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Welfare Food Challenge: Quarantine Edition

April 5

Freedom/Post-Challenge Reflection 

I am very relieved to be done with the welfare food challenge and very much enjoying my coffee as I write this. At the same time, I remain aware that so many individuals face food insecurity daily and for them the challenge lasts longer than just seven days. So, I am glad I got to eat a breakfast I usually don’t take advantage of this morning but, I am also glad that I was able to gain a little more insight into what eating a “welfare diet” looks and feels like this week. 

Here are my main takeaways summarized with a couple extra thoughts: 

Pandemics can cause extra stress and strain for those already on welfare and also causes greater strain on the systems in place to support these individuals as more people lose their jobs

A welfare budget is isolating

A welfare budget requires extra preparation and time (and it’s stressful)

I need coffee 

Those who are food insecure at put at risk mentally and physically 

Disparities exist right here at home (especially among those who face food insecurity)

Individuals on welfare face a lot of challenging decisions and are even forced to choose between basic right 

Food Banks are essential!

While my experience of eating on 21 dollars for a week was eye opening on its own the questions it raised and research it encouraged me to do has caused me to have a greater understanding of my own privilege and I hope this helps to raise a greater awareness for low welfare rates and the issue of food insecurity. 

Now… off to make some muffins.

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Welfare Food Challenge: Quarantine Edition

April 4

Challenge day seven: 

This is it! The last day of the challenge! I am looking forward to today as I finally get to eat that sweet potato I bought a week ago. 

Lunch: 

¼ cup of rice, and half a roasted sweet potato. I am very glad I saved this sweet potato till the end. I had no soup left for today so this was my lunch instead and I’m definitely not complaining. It was delicious. 

Supper:

¼ cup of rice, 0.14 lbs of hamburger, ½ a sweet potato roasted. I CHEATED today by putting some olive oil and salt and pepper on my roasted sweet potato, this was delicious. But I am definitely ready for some coffee and maybe a piece of toast tomorrow morning. For now though I am going to go finish off my final apple for the week and daydream about all the baking I can finally get back to tomorrow. 

Saturdays food for thought: 

This week has been really hard, and I have not been able to do so many of the things I usually do, or at least not as easily. There are also so many things that I am used to having in the pantry like flour, and salt and pepper, and sugar that I could not access this week. For someone eating on only 21 dollars a week it’s nearly impossible to get things like this. I was very hungry for the last seven days with the food I was able to get, and I have next to nothing left. I have about three carrots, and a little bit of broccoli. So, this has given me some insight into how important food banks are to supplement for individuals on welfare. In March of 2019 Alberta's food banks were visited 89, 821 times (Food Banks Alberta, 2019).  Of those who access the food bank 33.8% are on social assistance (Food Banks Alberta, 2019). This is such an essential service for these individuals to be able to supplement on such a small budget. One of the most utilized services provided by food banks are food hampers. These usually provide enough food to last 3-5 days and include milk, eggs, bread, fruit, vegetables, yogurt, and non-perishables (Edmonton’s Food Bank, n.d.).  This still isn’t a lot and it’s not any of the basic I so badly wished I had like salt and pepper but I am glad we have something to supplement the little we are providing to welfare recipients. 

References

Edmonton’s Food Bank. (n.d.). Frequently asked questions. Edmonton’s Food Bank. Retrieved from https://www.edmontonsfoodbank.com/need-help/frequently-asked-questions/#what-will-be-in-my-food-hamper.

Food Banks Alberta. (2019). HungerCount 2019.Food Banks Alberta. Retrieved from https://foodbanksalberta.ca/2019/11/12/hungercount-2019/.

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Welfare Food Challenge: Quarantine Edition

April 3

Challenge day six: 

I am almost done!! I cannot wait. even after my big cheat yesterday I am still so ready to go back to my normal routine of snacks, snacks, and more snacks. So here's my day today: 

Lunch: 

The last of my soup. I can honestly say I am not sad to see this go and do not think I will be eating anymore of this anytime soon. 

