Day 2 of the CalFresh Challenge has proven to be just as difficult as Day 1. My meals today were for the most part similar to Day 1. I realized that for individuals on CalFresh there is no variety in meals. They are restricted to eating the same thing almost on a daily basis. Whereas most of us have the luxury of trying something new once in a while, households on CalFresh are limited to what they can afford in a day.
I started to think about all the dietary restrictions that my family has and the lifestyle changes we have had to make because of it. For example, we cannot have peanut butter in our home because my wife is deathly allergic to peanuts. As an alternative we buy almond butter - which is almost quadruple the price of a jar of peanut butter! Other than that we also do not consume soy and avoid dairy products. If you read the ingredients in most processed foods they contain a very high level of soy. These foods are almost always inexpensive, and so are a go to for people on a budget. But what happens when inexpensive foods trigger allergic reactions? Families on a $4.38 a day budget cannot even fathom finding an alternative to peanut butter which further limits the variety of food products they can consume. Food variety equals alternative sources of protein, calcium, vitamin C, etc. if these families cannot afford these, it inevitably means they lack vital nutritional intake for a healthy lifestyle.
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