kaylynkaip

[kaylynkaip]

Post Reflection

What a week this has been. I’m so glad its over but I am also thankful that I was given the opportunity to participate in this welfare food challenge. 

As part of our schooling for nursing, we are taught about preventative interventions for good health. These are steps that can be put in place to avoid illness or prolong a healthy life for as long as possible. A major component of primary prevention involves a healthy diet. Everything we put into our bodies become the building blocks that literally build our bodies. A healthy diet equals a healthy body. The Center for Disease Control (2020) states that the majority of north american diets contain high amounts of processed foods, sodium, sugar, and saturated fats. All of which increase the risk for chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

When I do a normal grocery shop, I stick with what the Heart and Stroke Foundation has termed “shopping the perimeter”. Fresh items are usually found around the perimeter of the grocery store where as the processed dry goods tend to be located in the middle. They claim that if you stick to the outside of the store, your likely to find healthier choices. With only $21, this was not really an option. I had to sacrifice healthy, nutritional ingredients and venture into the center aisles to look for items that I knew would last me through the whole week. Many of theses items being high calorie but low nutrition.

It came as quite a shock to me at how quickly I began to feel the effects of my new diet. I was tired, hungry, irritable and bloated. It was basically like being blessed with an extra week of PMS in a month. And who wouldn't want that... The only thing that got me through was knowing it would only last one week. I could not imagine trying to live my life on this limited budget. Not only were my attention and concentration affected immediately, I can only imagine what was happening at the micro level inside my body. 

I am a firm believer in the upstream style of thinking when it comes to our health care system. More investments should be made to increase primary preventative health promotions rather than trying to deal with the complications that arise down the road. It costs the canadian health care system over $4.6 billion dollars each year to treat the effects of obesity (Government of Canada). 4. 6 BILLION! For a preventable disease! This statistic makes me almost as sick as my meals did last week. Let's imagine for one second that we took just a portion of that $4.6 billion dollars and used it to enhance our welfare programs and provided nutritional education to everyone. 

People could afford to buy healthy groceries that lead to healthy bodies and minds

Reduction in the cost of secondary and tertiary care for treating chronic diseases

Children of families that relied on welfare would have better concentration in school and this could possibly lead to better educations which could put an end to the cycle of poverty they are currently in

To me, it’s a no brainer. The investment in primary prevention will lead to an overall healthier population and less cost to our health care system. Unfortunately most people only see the cost of the bill and figure, “these people aren't sick yet, why should we be investing money into them”. 

It’s a shame that the majority of the people who are in charge of making these budgets and decisions, are focused on the downstream problems and not looking upstream to the real issues. I encourage everyone to attempt this challenge to see how it feels to live off of such a limited income. I found this to be an eye opening experience that had provided me with insight into the struggles of some of my fellow canadians, and why our country suffers from such large numbers of chronic diseases. 

When you know better, you do better. So lets all spread the word. 

Welfare Food Challenge information:  https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/

Resources

https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/factsheets/nutrition.htm

https://www.heartandstroke.ca/get-healthy/healthy-eating/grocery-store-basics

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/healthy-living/obesity-canada/health-economic-implications.html

[kaylynkaip]

Day 7

After last nights pizza slip, I woke up feeling defeated that I had not been able to successfully complete this welfare challenge. I also woke up with a sense of relief. I decided after last night, I was done with the challenge (nowhere in the rubric does it say that we have to successfully complete this challenge FYI). I just didn't feel it was worth putting my body through another day of eating preservatives and empty carbs. I’ve been a tired, cranky, unmotivated mess all week and I’m ready to get back to feeling myself. 

Even though I dipped out a day early, I do feel I have gotten enough of a taste to fully appreciate the purpose behind this welfare challenge. I didn’t take any picture of my food today because I did not feel it was relevant since I was no longer taking part in the challenge. I can tell you however, it consisted of fresh salads and vegetables! I can already tell I have more energy today and don't feel as irritable as I have the past few days. My stomach is starting to feel more settled and hopefully my bathroom visits will sort themselves out asap as well!

Tomorrow will be a reflection of  my week, so I won't go into too much detail today. I will say that I am so very thankful this is over and I hope I don't have to partake in another challenge like this in the near future. 

[kaylynkaip]

Day 6

Saturday struggles! I stared the day with full intentions to complete the challenge. Woke up and made myself some avocado toast (which I’m getting pretty darn sick of by the way) 

Enjoyed a relaxing morning, watched some Netflix, did some chilling. Homework was on my to do list, but I can’t say I really got around to motivation level was pretty low. Thought about going to the gym and then remembered how sick it made me feel and I didn’t really want to subject myself to that again. 

