Columnist Susan Snyder: We need dough for the right choices

Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005 | 4:01 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

Sept. 17-18, 2005

Susan Snyder's column appears Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursday and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4082.

A friend who is facing an ugly little surgical procedure figures at least part of the blame lies with Howdy Doody.

"He pushed Wonder Bread," my friend wrote in his e-mail last week. "And while I don't think Mom bought much of that, it was typical of the 1950s food Mom did feed us all -- which was fine, but all that processed food leaves us more susceptible to (unpleasant malady) because our gut doesn't get enough exercise (something to do with fiber and muscle contractions)."

He drastically changed his diet to include more substance and less processed food, which is basically digested before you open the box. And as Americans battling the bulge have discovered, our supermarkets look like they offer all the choices on the planet, until we start reading the labels.

For example, there are a gazillion brands of bread, but only one in our local store has fewer than 3 grams of sugar and at least 4 grams of fiber per slice.

And it costs about $3 a loaf.

That's fine, if you have the money to talk about how much your health is worth and how much you'll save in health insurance co-payments. But it's a ridiculous chunk of change for a measly nine sandwiches when you're feeding four kids on food stamps. Health insurance is something other people have.

There's a lot of talk about how we're unhealthy and too fat because we eat too many processed foods. But when faced with the 99-cent bread and the $3 bread, most families of modest means are going to go for the cheaper one that has less fiber than the newspaper you're reading. Most families are going to opt for it, period.

The right choices rarely seem cheaper or easier to make.

We're told mass-produced chicken injected with hormones isn't healthy. Yet, it typically costs $2.99 a pound compared to $5.99 for the meat from hormone-free chickens.

We're told to conserve gasoline with hybrid cars. But they can cost $5,000 more than conventional ones. We're told to recycle and buy paper products made from recycled materials, but they usually cost more.

Whether it's vanity pricing aimed at the limousine liberals or it's actually more expensive to let a chicken roam free without injections until you whack it, I have no idea. But you'd think building all those little cages would be expensive.

School districts are trying to instill healthy eating habits by taking out snack and soda machines and incorporating better foods into lunch menus. A candy bar and french fries probably wouldn't do all that much harm if kids ate better at home. But that's too inconvenient and expensive.

Why spend $2 on a bag of whole-wheat pasta and $4 on a chunk of cheddar you must grate yourself, when Kraft will sell you mac-and-cheese for 33 cents a box?

Your kid will eat it either way. And if you're living on $11,000 a year, he's lucky to get it.

Fact is, 20 percent of Americans receive some sort of federal nutrition assistance (food stamps, school meals, etc.) each day. Monthly federal food stamp benefits are about $86 per person, according to figures from the Nevada Division of Welfare.

Next time you're walking around the store, see what $86 buys when the choices are based on the nutrition label, rather than the price tag.

Start with that $3 loaf of bread.

Talk about a country that needs some kind of movement.