Well I survived day two of Live Below the Line without much flavour or taste. I decided to stick to my
strategy of a sleep-in then pushing my breakfast back as late as possible to avoid needing lunch. It’s surprising how little I’ve felt hungry, and it shows just how much we eat out of boredom and pleasure and not for actual sustenance as they do in the developing word. I haven’t looked forward to my meals as they are pretty bland and are not making me feel too well!
For breakfast I had oats and milk again which has been alright because I usually eat porridge in winter and it’s a very fulfilling meal. I do wish I had included fruit within my $10 though – definitely craving apples, strawberries and bananas (although 1 banana probably would’ve taken up half of my weekly budget!!!)
I resisted having lunch again, it seems if I ignore the hunger pangs I can go another few hours without feeling hungry. I also wasn’t looking forward to plain pasta as my next meal, so that probably prolonged any real desire to eat!
In the afternoon I went to the doctors to get some medication for a chesty cold I’ve had for the past three weeks. I figured I should really get better whilst doing LBL as this diet isn’t given me many vitamins, nutrients or iron! As I picked up the generic brand of antibiotics for $6.99 I thought to myself – this is 70% of my weekly budget for food! Thankfully for me, my budget excluded medicinal costs, but for the 1.4 billion people that do live on $2 that includes medical and education costs. If a family member becomes sick, food is often sacrificed to pay for the medicine or medical attention required. To think that for 1 small box of antibiotics I would have had to sacrifice 70% of the food I bought was pretty frightening! I’m grateful for this campaign though, for making me appreciate the smaller things such as medicine that we often take for granted!
For lunch/dinner at 7pm I had a small bowl of pumpkin soup with a piece of toast, and a bowl of plain pasta. The pumpkin soup was GREAT because it had a taste other than cardboard, however I can’t really say the same for the pasta or bread. My dinner was made more depressing as I ate surrounded by my group of bible study girls who were enjoying a lot of junk food! Again, it was a harsh reminder of the amount of choice we have in Australia and also about the reasons why we eat – I was forcing myself to eat the cardboard pasta merely for sustenance!!
Looking forward to hitting the half way mark tomorrow, whilst also experiencing living below the line at
work for the first time!
If you’d like to sponsor me, please head here. Thank you for your contributions so far – I can’t wait to see the ways your money is impacting the lives of youth in the Pacific and South East Asia! 🙂
caitlinramrakha.com 