Pulled a Snow White and had another tasty apple snack. Nothing too exciting about that. 

Lunch consisted of my second bag of Mr. Noodles and frozen vegetables. Again, not much flavour, had to really concentrate to be able to choke It down. While I wasn’t hungry afterwards, I was feeling bloated and tired. Even though I was eating vegetables, I did not get the same satisfaction of eating a fresh salad (which I am craving like crazy!)

It took a lot of willpower to say no to going out last night and stay home to stick with my challenge. Saturday has not panned out so well. It was a close friends birthday tonight and I just couldn’t say no. When I showed up at the party there was boxes and boxes of pizza. So needles to say, a girl can’t say no to a fresh slice of pizza, or three. 

I am a little disappointed in myself that I was unable to maintain this challenge, however I also find it a little bit unrealistic to stick to when your trying to maintain a regular social life.  I plan to do some self reflection tomorrow and see what my thoughts are once I have had some time to reflect on the experience. But for now, I’m going to go grab another slice of Hawaiian and enjoy my evening with good friends. Till tomorrow!

[kaylynkaip]

Day 5

Day 5 started with a bit of a sleep in which allowed me the time to actually cook myself a breakfast that wasn't oatmeal! I did however make another recurring meal of avocado toast with eggs. I felt a little disappointed that I was not able to sit and enjoy my usual friday morning coffee in the sun, but I’ll get over it. I’m not that much of a coffee drinker, but now that I know I’m not “allowed” to drink it since it wasn't part of my grocery shop, I really want it. Funny how that always works.

After today's hearty breakfast, I felt that I should have had the energy to hit up the gym, so I did. I found out rather quickly that I did not have my usual stamina and energy once I started getting into things. I had to stop for a lot more breaks, and keep reminding myself not to push too hard because I was starting to feel a little nauseous at times. I had woken up feeling good so I was a little surprised at how limited my body was when it came to exertion. Being unaccustomed to this new eating pattern has clearly taken a toll on my energy levels. 

After gym snack of an apple. 

I have been craving greens and salads like crazy today! I think my body knows I’ve been cheaping out on it. I didn't like how I was feeling after the gym and I cheated again. I found a bag of frozen spinach in my freezer and threw it in the mixer along with a banana and some water. The banana was a part of my groceries, but the spinach was not. I just needed some greens! Now this may be a little too much info but the spinach was also needed because, to put it politely, my regularly scheduled bathroom breaks, were not so regular anymore. I needed some roughage to get things moving down there! (P.s. in case you're curious, it worked)

Because the previous two snacks were insufficient, I also made myself some more fries. Nothing too exciting about that.

Now as you can clearly see, the picture below is not of a cooked meal, but rather the ingredients. This is because the cooked meal did not look half an appetizing as the pretty packaging that it comes in. 

In my mind I had imagined this beautiful stir fry. Soggy vegetables and cheap charboard noodles with no sauce or seasoning other than the tiny little pack of oriental salt did not compare. This meal would probably have been fairly decent had I had some sauce to put on. But I didn't, so it was not all that enjoyable. I got it down the hatch though.

This has been a tough day. Not necessarily because of how I was feeling, because it’s friday night and friends are inviting me out for drinks and dinner and all kinds of fun things! I tried explaining to them that I am currently doing this challenge and won’t be able to participate. Most said “Oh just come on out, I’ll pay for your dinner so that makes it ok”. While yes, technically that would be “ok”, it is defeating the purpose of this experiment. Many people on welfare do not have friends who will offer to pay for their night out every week. It took a lot of willpower, but I was able to stand my ground and pass on the invites. I already regret it because I could be happily socializing with a belly full of good food and good wine, instead I’m at home posting this blog with a tummy thats growling for food. Not my ideal friday night activity. 

[kaylynkaip]

Day 4

Today has been another tired day. Because of my early morning clinical yesterday and late night volleyball last night, I felt I needed a little extra pick me up this morning to make it through my 8am lab. So I may have cheated a little. But not technically! Yesterday I sniped out some McDonald's coffee stickers from a few friends so that I was able to fill out the free coffee card...

And I got myself a free coffee!! It was 100% required to make it through my morning without falling asleep so I have no regrets. This face is a happy face. A very very happy face. 

I also scarfed down some oatmeal and banana this morning but since I was in a bit of a rush, I forgot to snap a picture. If your curious as to what it looked like, just take a peek back at the last three days of breakfasts... Cause it was exactly the same.

