Fasting

By Thursday night, day three of the Welfare Food Challenge, I had cooked all I had to cook.  There were small joys found in a flavourful pot of dal, date night sourdough pizza, a daily cup of coffee, but I'd saved nothing for later.  From here in, it would all be leftovers, until it was just rice and bread.

Commitment to the challenge was complicated by an out of town work function this weekend. I tried to envision what someone on income assistance would do for meals at a weekend "job-skills-building workshop", and conceded to do my best to adhere to it.  I brought my own food for the first night, decided to survive on morning "snacks" and lunch made available at the event, and also to skip the restaurant dinners that usually follow, fasting until the next day.

Full disclosure: the generosity of my community has been powerful, and occasionally I've accepted their offerings, including: morning coffee (the boyfriend), an apple for the road (the coworker) and finally last night two cold cans of Kootenay True (the friend from out-of-town).  Now, I've always been one for bad hangovers, but normally I've had to do more to earn them.  This beer ravaged me.

For dinner last night I had mushy rice with just a few spoonfuls of the dal I prepared earlier in the week (I was running out), after a day of otherwise meagre portions.  Potentially it was this meal that was not enough to stand up to the beer, perhaps I've been run more ragged than I thought by this whole challenge.  After getting sick on the way to today's workshop, I quickly deteriorated, falling into a day-long coma of nausea I've just returned from as I write this.  Tonight I ate the apple I brought for the trip, following this, tomorrow's "morning snack" will be my next meal.

And what would I do if not for a day of conference food?  Each night this week I've woke up from sleep hungry, and (evidenced today) I'm quite clearly compromised.  Sunday night and Monday I'll be eating straight rice and bread, even with this boost.  Fasting was a technique I unintentionally employed this week, but it's shocking to think it might be the reality of many on social assistance.  How sad.

-S