Snack: 

Granola Bar

Supper: 

1 steamed carrot, some steamed broccoli, and 0.14 lbs of hamburger. Today I decided not to have any rice with my supper because if I ate any rice today then I would be out for tomorrow. I didn’t miss it too much but I definitely don’t feel as full tonight. The upside but also something I shouldn’t have done, I cheated tonight. My family and I celebrated the end of the work week with some drinks. So that’s my vodka-cran there in the corner that's definitely not in the budget but very much appreciated.

Fridays food for thought: 

Having to choose to give up my rice for supper this evening was a pretty tough decision. Unfortunately decisions far tougher than this face those who are food insecure regularly. Alberta Health Services recognizes some common methods of coping that are used in food insecure households (2017). These strategies for coping include skipping meals, using “fillers” such as flour and potatoes, eating nothing for extended periods of time, relying on lower quality foods, and cutting back on fruits and vegetables, cancelling services or borrowing money (Alberta Health Services, 2017). We recognize that food is a right nationally and internationally yet 1 in 8 households in Canada are forced to make decisions between food and health or food and power (PROOF, 2018). 

References

Alberta Health Services. (2017). Household food insecurity in Alberta [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/nutrition/if-nfs-household-food-insecurity-in-alberta.pdf.

PROOF. (2018). Household food insecurity in Canada. PROOF Food Insecurity Policy Research. Retrieved from https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/.

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Welfare Food Challenge: Quarantine Edition

April 2

Challenge day five: 

The shift to online classes has been hard and sitting on my laptop all day at the kitchen counter makes not reaching for a snack pretty tough. Fortunately I’ve gotten over missing my coffee and I’ve made good friends with water which I definitely find myself drinking more of as I try to fill my stomach with something. This has been great for my skin so that's good!

Lunch: 

Soup. I am over it.

Snack: 

An apple 

Supper: 

¼ cup of rice, 0.014 lbs of hamburger and some steamed carrot. 

CHEAT: 

I made cookies. I love baking and I was missing it so much I had to bake something just to relieve some stress from the transition to online classes. I fully intended on just baking them for my parents, but then I ended up eating a little bit of raw dough and 2 cookies. Totally not something I could afford and I’m feeling pretty guilty but they were soooo good. 

Thursdays food for thought: 

I’ve been pretty down this week which may be a combination of my hunger, coffee withdrawal, and also the current global pandemic. Regardless, my meals definitely don’t help to improve my mood. I’m not trying to compare this to the experience of someone really truly living on a welfare diet but I think it has given me some insight.

Did you know that food insecurity is associated with poorer overall mental health? Adults in Canada who are food insecure have more adverse mental health outcomes compared to Canadians who are food secure (PROOF, n.d.). In Ontario it was actually found that despite 1 in 8 households being food insecure 1 in 3 individuals admitted to the hospital for mental health concerns is food insecure (PROOF, n.d.). Prevalence of major depressive episodes in the last year and suicidal thoughts in the past year spike among those who are severely food insecure (PROOF, n.d.). Among food insecure adults the more common mental health problems seen are major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder (Muldoon, Duff, Fieldon, & Anema, 2012). When you consider the other challenges these individuals face it's not really all that surprising that these numbers are higher. Not being able to attend social events as they so often involve the purchase of expensive food or drinks - leading to feelings of loneliness and isolation, having your physical health put at risk. Just think about how incredibly exhausting and heartbreaking it would be to be a single mother struggling to put food on the table for your kids, not to mention yourself. 

These same issues of decreased mental health are seen among children who are food insecure. There is an increased prevalence of mental health problems, but more commonly seen in this age group is hyperactivity and inattention (PROOF, n.d.). Again, although devastating, I can’t say that this is extremely shocking. I saw this first hand in my community clinical placement. I was placed in a school with a high percentage of low-income families, and with this came higher rates of behavioural issues. This week I’ve even felt the effects of being hungry take a toll on my ability to focus this week. My attention span has definitely been impacted, it is pretty hard to focus on completing anything when the only thing on your mind is how hungry you are. 

