Day 5

So just three more days to go, but as I mentioned yesterday, I imagine they will be the most difficult. With apologies to those who have been following my column in the Daily Record (since this will be somewhat repetitive), as our experience draws to its conclusion I find myself feeling guilty. While this may seem strange, the reason is actually quite simple. Now that the finish line is in sight, I realize how excited I am for Monday and a return to normalcy. I think about how much I look forward to being able to go back to our regular food schedule. Even going out to dinner  and having a drink. Only a few more days to go. That should be easy enough. Just hang in there for a little longer and then it will be over.

And that is when the guilt sets in because I am immediately reminded of how different our challenge was to the actual lives of those millions who rely on food stamps to feed themselves and their families. They do not have the luxury of “opting out” of their situation. And, unlike ours, their experience is not measured in days. It certainly puts our "hardship" into perspective.

One of our readers raised a good question which I wanted to address. He pointed out that while I have been discussing our meal options and alternatives this week, it would be more helpful to compare them with my usual food intake when we are not on a restricted budget. There are two specific examples which I think have been significant.

The first is that I normally keep a stash of peanuts and protein bars in my office at work for between-meal snacks. Since those have been off limits this week, I find that I have been hungrier at regular meal times which hasn't exactly been ideal since I have not been able to increase my portion sizes to compensate. And I know that Stacie also routinely has similar snacks which have also been unavailable to her. The net result of that has been that we have been eating a lot of either pasta or mac and cheese for dinner. And while there is certainly nothing wrong with pasta or mac and cheese, eating it every night (as I have this week) is neither usual nor particularly healthy.

The other example of a dietary change  this week is that we have not been able to eat dessert at all. I know this probably sounds silly, but both Stacie and I enjoy having dessert at least a couple of nights a week. Nothing too unhealthy, whether it's strawberries for Stacie and a Healthy Choice Fudge Bar for me or something comparable, it satisfies a craving. Going without dessert for the entire week is certainly not the worst thing in the world, but it is something that I have definitely noticed. And it has been even more difficult because many of my law firm's clients and vendors have been sending candy and other goodies to our office so we have a stockpile in our kitchen and there is nothing I can do about it!

Thinking ahead, what I imagine we will need to guard against is going overboard and eating too much when the challenge is over on Monday. It reminds me of the feeling one has after fasting on Yom Kippur only to overeat when breaking the fast. Not a good idea. That might be easier said than done though because we have plans to go out with friends for dinner on Monday night and then (spoiler alert!) Chinese food on Christmas day.

I will update the blog again over the weekend and will certainly have a wrap up on Monday after the challenge week is over. It really has gone very quickly.

 

Neil, Stacie and Hailey