Day 5

Lenna Tasley-Broome

From another perspective:
read the shaare emeth blogs - soulful.

We gain knowledge each day - we become more adaptable and in this more creative and efficient with our meals and budget. Is coffee a staple? Yes, about the pet food? Trade-offs.  Then - our own recriminations - our own fault finding - even tho out of our control - still 'it's our own faults'.  To live with this daily - and be the provider - the - 'it's all o.k. honey - we'll be fine'.  strength in adversity - was gonna use the word weakness - how inappropriate.

I'm just one - most of the teamers are multi - and the children being troopers and the adults teaching the realities - and finding alternatives to the usual treats.  I applaud you.

Food for Day 5: smoothie with pbutter/ 1/2banana
                        oatmeal-made with h20 - 1/2banana,pbutter
                        snack - pbutter on spoon & hot tea

Kind thoughts
Lenna

Let food be your medicine

Maria DeShields

I think it is possible to maintain a healthy diet on food stamps as long as you put in the effort to plan ahead of time. By this I mean, taking time to base your meals around locally grown and or organic fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and if you are not a vegan or vegetarian, buying grass fed meats along with wild caught fish. It is important to become a label reader and be aware of what goes in our bodies. So many of our foods are GMO's, full of sodium, high fructose corn syrup and other harmful additives and preservatives. I know this can be an inconvenience to some who are just use to going to the store and picking out whatever because of time constraints but in the long run it pays.Throughout my life at various times, I have used food stamps to fed my family and I maintained a very healthy diet. Spending time to be an informed consumer beats sitting in the doctors' office for hours waiting to find out what is wrong with us. I am not against doctors just painting a parallel. Hippocrates, often called the father of medicine said,"Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food."

Day 5: Priority One

Michael DiPlacido

In the Talmud, we read: "Rav Hisda says, "one who could eat barley bread, but eats wheat bread has violated "ba'al taschit."  Rav Pappa says, one who could drink wine, but drinks beer, has violated ba'al taschit." (Shabbat (140b))  Later, the Talmud states: "But this isn't the case. ba'al taschit of one's body takes preference."

Ba'al Taschit is the Torah's prohibition on wasteful or pointless destruction of property or resources. Ravim Hisda and Pappa are saying that this prohibition, as it relates to what we eat, is based on the cost of the food. But, the Talmudic commentator looks at the concept through a new lens: how food affects our body. Is my diet healthy? Do I eat foods that are nutritional? Do I consume no more than my body needs? In terms of good health, in many cases, the diet composed of simpler foods is better than one containing processed foods. Over-consumption contributes to being overweight. Highly processed foods contain additives that simpler foods don’t. What I have found this week is that I feel much better eating less and eating simpler. I have dispensed with my overindulging, and eliminated the chips and dip.  This is not to say that people who have food shortages are better off. It points to the fact that I eat too much, and eat the “wrong” things. My experience this week has reinforced what I already knew, and what the Talmud teaches: eating right is a top priority.

A Hasidic Tale for Day 6

Michael Getty

Day 5:

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and toast

Lunch: For me, the last of the *%$!! lentil soup; for Brian: leftover macaroni and black beans

Dinner: Pasta with marinara sauce, baked acorn squash

After a week of very survival-level food strategy, as opposed to all the contorted and hoity-toity things I did before this week, I'm remembering a Hasidic story.

A man goes to his rabbi and complains that all his friends are more prosperous than he is -- bigger houses, more beautiful wives, and more thriving businesses. He tells the rabbi that every day he looks around his cramped, dingy house and feels like a failure. “Rabbi," he sobs, "My house is much to small for my wife, my two children, myself and all my dreams to fit.

“Everything will be fine,” the rabbi assures him, “but first you have to go back home, buy a cow and bring her into your house as well.” Now the man is sure the rabbi has lost his mind, but being brought up to always listen to the rabbi, he goes home, buys a cow and brings her into his house as well.

By the third week, he is going out of his mind, so he runs back to the rabbi and explains, “First I complained that my house was too small, so you had me bring in my two dogs and cat and the family goat. Then you had me buy a cow and bring her into my house as well. Now I can’t sleep, can’t eat, can barely think at all from all the noise, and thrashing about, and chaos and clutter that is everywhere I turn. Rabbi you have to help me – it’s driving me crazy!”

So the rabbi takes the man by the hand and says, “Everything will be fine. Go home immediately and take the two dogs, the cat, the family goat and the cow out from your house."

The man runs home as fast as he can, empties the house of all but his wife and two daughters and himself, and then sighs a giant sigh of relief, looks around his empty home and says, “Thank God for this beautiful home with all this luxurious space in which my family can live. What a lucky man I am!”

Day 5

Ursula Bamnolker

I have come to the conclusion that it might be possible to maintain a healthy diet on the food stamp budget IF and only IF you have the tools and the resources to back it up. I think that, if one learned how to prepare more lentil and bean dishes, they'd have a better shot at staying healthy and staying on budget. 

We have gone $25 over budget thus far and it looks like we'll have to go shopping soon!

If I had to shop again, I'd buy more fruits and veggies and bulk lentils/beans and less processed foods. I'd get oatmeal instead of Chex and ditch the yogurt covered raisins and applesauce (and make my own!) 

In addition, I would buy a waffle maker, make my own waffles, make my own bread and create dishes from scratch - instead of buying gluten free items from Dierberg's (a weekly ritual of mine.) They would be healthier AND cheaper.  

I've actually been inspired to do all of the above. I don't think it is possible to live on a food stamp budget. However, I think that it is possible to spend less and eat more healthfully. If you focus on eating whole foods (not necessarily from Whole Foods!), you can cut down on your expenditures and improve your health. 

Ironically, I gained weight this week. (Which, for me, is FABULOUS - I am in remission from Multiple Myeloma and have needed to gain more weight for a few months now.) It looks like lentils and beans provide the body with healthy weight gaining calories. Gotta love that. I'm glad that we participated in this project. I learned a lot by doing it. 

Day 4

Michael DiPlacido

Things are going well. I feel like I am “coasting” now. I have become accustomed to my new eating routine and the lesser amount of food I am taking in. It feels refreshing and liberating to no longer think continually about what to eat next. At least for now, food is no longer a compulsion: no more snacking, foraging, and overeating. I feel comfortable before, during, and after my meal. Comfort food has become comfortable food. I feel like I am honoring the act of eating now; and, honoring me – by not eating more than my body needs or what is not nutritional. Outside of the specific issues around eating on $31.50/week, I can’t stop thinking about the comparative advantages I have over the typical food stamp recipient; and, how those differences would make this “challenge” so much more difficult.  

I Think We're Actually Doing Really Well

Michael Getty

Day 4

Breakfast: Toast with peanut butter and jam, one banana each and a half glass of orange juice each
Lunch: For me, round 5 (no kidding) of lentil soup, plus some unexpected office food; for Brian, leftover ramen noodles and steamed vegetables
Dinner: Macaroni and cheese and black beans, bananas and peanut butter for dessert

I think we're actually doing really well, especially for not having planned things out. It helps that we don't eat meat.  I'm having the last of the lentil soup for Day 5 lunch. It is not in the least bit appetizing, but it is filling and protein-rich. And it's part of why we have about $10 left in our budget, enough to restock on fresh fruit, peanut butter and, who knows, maybe even a bottle of wine for kiddush.