I had another little treat in store for today. As I mentioned yesterday, I am starting to get rather bored of my available food options. While I was in McD’s grabbing my FREE coffee, I also happened to sneak a few packs of ketchup for my lunch.

 It was not a health choice, but it was delicious! I needed something to look forward to eating, so I used one of my potatoes and made myself some fries. Without oil, they weren't going to win any culinary awards, but it was a nice change up from the last few days.

My stomach is still not feeling great, so I decided to hold off on dinner until after all my classes were done for the day. I did bring along an apple to snack on during my favorite class of all time! Global Health and Development! (wink wink) 

By the time I got home I was feeling quite hungry so I finished off my first bag of frozen veggies/pasta. 

I’m finishing off day 4 feeling pretty alright. I’m not hungry but man, am I tired!

Tomorrow will be a much calmer day in terms of classes and clinical. Hopefully I can take the time to make some delicious concoctions. If I remember correctly, I believe Kraft Canada has a website that allows you to enter in all the ingredients you have, then it pulls up any recipes you could make with those specific ingredients. I know I have a limited pantry stock, but it would be interesting to see if I can find something to cook that I had not yet though of. 

[kaylynkaip]

Day 3

All I have to say today is blah...

Today’s meals were identical to yesterdays because I was in clinical yet again and wanted something easy. A positive thing about today is that I do not feel hungry. Unfortunately, this is because I have completely lost my appetite.

Its frustrating not being able to eat whatever I’m craving, whenever I want it. Knowing that I only have a limited selection available is hard when you’re not in the mood to eat any of those things. While yesterday I was still hungry at the end of the day, today I couldn't even manage to finish my meal because I just could not stomach it. The flavors are bland, the food is becoming blah. Its only day three and I’m already tired of it. 

I can tell that my stomach is hungry, but the thought of eating any of the food that is available to me, makes me feel nauseous. I didn’t go to the gym again today, but I do have two volleyball games this evening. I’m worried I may not have the energy to play up to my usual standards and that is a little stressful. It is really hard not to cheat and go eat something that I will enjoy. The reality of this challenge is starting to hit me. I know I have the option to cheat and go out and eat whatever I want, if I really wanted to. Not everyone has that option and I could not imagine feeling this way every day. 

Tomorrow will be a new day. I plan to change up my meals in hopes that I will enjoy them a little more. My outlook right now is not looking too bright but hopefully by the morning that will change. 

[kaylynkaip]

Day 2

Today seemed to go much more smoothly that yesterday. I once again started my day with a hearty bowl of oatmeal and banana, but this time, it was at 6 am since I had day shift clinical to attend. In a way, it was almost helpful because I find that I am not all that hungry early in the morning so I was able to save my breakfast until my first break at 9 o’clock. Nothing exciting, but it satisfied my hunger.

I did find that I was feeling quite tired only 15-20 minutes after finishing breakfast. Whether this was from the overload of carbs of lack of coffee, I don’t know, but it made the next chunk of my shift seem to last forever. 

By the time second break rolled around, I was eager to break into my half can of marinated bean salad... I got a few odd looks from my colleagues, but I swear its actually not all that bad! And after I explained to them that I was participating in this food security challenge, they were much more understanding of my questionable lunch choice. 

By the time we left the unit and headed in to do our post conference at 2 o’clock, I found that I was extremely tired and having a difficult time concentrating on the discussion. This seemed a little odd because I felt that my food options for the day had been relatively healthy and I should have had more energy. But maybe I was still suffering from yesterdays lack of calories? Or I was just hungry again!

I was quite excited to get back home because I had planned to cook something that I knew was nutritional, and would be filling. Avocado toast with eggs! The avocados were a little more brown than I would have liked, but they tasted the same either way, delicious. This was the first time in the last two days where I actually felt satisfied after a meal. Both flavor and fullness. I’m quite looking forward to having it again tomorrow. 

It is now 7:30 pm and I’m feeling like I could go for a snack. But my options are limited so I think I might just try and hit the hay early tonight so that I don’t have to think about it. All in all, today felt better than yesterday, but I did find myself to be quite tired. I cant say for sure if this is due to the food challenge, of the fact that I had to be at the hospital at 6:30 am (I am NOT a morning person). I also did not attempt to go to the gym today because I felt I just did not have the energy by the time I got home. 

Tomorrow is going to be pretty much identical to today, so lets see if I notice any differences in my mood or energy level. 

[kaylynkaip]

Day 1

First day and I’m already struggling. 

