First "guest" post

I call this a guest post because I'm technically copying from Facebook what my brother wrote about his recent experiment about going a week on the monetary equivalent of food stamps. For those who may not know, my brother is an outstanding athlete, aspiring film director and all around awesome person. He decided that he would take the food stamp challenge that recently the Mayor of Newark, Cory Booker, also undertook. He had 30$ worth of food to consume during the week. The following were his observations along with his menu.

Things I learned doing the food stamp challenge:

Newark Mayor Cory Booker took a challenge on Twitter to go a week eating on the monetary equivalent of food stamps (he spent $30). I decided to join him in this exercise. Here's what I found:

- Protein is expensive.
- McDonald's is not.
- I lost about a pound and a half in a week and I'm around 8% body fat as it is.
- You cannot conceivably be a good athlete living on food stamps. I work out 5-6 times a week for about 8-10 hours total and my body craves protein, carbs, leafy greens, and fruit after workouts. A lot of these meals (see above note about protein) and foods are expensive and I couldn't have them. I did not have enough energy to work out the way I like to and I'm not even an elite athlete or a workout fiend of any kind.

- Ramen Noodles made this exercise sooooo much easier.
- Don't be fooled...this shit was hard.
- I rediscovered my love for PB&J
- I went a week without coffee. I, Stephen Guilbert, gave up coffee for a week. That was very hard for me to do.

I understand that food stamps are largely meant as a supplement to existing income. That being said, I also know many do live off of food stamps that don't cover certain necessities and toiletries that I did not even take into account. This was a great exercise and while a week is not much relative to people who spends years or lifetimes on this sort of restriction, it was certainly a challenge and helped me gain a lot of perspective. 

 

 

MENU:

 

****I do not recommend eating like this, just to be very clear. ****                                                 

I went to shop-rite and spent $13 on the following: 

- One loaf of whole wheat multi-grain bread

- One jar of peanut butter

- One jar of Jam (Jelly? I forget)

- A half a dozen bananas 

- One box (one pound) of whole wheat pasta

- One jar of Garlic and Herb pasta sauce

I also consumed throughout the week: 

- Two cans of soup

- 5 packs of Ramen Noodles

- 1 slice of pizza and a couple mini cupcakes courtesy of Rob O

- A bagel with cream cheese from Wawa

- A turkey and cheese sandwich from Wawa

- 3 weight watchers breakfast sandwiches ($1 each)

- Some chips from a friendly passerby at work

I capped off the challenge with a Blue Moon.                                                                                       

 

 

Could you ever see yourself doing a food challenge? How hard do you think it would be? How much do you think you could train while doing it?