References

PROOF. (n.d.). Food insecurity and mental health [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://proof.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/mental-health-fact-sheet.pdf. 

Muldoon, K. A., Duff, P. K., Fieldon, S., & Anema, A. (2012). Food insufficiency is associated with psychiatric morbidity in nationally representative study of mental illness among food insecure Canadians. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 48, 795-803. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-012-0597-3.

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Welfare Food Challenge: Quarantine Edition

April 1 

Challenge day four: 

I am not feeling very good about the fact that this is only the halfway point in the challenge. I am tired and hungry, and tired of being hungry. I continually have to remind myself that this is a “challenge” for me but it is a reality for others. That helps to stop me from feeling sorry for myself for about five minutes and then I see the delicious meals that my parents are eating at the table with me and it’s pretty easy to slip back into a puddle of self pity. 

Lunch: 

Soup! Today I had to make my second packet of soup so I now somehow have to make this last till Saturday. I didn’t put carrots in this time because I decided I’d rather just eat them cooked on the side because somehow this makes it feel like there's more flavour. 

Supper: 

¼ cup of rice, 0.14 lbs of hamburger, and some steamed broccoli. 

Snack: 

Granola bar :/

Wednesdays food for thought: 

I remember that when we covered “Nutrition, Poverty and Hunger” in Global Health we discussed how there is a distinct disparity in food security for indigenous Canadians. I went back to Canadian Feed the Children and was reminded of the fact that 21-83% of Indigenous Canadians face food insecurity compared to the national average of 3-9% (Canadian Feed the Children, 2020). I wanted to look into other populations in Canada which are faced with higher rates of food insecurity. I found that In Nunavut 46.8% of households are food insecure, 25% of those who rent their accommodations are food insecure, 43% of those who are food insecure are unattached individuals, and 16% are single mothers (PROOF, 2018). So how this relate to the welfare food challenge? Well nearly a third of individuals on social assistance in Canada are severely food insecure (PROOF, 2018). Something that this Global Health course has continually reminded me of is that while often we are aware of global health disparities we are sometimes blind to the health disparities in the communities we’re living in. This challenge is a good reminder of this exact blind spot. 

References

Canadian Feed the Children. (2020). The challenges. Retrieved from https://canadianfeedthechildren.ca/where/canada/?gclid=CNG3rK3K5dECFQmewAod32EOUA.

PROOF. (2018). Household food insecurity in Canada. Retrieved from https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/.

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Welfare Food Challenge: Quarantine Edition

March 31

Challenge day three: 

I woke up this morning less hungry, or maybe just numb to the hunger but nonetheless ready for the day and almost entirely forgetting about my desire for a good hot cup of coffee. That was until I opened up my email. I made myself the deal that for the week of this challenge I was skipping team workouts because I don’t hate myself. But coaches had other plans, I opened up my email to a lovely message that went a little like this: 

“Time for our base-line fitness test, please send a video of you completing the test by the end of the week”. 

I figured I might as well do this today as my desire to complete it is surely only going to diminish throughout the remainder of the challenge. Before I get to that here’s a look at my meals for the day: 

Lunch: 

Same soup, different day, same absence of flavour. 

Supper: 

¼ cup of rice, 0.14lbs of hamburger and 3 sliced, and steamed carrots. I was so disappointed because I over cooked the rice a little so that some was stuck to the pot. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal but I’m pretty sure this rice is one of the only reasons I feel at all full after my suppers and I didn’t want to give up a single grain. Despite my rice incident this meal was not bad but I can’t wait to have some flavour in my food. 

