day twenty-five.

i skipped a day, i know. it was uneventful.

today i ran out of ramen. bummer. i have 2 cups of rice, and a whole lot of peanut butter and jelly left. and some bread. and some flour.

and a whole lot of oatmeal.

i'm trying to ramp back up to 1600 calories tomorrow, 1800 on the 27th, and 2000 on the 28th.

today:
1 PB&J sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein
2 slices bread - 160 calories, 8g protein
1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein
1 cup rice - 300 calories, 6g protein
1 taco - 180 calories, 9g protein

total: 1450 calories, 47g protein

day twenty-three.

5 more days!

I'm excited to start ramping calories back up, and to return to eating normally again. I feel like the worst is behind me. I'm feeling less sick, more full, and generally happier.

Horray!


1 monster PB&J sandwich - 610 calories, 18g protein
1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein
1 cup oatmeal - 300 calories, 6g protein

day twenty-two.

almost finished!

I have enough food left for sure. I baked bread today, and that loaf will give me enough for the rest of the week's sandwiches.

there is an end in sight....!

today:
1 PB&J sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein
2 slices bread - 160 calories, 8g protein
1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein

day twenty-one.

2 cup rice - 1200 calories, 24g protein

day twenty.

1 cup rice - 600 calories, 12g protein
1 taco bell fresco tacos - 180 calories, 9g protein

day nineteen.

i woke up today to great news.

my friend pam found a coupon for a free taco bell taco!

i was able to print 2, and then the website said I'd reached my limit. i had a steak soft taco and a beef soft taco. so delicious.

it's so cool to see how God answers prayers... sometimes, as fast as overnight.


Today:
1 bowl oatmeal - 200 calories, 5g protein
1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein
1 cup rice - 300 calories, 6g protein
2 taco bell fresco tacos - 350 calories, 18g protein

day eighteen.

this is not fun.

i'm down to 160lbs - that's 14lbs in 18 days. most doctors agree healthy weight loss is about 1lb/week, or 2 lbs in the time that has passed so far. none of my belts go small enough to keep my pants up. i'd guess i'll be at 155lbs by march 1, which is the lowest i've been in college.

i can see why doctors say this kind of weight loss is a bad thing. i feel constantly on edge and easily irritated. i try to keep that in check mentally, but that feels exhausting. i sleep 10 hours a day. i feel lethargic and unproductive. i look terrible - i can tell my muscle mass has decreased, and although i've lost weight, i'd say half of it was fat, and half muscle mass. i can tell that i've slipped cognitively, and my research at the university has suffered as a result.

i dream of food. i'm not joking. i dont sleep well, at least according to my iphone's sleep app. i am showing symptoms of insomnia, as evidenced by this (3am) blog post.

i debated posting a entry like this, because i wanted to be upbeat and inspirational... but it is far from the truth. i find myself taking the elevator instead of stairs to save calories, driving through parking lots searching for the closest spot.

the truth is, it isnt possible to eat on $1/day long-term, at least not without buying further in bulk. it certainly isnt possible without access to a multivitamin, for an active 24 year old. my caloric deficit has in the range of 600-800 calories/day. i have watched 600-800 calories a day be thrown away by friends and strangers alike. i envy those calories, even now as i listen to my stomach groan and rumble.

i've run out of peas, ramen, pancakes, and bread. i'm left with rice, peanut butter, jelly, oatmeal, and a small amount of flour and butter. i am most looking forward to making bread this weekend. i would have liked to bake it sooner, but am saving it for the last week, which i anticipate to be the most difficult of them all.

i still have 94 cents. i'm debating between 4 more sticks of margarine, as these give the highest caloric value per dollar, and a 6 pack of ramen. this decision has been the subject of literally hours of free time thought, and discussion with friends. the ramen gives me spices that i share with my bowls of rice. sometimes i think about saving the 94 cents for a taco, and making it the next 10 days on nothing but the food i have now.

i know that God will stretch this food for the next 10 days, but my heart continue to break for those people who have no end in sight, no finish line.

today:
some peanut butter and jelly - 200 calories, 10g protein
1/2 cup rice - 300 calories, 6g protein
1/4 cup peas 90 calories, 9g protein

day seventeen

Today:
1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein
1 cup rice - 600 calories, 12g protein
1/2 cup peas 180 calories, 18g protein
total: 1160 calories, 40g protein

day sixteen.

