Just one more day. Thank goodness. I’m tired of eating the same cheap foods all the time. I’m tired of not getting to eat until I feel sated (not even full; just sated). I’m tired of eating straight peanut butter because there’s nothing else I can afford to casually snack on. I’m tired of thinking about what I’m eating all the time. And I’m tired of being hungry. Our lecture on hunger used the term “food insecure” to refer to people who don’t get enough to eat, who go to bed hungry, who can’t be sure that there will be food on the table tomorrow.
And it really is this overwhelming sense of insecurity. What can I eat? What will be left at the end of the week? If I eat now, does it mean I have to go hungry later? This week, food has gone from something that I usually enjoy and only moderately stress out about (when I don’t have time to go grocery shopping or when I put on weight or something along those lines) to something that I constantly think about. And it sucks to have to have that kind of relationship with food, where nothing is taken for granted.
Just to clarify, I think a big part of America’s current obesity crisis is that we too often take food for granted. We don’t appreciate or truly think about what we’re putting in our bodies or where it came from, and we don’t enjoy food or the experience of eating. But the other extreme, where every bite is scrutinized, is also bad.
Now that I’m nearly done, I have a clear idea of how much food I have left and how much I can afford to eat. I was too sparing at the beginning of the week, so I can eat more now, and today, I did. Yet I still had gnawing hunger pangs.
One more day. My end is in sight. Yet for so many people, there is no clear end in sight.
Day 6 food log
8:30 AM breakfast: 3 eggs, scrambled ($0.45), 1/2 cup oatmeal ($0.08), 1 tbsp brown sugar ($0.02), 0.75 oz. peanut butter ($0.06)
12:00 PM lunch: 2 slices toast ($0.30), 0.75 oz. peanut butter ($0.06), 2 tbsp strawberry preserves ($0.20) and 1 apple ($0.33)
2:30 PM snack: 1 slice toast ($0.15), 1 tbsp strawberry preserves ($0.10), 1 apple ($0.33)
6:30 PM dinner: ~2/7 box of pasta ($0.36), ~1/5 jar of tomato sauce ($0.50), 1 apple ($0.33)
9:00 PM still hungry meal: 1/3 bag of corn ($0.33), 0.75 oz. peanut butter ($0.06)
Day 6 total: $3.66
Taking the Food Stamp Challenge 
Orchid said
I think a lot of the obesity epidemic is related to exactly the situation you’re experiencing. If you had bought boxes of macaroni and cheese for 25 cents each instead of a loaf of whole grain bread, you’d have a lot more volume for less nutrition and send your body into blood sugar spikes that’d contribute to insulin resistance and a desire to eat more and more. Consider that 12 boxes of cheap store brand mac and cheese can be had for the same 2.99 you spent on one loaf of bread! That’s the choice poor families are making.
Being poor contributes to obesity by making less nutritious options more attractive. Empty calories and refined carbs are always cheaper than fresh produce, organic, and whole grain options.