 I did that workout just after lunch because I knew after the workout I would be hungry, and I’d need something. At least this way I had supper to eat after. Here’s a look at the fitness test. 

Plank test

3 minute rest

Pushups till fail 

3 minute rest

30sec of burpees, 60sec of rest x4 (take heart-rate)

Not anything crazy but I have never felt weaker and more exhausted during a “workout” in my life. I may have even allowed myself a little extra time in the breaks because I was feeling so lightheaded. That leads me to… Tuesdays food for thought: 

I struggled to do my workout after only 2 and a half days of this challenge. That's pretty ridiculous and might demonstrate a bit of a placebo effect. Regardless, I can’t imagine trying to do it after a week or two, let alone a year. I’ve noticed some correlation between food insecurity and decreased physical health. Some association has been seen between household food insecurity and heart disease, diabetes, migraine headaches, high blood pressure, bowel disorders and asthma (Alberta Health Services, 2017). Mothers who are unable to access adequate nutrition during pregnancy are unsurprisingly at greatest risk of delivering babies with low birth weights (Alberta Health Services, 2017). Food insecurity also poses health threats for young children as well. Infants and toddlers who live in food insecure households are more likely to be hospitalized (Alberta Health Services, 2017). It is pretty heartbreaking to think that we are not only subjecting individuals to the emotional strain of constant hunger and worry but also putting them at greater risk of developing chronic conditions just by denying them their fundamental human right to adequate food. 

Resource

Alberta Health Services. (2017). Household food insecurity in Alberta [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/nutrition/if-nfs-household-food-insecurity-in-alberta.pdf.

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Welfare Food Challenge: Quarantine Edition

March 30 

Challenge day two: 

Happy Monday! What better way to start your week than hungry and craving caffeine? Today I still have a slight headache and I definitely would love to have a coffee, but the worst of the withdrawal is over, I think. I came into today feeling more optimistic and very excited to get a little fruit in by devouring one of those apples. So here’s a look at my day: 

Lunch: 

Some more soup! And a far too expensive granola bar. Oh, and a vitamin I definitely can’t afford on this diet. This is a cheat I’m selfishly allowing myself and haven’t mentioned yet. I take a single cherry flavoured sublingual biotin tablet smaller than my pinky finger everyday because my sister is getting married this July (if COVID-19 doesn’t cancel the wedding) and I want my hair to grow. Also… it’s actually pretty tasty, so it’s like a little mini treat. 

Supper: 

¼ cup of rice, 0.14lbs of hamburger and 3 sliced, and steamed carrots. Again, this meal wasn’t bad, and I am glad I chose to splurge and get the hamburger because I am fairly used to eating some type of meat protein at most meals. I definitely am missing salt and pepper, oh and butter. Today I opened up the drawer to the lazy Susan and actually had the pepper in my hand but forced myself to put it back, that was not easy. 

Snack: 

AN APPLE!!! This was delicious! (but not pictured- I must’ve been in too much of a rush to eat it). 

Staring at the screen is only making my headache worse and I’m really tired. So that’s all for today. No food for thought, just a little extra hunger. 

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Welfare Food Challenge: Quarantine Edition

March 29

Challenge day one: 

So, my head is pounding, and my stomach is growling as I write this and it's only day one. I knew the caffeine headache would be terrible, but I honestly did not expect to be this hungry. I woke up this morning and I quite honestly think it is the hungriest I have ever woken up in my life. I blamed this on my lack of stuffing my face before bed last night but I think it might just be my anticipation of being hungry that is causing me to be so hungry. Something that I didn’t mention yesterday was that I don’t normally eat breakfast and therefore I didn’t purchase any breakfast foods for this challenge- this morning that definitely felt like a mistake. With that said let’s take a look at my meals for the day. 

Breakfast: 

Absolutely nothing and I could not stop thinking about how delicious a coffee would be when I woke up to the smell of a fresh pot being made- a con to living your (not participating) parents during this challenge. 

