A healthy diet is a key building block of a child’s early education – a poor diet has been linked to behavioral problems, attention issues and even declines in IQ. But, it was harder for Washington parents to put good meals on the table over the last three years as the number of hungry families in the state nearly doubled, a new report says.

By the end of 2010, 160,000 Washington families reported going hungry, up from 88,000 at the start of The Great Recession in 2008, according to the report from the Children’s Alliance. What’s more troubling is that Washington moved in the opposite direction as the nation. As more of the state’s families struggled with hunger, the overall number of hungry U.S. families dropped to 16.1 million in 2010 from 17.7 million 2009, the group reported, citing research from a U.S. Department of Agriculture report.

Washington state is now the 11th hungriest state in the country, up from 13th last year, according to the Children’s Alliance.

And the group worries the situation could become even worse as Congress tries to narrow the federal budget deficit. This summer’s agreement to raise the debt ceiling created a new process to close the federal budget deficit. It begins with a bipartisan panel that will try to find more than $1 trillion in spending cuts this fall and will start work this week by holding its first hearing. It could propose cutting back the web of programs that provide food to struggling families, including the Women’s, Infants and Children program (WIC), food stamps (officially known as Basic Food) and publicly-supported school lunches and breakfasts (the Child Nutrition Act).

“As more families face hunger now in a continued downturn, they need food assistance to stabilize them through hard times, help them raise healthy children, and stimulate economic recovery,” Jon Gould, deputy director of the Children’s Alliance, said in a statement. “Critical supports such as food stamps and federal nutrition programs have worked well to feed families and strengthen the economy. Cutting these supports would have a negative ripple effect, causing more economic distress and hardship.”