Trying to keep your head above healthy water
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Eating healthfully can be difficult in general, but feedback from our Challengers has indicated an increased difficulty in getting amount and frequency of nutrients they need this week. Some have experienced negative physical and mental affects, making us reflect on how months or years incomplete nutrition might affect an individual, or a growing child? CalFresh Challenge DAY 4-Wow!!!
Its coming along, but getting a little more difficult each day as now I have to think out ahead of time of what to eat that will not go over my budget. I have to double check the end date for this challenge. But I'm still being very cautious as to not spend or eat any more than $4.90 of food for the day. This is difficult for me because I have a busy week in school. I do have to admit it has been very insightful at the same time. Again I had a $1.00 power bar this morning (good thing I like those things, but they starting to all taste the same) and a peach on the way to clinical. And by the way my fruit still needed a little ripening, but I ate it anyway. And tonight I had a can of refried black beans that were on sale for $1.00 and sliced tomato. And now I'm super thirsty due to all the sodium in the can of beans. I do like beans but I feel my diet at the moment is lacking protein and leafy greens. I miss eating chicken, fish and salads. This is much harder than I thought it was going to be and am actually surprised at the small amount of money that is given for food. I think as a population we are becoming more aware of healthy eating and the benefits it provides. But whether or not people choose to eat that way is a different story. The limited income puts people at risk for for malnourishment. They can also become deficient in certain essential nutrients such as vitamins which serve as important co-factors for enzymatic cellular reactions in our body. People may even be at increased risk for electrolyte imbalances which can actually provoke seizures activity in some cases. I guess what I'm getting at is that a healthy diet is the best fuel for our bodies. And I see it being very difficult with what I have at the moment.
-Submitted by: CalFresh Challenger
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I woke up hungry this morning. So for breakfast I had a some vanilla yogurt with some pieces of apple in it. I had clinical rotation this morning so that's all I had time to make, which was also good since I did not have time all morning long to think about being hungry and wanting a snack. For lunch I made myself another turkey sandwich. I have to say I am getting tired of eating the same thing for lunch everyday, but have to use up my bread and turkey meat that I bought early on this week. For dinner I bought some pasta and spaghetti sauce and made myself some spaghetti. I would of usually added some ground beef but I did not have the money for it. I had a couple of slices of toasted bread with it. It sure is hard to eat healthy with less than five dollars a day. You don't have much money left for fruits and vegetables. Will see how day number 5 goes.
-Submitted by: CalFresh Challenger
