I want to use my blog to tell other people’s stories of victories and challenges. I hope you will read this account from a friend of mine, when it comes to food insecurity because of health and prices.
“I have been following your food journey and it has made me think.
I have some health challenges so I am looking at your experiment from a different angle … from my own personal perspective.
Your challenge would affect me quite negatively. Because of my illnesses I cannot eat how you have been eating and I cannot eat whatever I would like yet cost is not the problem. I have many food intolerances; not allergies and these foods cause me physical harm/discomfort. I have IBS and IBD and food is a big part of my treatment.
If I am being strict I am not supposed to consume MSG, wheat, dairy, caffeine, cinnamon, or alcohol. And many fruits and vegetables bother my system unless they are cooked. So as I have watched you post about the foods you have purchased and used to try and feed yourself, my thoughts kept coming back to these questions, “what would I do if I could not afford the foods I eat regularly? and “what is happening to the people who are struggling with food insecurity AND have health issues affect their food choices?”.
You see most of the alternative foods I buy are in the specialty food section of most grocery stores. I buy a lot of things that are made from rice and other substitutes for wheat. These products are almost always more expensive. A loaf of bread is 2-3 times more expensive and only half the size of a regular loaf of bread. I can eat very little that comes out of a can or package because it almost always has MSG in it. I read a lot of labels! It either says monosodium glutamate or when spices are not listed separately you can safely assume MSG is included to help the food last longer on those shelves. Dairy is in many savoury dishes and desserts so it is also difficult to avoid and the alternatives like almond and soy milk take some getting used to and are not cheap. I don’t have a problem avoiding caffeine or alcohol. I just drink a lot of water.
However, I struggle with the food/health connection and as I said, watching your progress during the last month has given me much *food for thought*.
How can we help those who are fighting to feed themselves when they also have food allergies/intolerances? They should not be forgotten and/or given the largest cheapest bag of pasta one can buy. Just my thoughts. Thanks for listening and being an advocate.” M-L
$5.09 for four hamburger buns
$5.39 for a loaf of bread, and look at the size of the loaf and size of the bread
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