Food Stamps, EBT, Medicaid, and Government Assistance Trap

My opinion on Food Stamps, EBT, Medicaid, Government Assistance, Church Welfare, etc. is a very difficult one for me to hold.  I think they are vital for helping people in need who don't have the funds to care for themselves.  The problem with them is that many times it is very difficult to break away from the programs once involved in them.  There are pretty strict financial guidelines that have to be met in order to be on assistance programs and as someone who has been on them on and off if you try to build your savings enough to be able support yourself there is a line where if you get any savings you still can't support yourself for more than a month or two so you'd struggle going off the program, so then knowing that, most people on it spend any income very fast because if they don't then they get kicked off, then in a month can't afford food for their family.  Its an awful cycle.  The other thing is that there is a very heavy agenda pushed by those providing assistance that is super hard to tolerate at times.  For example I study health and nutrition heavily and EVERY time we have ever gone to the WIC clinic (very common while we were on medicaid and still going to school but had kids to feed) they gave many recommendations I know are unhealthy.  They offer only specific foods and most of those have very high amounts of sugar or high fructose corn syrup.  They say thats because of their financial capabilities, which may be partially true, however in many stores I've seen cheeper options of the same item that is much healthier by the ingredients..  My point is that these are wonderful programs that are very needed by many, however I do wish certain changes would be made to help people ease off them.  As I've heard so many times "give someone a fish, and he will eat for a day.  Teach someone to fish, and he will never go hungry again.