Lunch: 

A nice bowl of Lipton chicken noodle soup with some chopped carrots. Can honestly say this did not fill me up one bit. This picture makes it look like carrot water, which is basically what it tasted like, which is strange because I usually enjoy this soup. Overall great start to the challenge. 

Supper:

¼ cup of rice, 0.14 lbs of hamburger, and some roasted broccoli. Honestly this was a pretty incredible supper, but this may also have something to do with the fact that I’d literally been hungry since 9am and this was the first thing that actually stopped the ache in my stomach for any time at all. 

A look into my day:

I’ve been miserable ALL day, and not just because I woke up hungry but because by the time, I stopped mobbing about being hungry and not getting to taste my delicious morning coffee the caffeine withdrawal hit me like a semi. For reference nursing school and being a college athlete have contributed greatly to my reliance on caffeine along with the fact that I started drinking coffee daily in grade nine which is now 5 years ago. I would say a modest estimate of my daily coffee intake is three cups of coffee. Not to mention I have a severe love for Tim Hortons London Fogs and definitely could go for a Starbucks chai tea latte, or caramel macchiato at any point along with those three coffees. A look into my first day without coffee looks a little like extreme irritability, lack of productivity due to my inability to concentrate, exhaustion and at times even shaky hands. 

I usually snack a LOT! This is going to be harder than I imagined, I am hungry within 10 minutes of my meals. I am quite literally planning to go to bed earlier tonight because I’m so tired of being hungry (and also just so tired) and it has hardly been 12 hours, maybe I should sleep in too just to avoid smelling the coffee. 

Now… 

Onto today's food for thought: 

This takes a lot of planning. I didn’t mention yesterday the extra time that was required for me to prep before even going to get the food. I searched multiple online grocery stores and tried multiple food combinations within my 21 dollar budget. When I finally found one I thought would work I wrote my list and headed to the grocery store in hopes that they would have all the items and they would be the same price as online. Of course this wasn’t the case and by the time I got to the till I was holding my breath hoping the adjustments and substitutions I had to make wouldn’t put me over budget. Then today I had to cook all of my hamburger for the week and weigh it out into seven equal portions to ensure I wouldn’t run out. I froze 3 portions to make sure that it wouldn’t go bad by the end of the week. These are all time consuming and somewhat stressful steps that I wouldn’t normally have to take. 

I have a unique advantage with this challenge due to the current covid-19 pandemic. We are currently in a time of social distancing and quarantine and thus social gatherings of any kind are not happening. This means that I am not missing out on any of these things. However I know that if I was doing this challenge at a different time and was invited to go out for supper, or for some type of treat with friends it would be really difficult to say “Sorry I can’t come, I can’t afford that”. So much of how we socialize today revolves around food, or drinks, and when it’s not these things it’s often some other activity with a price tag. This is simply not feasible for an individual living on welfare. I can only imagine how isolating and difficult this would be. I’ve been in my house for two weeks now because of covid-19, only having left once to get groceries. It sucks not seeing friends and missing out on fun plans that had been made and it’s only been 14 days. I am looking forward to the day that I get to once again leave my house and go to State and Main for wings, or supper at the Ranch House with my family. Food is such a large part of my social life but for someone on a welfare budget this simply isn’t an option. I know there are activities that don’t involve opening your wallet and I’m not saying all or any of those on welfare are stuck in their house alone. However, I do think that this budget could be very isolating.

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Welfare Food Challenge: Quarantine Edition

March 28

Pre-challenge Reflection:

The welfare food challenge was a challenge put on annually to raise a greater awareness about the ridiculously small amount of money that British Columbian welfare recipients have to put towards food. Thus, the challenge was to do just that, eat for a week on only the amount of money that a welfare recipient would have (Gerlings, 2017). As of 2018 the challenge is no longer officially run because the amount of money that a welfare recipient had to put towards food each week in 2018 was less than 6 dollars, 5 dollars and 75 cents to be exact (Raise the Rates, 2018). You will see this later in the post, but this is quite literally a dollar and 25 cents more than I spent on a pound of ground beef. 

