming ‘that which is not bread’ (Isaiah 55:2). Dr. Thiel also warns about synthetic vitamins and some of the issues associated with them. He also discusses something promoted by the late Seventh-day Adventist, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg.
The New Testament Church, History, and Unclean Meats Are foods considered to have been unclean in the Old Testament considered to be food in the New Testament? This article discusses this from the perspective of the New Testament. It also has a list of clean and unclean animals. It also answers the question, is pork healthy or is pork dangerous? There is also a sermon-length video on this: Christians and Unclean Meats; four short videos are also available: Did Jesus declare all animal flesh food?, Should Christians Eat Insects?, COVID, Pandemics, and Unclean Meat, and Unclean Meat and True Christianity.
Obesity, processed foods, health risks, and the Bible Does the Bible warn about the consequences of being obese? Is overeating dangerous? Is gluttony condemned? What diseases are associated with eating too much refined foods?
Eating Right, Eating Too Much, and Prophecy Are there disadvantages to being overweight? Is junk food really bad for you? Does the Bible discuss overeating and/or obesity? Is overeating having an effect on the US military? What are the ramifications of personal and national health for overeating? What should you eat? This is a sermonette-length YouTubevideo.
GMOs and Bible Prophecy What are GMOs? Since they were not in the food supply until 1994, how could they possibly relate to Bible prophecy? Do GMOs put the USA and others at risk? Here are some related videos: GMO Risks and the Bible and GMOs, Lab meat, Hydrogenation: Safe or Dangerous?
Chimeras: Has Science Crossed the Line? What are chimeras?  Has science crossed the line? Does the Bible give any clues? A video of related interest is Half human, half pig: What’s the difference?  and Human-Monkey Embryos and Death.
Ten Simple Rules that Lead to Health Herbert Armstrong gives his opinions on this.
Does God Heal Today? What does the Bible teach? Herbert Armstrong tries to explain this.
UK Study Supports Daniel Diet Daniel and his companions looked better eating more vegetables and avoiding strange meats. Has modern science confirmed this?
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? What about other peoples? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2025 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Other News.

• BibleNewsProphecy: Eating Right, Eating Too Much, and Prophecy
• BibleNewsProphecy: Eating Right, Eating Too Much, and Prophecy
• 80% of American ‘junk food’ banned?
• A new study finds that ‘Ultra Processed Foods Make Up 2/3rds Of Diet For Kids In Britain’
• No surprise here, obese Americans get more calories from ‘fast food’ than thinner ones
• Most calories for Americans come from ultra-processed ‘foods’
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ‘Make America Healthy Again’?
• WHO: Cancer rates rising; JAMA: Sugar increases heart disease risk
• HHS Secretary Kennedy putting the spotlight on harms from ultraprocessed foods
• Ultra-processed foods, cancer, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.