These young women weren’t underweight for the most part, and some were even overweight. But they were definitely malnourished. Several even had the really bad teeth and hair that you see with malnutrition. Their babies - even measured in utero - were going to be low birth weight, which is riskier in terms of survival and also in terms of future development. Having a nice plump baby as you did is wonderful!
The girls probably never took a single one of the prenatal vitamins the program gave them and they sure didn’t take up home cooking! It was sad, because they didn’t seem to have much in the way of support from any older family members or even any happy memories of food (Thanksgiving or other holidays, birthdays, etc.). Food was just their potato chips and soft drinks and occasional KFC.
I think the program was an attempt to break that cycle but it wasn’t successful, for the most part. But you never know…all you can do is try your best and hope for the best.
A diet of soda and chips would be terrible. Hope they and their babies were OK.
The program you were in sounds wonderful. The Catholic program I found was a blessing to my baby and me, too, so many years ago.