Comments about ‘More U.S. families are skipping meals’

36.2 million Americans don't get enough to eat? First of all, based on my own travel and observations, I believe this number is way over inflated.I am not saying the real number is 0, but it isn't 36.2 million! We have many government programs that provide free food. Seconly, if you want to know and see what REAL poverty is, go to ANY country in South or Central America, most Asian countries or Africa. People, I tell you from personal experience, we don't have real poverty in America! Lastly, America's biggest health problem isn't lack of food, it is obesity! I think numbers like 36.2 malnurished people makes eye catching headlines, but I don't see all these staving people, and I look for them!

Good GOP trickle down economics seems to be a failure like the rest of the good old boys' club plans.

Tell us how we can help.

So guess what the number one health problem is among low-income people. Obesity. Go figure.

I know a place where no meals are skipped, ever. The place makes sure every meal is perfectly nutritional, and every meal meats the highest and strictest requirements. The ACLU has made sure of that...I am talking about the inmates in Americas jails and prisons. They get taken better care of than anyone in this country.

My heart reaches out to those not having enough to eat. We have plenty. Perhaps,education in how to distinguish between wants and needs in buying food would help. In most cases needs are less expensive than wants. Beans, rice, a garden, cooking from basics are cheaper than chicken wings, prepared food, Twinkies, chips, and other very satisfying but not as nutritional choices. Wants can eat up a food budget very quickly.

Its the kids that suffer.Parents losing their jobs and not being able to qualify for food assistance or having to wait to qualify. To,36.2 million, there are a lot going hungry and they are not out shopping or looking for someone to judge like you are.Where are you looking @ malls etc. They aren't there. Can't wait until you, for some reason can't feed your family!(Karma is a **tch) And the only help you can get is judgmental idiots telling you your not starving yet because I can't see your bones!

These surveys are bogus, you can phrase a question to get any result you want.

I'd be interested to know more. The problem of the urban poor today seems to be obesity and diabetes because of poor diets (e.g., cheap fast food). Also, the urban poor have access to governmental programs and food pantries. So who is starving? Is it the rural poor? Appears so, based on the states listed as having the biggest problem.

cbm - Thanks for going that extra step in thinking about how you can help! I encourage you to get involved with Utah Food Bank Services, your local food pantry or any other human services organization that works on behalf of those in need in our community. There are so many opportunities to get involved, including during this holiday season. I would suggest calling 2-1-1 -- it's a free call where you can speak with an information specialist here in Utah to find out where and how you can help in your community. Or, you can always consider giving one or all three of the major donations needed to support Utah Food Bank Services -- volunteer time, food and/or funds. Visit www.utahfoodbank.org for more information. Thank you again!

Beans and rice are so cheap and filling. The problem is that many of the "poor" want fried chicken, steaks, burgers and other rich foods. 99.9 percent of the population can afford inexpensive and nourishing foods (rice, beans, lentils, legumes, etc) that will provide them will all the nutrition and health they need for a few dollars for a week's worth of food....or pay 10 bucks for 2 lbs of meat. Poore folk are more obese than the rest of the population. Where do they eat? McDonalds, KFC. Look at the basket of the person paying with Food Stamps (card) at Walmart, look at the sugar-laden, fattening food. I don't believe this survey one bit. In Argentina, my mother in law feeds people who knock on her door begging for food. That's feeding the hungry and downtrodden which is a blessing.

While it may be true that there is suffering at the bottom, we are being impatient for not allowing sufficent time for trickle down to work.

Due to tax cuts for the rich, those at the top are now well equipped to give charity to the working poor, but we must give it time.

Trickle down doesn't work in an instant.

They never told us in school certain things about The Great Depression. Things such as how Herbert Hoover and his fatcat pals refused to believe anything was going wrong in America and that people were starving while the Rockefellers, Kennedy's and that group were getting richer and richer while the poor got poorer and poores.
It took the photojournalism of Dorothea Lange to blow the whistle (no TV or video cameras back then to record and show what was happening)on how the government turned its back on the situation (starving people)

There is a difference between going hugry and starving. As a former home health nurse in rural Oklahoma and rural Nevada,I have seen that it is not uncommon for elderly Americans to rely on their Meals on Wheels lunch to be their only meal of the day.

Adam,
Would you want to go and take your kids begging from door to door? Just wondering.

I can't believe some of the comments on this site. You all should read "Nickled and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich. Being poor is extremely emotionally and physically draining. Shame on Utah, shame on all of us. "Trickle-down" does not work. Even as taxpayers are being put on the "hook" for bailing out our financial institutions, the executives couldn't see why they should cancel their $400,000 junkets to expensive resorts. Wake up people!

For those who live in "Affluent" areas of the state. You really are blind to what other families are going through. There was a time when my husband was out of work and we had to survive on 1 meal a day. I've had neighbor children who would knock on my door almost daily begging for food. When I was a teenager growing up in this state, I had neighbor children who lived in poor households who would walk into our house (without knocking) and open our refrigerator looking for food. This stuff exists, people.

There is more to a healthy diet than, rice, beans, legumes etc. you need fruits and vegetables, which are quite pricey. If the poor can't afford food, how do they go to McDonalds and KFC?

To: The Place No Meals Are Skipped

Why don't you try a little stint in "Club Fed" and see how great the food is. Sure, there may be guidelines on what kind of food: vegetable, fruit. etc.; but no guidelines on the age or quality.

See how much you would enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner with ends of corn cobs (the garbage from the frozen veggie factory) and baked beans several years past their expiration date. Those private prisons are experts at stretching our tax dollars to make money for themselves.

Maybe some people think they deserve it, but don't try to tell me prisoners are taken better care of than the rest of us. You can talk when you've seen it for yourself.

I am truly in shock at the comments on this site. What a bunch of spoiled brats. I really wonder where all of you are. I think you must all be stuck at the mall and never get out in real life. There are people in America and even here in Utah that are hungry. I am not saying these people are starving to death. They are hungry! We are pretty big idiots around here to think that no one is hungry. I am a nurse and have been out in the community and seen it first hand and the poor comes in all shapes colors and sizes here in Utah. Please get out of your bubble and help your neighbors. There are lots of people in need and we all need to help so no one goes hungry.