Raise your hand if you think milk is a more nutritious beverage than soda.

Raise your hand if you think milk is a more nutritious beverage than a sports drink.

Raise your hand if you know that you are funding children to drink soda over whole milk.

If you raised your hand to the first two questions, congratulations, you are more aware than our federal government who thinks that whole milk or 2 percent are bad options for kids in school, but it’s OK for taxpayers to fund soda consumption by food insecure families.

As part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that is included in the Farm Bill, eligible families can purchase fruit and vegetables, meat, poultry and fish, dairy products, breads and cereals and other foods such as snack foods, and non-alcoholic beverages in addition to seeds and plants which produce food for the household to eat.

Let me give credit where credit is due and say kudos for the inclusion of seeds and plants which produce food. It a great idea for families to figure out how to grow their own food. But that’s where the credit ends.

Why would the federal government fund the purchase of pop for kids to consume? Why would they supplement the food insecure pantry with sugary snacks that have no nutritional value and only serve to keep kids hungry and overweight? Why would the government say yes to free soda and candy for the whole family and no to whole milk to students in school?

A gallon of whole milk in our grocery store is $1.67 and has been for months, while a 12 pack of soda is $7.64. You don’t have to be a registered dietitian or a CPA to know which is a win-win for our bodies and our wallet. And hopefully those parents who are receiving SNAP benefits realize what’s best, but we would be naïve to assume that all parents are making sound nutritional decisions, especially since we know that $10 billion per year flows from the federal government to soda companies via the SNAP program. What’s the number one item purchased with SNAP funds? Soda. This is all according to research done by Calley Means, a former food and pharmaceutical consultant who also was a lobbyist for the Coke brand.

When Means rattled off several statistics I began to listen. He noted that in America, 25 percent of teenagers have been diagnosed with a fatty liver. He said that 33 percent of teenagers and young adults are pre-diabetic. He said that 50 percent of teenagers and 80 percent of adults are overweight. These are alarming statistics and caused me to ask the simple question, why are we paying for children to drink soda but blocking whole milk in schools?

Have I always made sound nutritional decisions for my children? No. We had the occasional pop in the summer, and I made cookies and sweet rolls on the daily for them to enjoy after chores or when friends came over. In hindsight I would make completely different choices today.

We could draw all sorts of conclusions and create conspiracies, but I’m just here to ask the questions and wait for the answers. Holding our government accountable only happens when we speak up with reasonable voices and expectant action.