The day started out good, woke up and had a big ol’ bowl of oatmeal with half a banana. This is a breakfast staple for me, so it really wasn't all that much of a change, although I did miss the heaping spoonful of peanut butter I usually toss into the mix. I left for class actually feeling quite full. Thankfully, Mondays is free coffee day at the Lift. Being a student, I usually take advantage of this treat anyways, but knowing it was going to be my one and only coffee for the next week really made me savor the flavor. 

By the end of my 3 hour class I was starting to get pretty hungry, but decided I was going to hit up the gym during my break so that I had my evening free. By the time I got home from the gym, I was starving! Silly me had already decided that my “big meal” of the day would be saved for supper time, so the only thing on the menu to hold me over until then, was an apple and the other half of my banana from breakfast. I think tomorrow, I’m going to plan that my “big meal” is the one I eat after I get home from the gym because my body was definitely telling me it needed more than what I gave it. 

Fast forward several hours and I’m sitting in class once again, only this time I’m trying not to focus on how hungry I am! After finally making it back home around 5 pm, I headed straight for the kitchen and cooked up some of the frozen vegetables/pasta I had been thinking of all afternoon. I very easily could have cooked up the whole bag and ate it all in one sitting. BUT I know this food needs to last me until the end of the week, so I reluctantly rationed it out appropriately. This stuff was surprisingly delicious and super simple to make. Pasta, veggies, and sauce all wrapped up and ready to toss into a pot. 

Well guess what? I was still hungry after eating my “big meal”. This was rather disheartening since its only day 1 and I feel like I could eat my entire weeks worth of groceries right now. I do think I was a little light on my caloric intake today. Tomorrows menu is going to be a little different, so hopefully it has more sustenance to help get me through my day. 

To finish off my day, I treated myself to a little dessert (While walking through the college, I took a small detour into the Farside and helped myself to a few packets of jam). Its a pretty pathetic dessert really but its all i could scrounge up with the ingredients I had available. 

End of day one and I will be going to bed hungry. I’m sure that I could go make myself another snack and still have plenty left over, but with my limited groceries, I do not want to risk running out of food and ending up with a whole day or two at the end of the week where I do not get to eat. Hopefully tomorrows menu is a bit more filing. 

[kaylynkaip]

Food Security Challenge: Pre-Challenge Reflection

Howdy folks! My name is Kaylyn and your about to walk with me through my week long food security challenge. In this challenge, I will attempt to make it through one week on only $21 worth of food. The purpose of this challenge is to represent the amount of money that someone on welfare would have to spend, per week, on groceries. 

Honestly, I’ve been putting off this assignment for a while now because I know it will be a struggle. I’m not one to plan my meals out ahead of time, so having to plan out an entire weeks worth of meals seemed daunting. But I’m going to try my best!

I decided on Walmart as my choice for shopping because I know they are generally the most inexpensive overall. I did not go in with a specific shopping list because I was hoping to catch some deals, but I had given some thought to ideas for inexpensive, yet healthy meals. (Particularly, meals that I wont be sick of after several days in a row). Healthy eating is important to me and I knew going into this challenge it would be tough trying to buy a weeks worth of food that wasn't pumped full of preservatives and carbohydrates. After wondering around Walmart for close to an hour, and struggling with some basic addition skills, I think I did pretty alright with my haul. 

I left with

A dozen eggs

1 loaf of wholegrain bread

6 Bananas

2 Potatoes

A bag of quick oats

2 bags of frozen vegetables

2 packs of Mr. Noodles

1 can of marinated bean salad

1 bag of discounted bruised apples

A $2 bag of discounted produce that contained 4 avocados and a pack of cherry tomatoes

I chose a few items that already contained some seasoning and flavors because I knew there was no way I would be able to afford any type of sauce of spices with my extremely limited budget. Its going to be one bland week. 

I’ve also never shopped the discount bin in the produce section before. I prefer fresh, crisp veggies and fruits and usually wont eat them once they start to wilt of brown. Talk about first world problems. I made the decision to get more for less and sacrificed freshness for bulk. Lets hope it was worth is.

As you can see, I went over budget by 52 cents. I also had to awkwardly struggle to carry all these items to my car because I did not take into account that Walmart charges 5 cents for their plastic bags... So that was neat. 

Over the next 7 days, I’ll be posting my meals, as well as my thoughts and feeling towards the challenge. Since day 1 doesn't officially start until tomorrow, I’m going to go enjoy some Ben & Jerry's while I mourn the loss of my hunger satisfaction for the next week.