Lunch at Our Desks AGAIN!!

Ah, another day and another lunch Sunny and I sit at our desks eating our food. Sunny with her soup and I am eating pasta yet again. This will be my 4th meal of pasta. Last night was our board meeting and we served the board members burritos. Really big, filled with goodness burritos. There were leftovers, and they sit in the fridge taunting me as I eat my whole ½ cup of fettuccini. I know I am not eating what I need to be healthy. My diet has been filled with nothing but refined carbs. I love carbs. I really love carbs, but I usually consume them in their whole grain form. Of course the ultra refined version of breads and pasta are the cheapest, and are what most lower income families are likely to buy.

This is a real issue in our inner city communities. How to get families to eat healthier, when financially it is not possible. We received an e-mail just yesterday from a woman in the community, asking for help in changing her diet. This is what she had to say….

“I've never done anything like this before in my life but I need help. I need help with purchasing food items. Although I receive $284 dollars a month in food stamps I am unable to purchase the items that I need to have to eat healthier. I have been warned that if my blood sugars don't get lower in the next 6 months I will be diabetic. My daughter too is very heavy. We try to eat healthy, but the whole grains, sugar free, lean meat products that we need to achieve this goal are just too expensive. I don't know what to do to get better.”

I cannot believe the timing on this e-mail. Her struggle mirrors what we are trying to prove, in order to eat healthy there need to be more resources for lower income families. More food donated to organizations like ours, more funding for the food stamp program.

By the way as I finish writing this latest post I have finished my lunch and I am still hungry.