My Fasting Thoughts

I was fasting in protest to the proposed budget cuts to nutritional assistance programs in the United States. I tracked my day of fasting on Facebook. Below is a recap of my status updates throughout the day on April 6, 2011.

Post 1:  It's 8:00 a.m. and I glanced over to my right where I normally stash my cereal and there isn't any there. Coffee for breakfast might be okay though. At least I'm not hungry yet.
Post 2:  Just heard the word Whopper and am suddenly very hungry.
Post 3: ‎ 10:23 and my stomach is starting to grumble. Makes me feel sad for everyone that feels this way and can't afford food to stop the grumbling.
Post 4:  I just got out of a meeting and thought "Oh good I can eat now." I forgot. Sigh.
Post 5:  Food smells all around me.
Post 6:  Huge growl coming from my stomach. Guess it likes the smell of my orange tea steeping. It will be sad when all it gets is more liquid.
Post 7:  Hmmm think I'm getting super hungry. I just felt woozy. Guess the one piece of gum I chewed didn't help me.
Post 8:  Now that I've left work expended some calories and found an I could be towed notice on my car I'm ravenous!
Post 9:  Fading fast. I might have to break down and have some chicken broth.
Post 10: Cat litter commercials even have food in them. What a great combination. Yuck!
Post 11: It's been 24 hours now. I appreciate the fact that I can feed myself whenever and whatever I like anytime. I'm riding the fast out and will eat in the morning.
Last Post this morning:  Well I had my first bite of food at 7:20 a.m. I wasn't as satisfied by it as I thought I would be. I think it's because if I really was a food insecure person I wouldn't be eating today again. Today I'll be posting on my blog today some thoughts I had while fasting yesterday.

My overall experience with the fast was actually quite good. Looking at my posts I think I was being a bit dramatic at times. I really never felt that terrible. There were a few times while I was sleeping last night that I felt nauseous, but that's about it. Since I'm not one of the many people going hungry in our county, it probably helped knowing that when I woke up today I could eat whatever I wanted. Boy did I feel guilty after I ate my bacon, egg, and cheese on a wheat bagel with hash browns. Selfish much.

Since this is a food blog let's talk about food. I only had 3 cups of tea, 3 cups of coffee, and 2 pieces of gum (couldn't give up that habit even if I wanted to!) yesterday. Why was it that if all I had was liquid I wasn't feeling very hungry? Are we hungry, or are we really just thirsty? I've read numerous articles that say that we eat when we feel hungry even though all we really need is to quench our thirst. The day before the fast I was pretty busy at work and I didn't get to eat my breakfast until around 10 a.m. (Normally I eat between 7:30-8:30 a.m.) I'm not even sure it was even necessary to eat my breakfast at that point. I think I could have done without it and just ate out of habit. I need to become a more conscious eater. Eating out of boredom is something I do a lot and was probably the hardest thing I had to overcome during the fast.

We are a food obsessed nation (almost every commercial I saw last night had some sort of food in it) and I am a food obsessed person, but with food costs getting higher and higher it's getting harder for a lot of people to afford to eat the way we all like to. I will be taking a closer look at what I purchase at the grocery store this week, because my total at the register keeps rising every week. I can't imagine how scary it must be for people not as fortunate as me. There are many people in our country who have to go to bed hungry and not know whether they will be able to eat tomorrow or even a week from now. How did our country get so out of whack? It's unbelievable. Everyone should have food to eat. It's so sad that the people in charge don't seem to understand how important food is for survival. Here's to hoping that we continue to value the nutrional assistance programs available in our country so that nobody has to go an entire day without food. Donate to your local food bank if you can!

Fasting for Hunger

Tomorrow April 6, 2011, I will be joining in the Feeding America Fast. Budget cuts have been proposed that would affect certain Hunger Programs:

Cuts to the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) would mean that nearly 81,000 low-income seniors would lose monthly nutrition assistance. Cuts to programs such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) will reduce the capacity of food banks and local agencies to distribute food in their communities at a time when demand for emergency food assistance remains at unprecedented levels. Reductions to other low-income safety net programs that help families afford housing, utilities, child care, and other basic needs will only make it harder for struggling families to put food on the table.

-From the Feeding America Blog, March 15, 2011

I encourage everyone to take time this week and think about what other Americans, who are not as fortunate as us, are experiencing daily. Even if we just skip one meal it might help us to see how important all nutrition assistance programs are! I’ve committed myself to experiencing an entire day without food, to better understand what it’s like to be hungry. Anyone that knows me understands just how difficult this will be for me. I had to fast once for 8 hours before I had a medical procedure and I thought I was going to waste away! I was even allowed a clear liquid diet prior to the eight hour fast and all I could think about was all the food that I couldn’t eat. There are many people who are fasting for a much longer time than I am. Mark Bittman who is a food journalist, completed a four day fast, read his blog here.

Do I think this one day fast will make me a better person or American? Probably not, but at least while I am hungry I will think about everyone who struggles with this issue every day and I will have a better understanding of why all of these programs are critical to millions peoples survival.