This week I will be participating in the Welfare Food Challenge with modification for a college course. For our assignment we are to buy our food for a week with 19-21 dollar. This is the only food we can eat. No freebies, no coupons, no free meals from family or friends. In reality this challenge is nothing compared to what an actual welfare recipient would go through. Individuals on welfare in 2017 prior to the challenge’s cancellation had 19 dollars a week that could be put towards food and this was their life all 52 weeks a year (Gerlings, 2017). Despite my understanding that this will hardly give me a glimpse into the life of a welfare recipient this is a challenge I have been dreading. This provides some insight into my privilege and also into the severity of my coffee addiction as this was the thing, I have been most dreading giving up. 

Despite my reluctance I began the challenge today, March 28th because... well I have to in order to pass the course but also, I know this will be a good learning experience. I began my welfare food challenge by taking a trip to the grocery store, something fairly routine normally, but not right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic this was quite a strange experience and I will be completely straight forward in saying the precautions and steps my mother and I took in grocery shopping would not be feasible for a welfare recipient. Nonetheless I got my groceries from Save On Foods, while also utilizing some of the food we already had and pricing it out, so I wasn’t creating more waste with this challenge. 

What I got at Save On Foods: 

6 Quaker Chewy Granola Bars (not my wisest choice- but I needed something sweet) 

1 head of Broccoli 

3 Gala Apples 

2 lbs of Carrots 

1 Yam 

What I used from my home: 

1 lb of ground beef 

250 grams of rice

2 Lipton chicken noodle soup packets 

My total for all of the items together was $20.17

(I couldn’t find plain chicken noodle which is what I have)

So as I prepare to be hungry for a week here's some food for thought:

Something that I was thinking about throughout the shopping process was how much more frightening this pandemic may be for individuals on welfare. I was nervous to go grocery shopping at this time and I was entirely prepared with two tubs of Clorox wipes, gloves, and ample amounts of hand sanitizer. These are not necessarily precautions that individuals on welfare could afford to take. 

Additionally, I am continually reminded recently of the great impact that this pandemic is having on the food security of people globally as more and more businesses are forced to cut jobs. Some things I have seen are food banks desperately calling for donations as more Canadians are requiring them than ever (Amato, 2020), those already struggling with food insecurity struggling even more as those who are food secure stockpile ridiculous amounts of food leaving those with less income struggling to find any necessities (Gawley, 2020). I also have been thinking of the children who I was in contact with in my community clinical placement who were so often only able to eat meals if the school was providing them. With school closures there is now greater stress on these parents and more children going hungry. PROOF an organization for food security research in Canada believes that 1 in 8 households in Canada are food insecure, this includes over 4 million Canadians and 1.15 million children (PROOF, 2018). These numbers are staggering and frightening at any time but especially during a pandemic when we know they are about to jump. Food insecurity is an issue I am happy to get a greater perspective on and raise awareness for through participation in this challenge. With these numbers in mind I am trying to be less ignorant in my dreading of this challenge after all this is only seven days, not my everyday reality. 

References:

Gawley, K. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic is laying bare weaknesses in Canadian food systems: expert. City News. Retrieved from https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2020/03/25/covid-19-pandemic-is-laying-bare-weaknesses-in-canadian-food-systems-expert/.

Gerlings, K. (2017). 6th Annual welfare food challenge. Welfare Food Challenge. Retrieved from https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2017challenge/.

PROOF. (2018). Household food insecurity in Canada. PROOF Food Insecurity Policy Research. Retrieved from https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/.

Raise the Rates. (2018). Cancelled: 2018 welfare food challenge. Welfare Food Challenge. Retrieved from https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2018/12/14/cancelled-2018-welfare-food-challenge/.