Today:

1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein
1 bowl oatmeal - 280 calories, 10g protein
some peanut butter and jelly - 200 calories, 10g protein
total - 860 calories, 30g protein

day fifteen.

4 pancakes - 840 calories, 24g protein

day fourteen.

The other day, someone questioned the effectiveness of this experiment. They predicted that come March 1st, I'd realize that "eating on a dollar a day sucks, i'm gonna go buy a steak. peace".

There is probably some truth in that. I learned a lot about eating on a dollar a day. A dollar buys enough food to stay alive, but not necessarily a balanced diet. I made up for that by buying a multivitamin, because I didn't think permanent vision damage or scurvy were acceptable risks.

This experiment is about more than just me, though. I hope to challenge other people's lifestyles, to push them to re-evaluate their own spending habits - specifically what they throw away. Spending money on nice things is one thing, but spending money on things only to throw them away is really disappointing. Over the last two weeks, I've seen people throw away food I'd love to have eaten countless times.

I've been considering a modification for the last two weeks. I want to try the new box from taco bell, but have no money left in my budget. So, someone suggested that I buy the box ($5), but have to skip eating on $5 worth of days... or 5 days. That works out to skipping eating every third day, if I did it now. I feel like this breaks what I committed to, though.

Any thoughts? It'd show me what days without food are like...

Today:
1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein
1 cup rice - 600 calories, 12g protein
1/2 cup peas 180 calories, 18g protein
total: 1160 calories, 40g protein

day thirteen.

I want taco bell.

2 pkg ramen - 760 calories, 20g protein
1 pancake - 210 calories, 6g protein

day twelve.

1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein
1/2 cup rice - 300 calories, 6g protein
1/4 cup peas 90 calories, 9g protein
1 tbsp spread, 70 calories
1 PB&J sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein

day eleven.

2 pkg ramen - 760 calories, 20g protein
2 tbsp spread, 140 calories
1 pancake - 210 calories, 6g protein
2 slices bread, 160 calories, 10g protein

day ten.

I'm sorry this is boring, i've been super busy lately. I'll write soon!

2 slices bread, 160 calories, 10g protein
2 tbsp spread, 140 calories
1 PB&J sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein

day nine.

Today, I didn't eat anything until 9pm. I didn't feel hungry. I could have gone the rest of the day, too.

1/2 cup rice - 300 calories, 6g protein
1/4 cup peas 90 calories, 9g protein
1 tbsp spread, 70 calories
1 PB&J sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein

day eight.

Today:

1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein
1/2 cup rice - 300 calories, 6g protein
1/4 cup peas 90 calories, 9g protein
1 tbsp spread, 70 calories
1 PB&J sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein
total: 1250 calories, 39g protein

day seven.

I'm not hungry.

At least, I don't feel hungry.

Really, I don't feel hungry or thirsty.... but I've learned that headaches mean I'm thirsty, and today I learned that grumpiness means I'm hungry.

I also for the first time understood how people feels when they say something like "just take these cookies away from me, get them out of my sight". For as long as I can remember, that idea has been foreign to me. Tonight, at the party, with chicken wings, mountain dew, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, cheeseburgets, bratwursts, and more delicious items, I finally understood. Just being in the same room was difficult. I couldn't sit near it - the smells were overwhelming. I didn't feel particularly hungry, but I longed to taste that familiar food, flavors. Most of what I eat is relatively flavorless - rice, oatmeal, bread. It adds an interesting dimension to the experiment - people in impoverished countries don't have the ability to take multivitamns, but they don't have the same temptation that living in the USA gives.

In fact, many times, those people are happier, more satisfied with their lives, in my experience. When I was in Peru, we visited the city dump. There were children living in the dump, whose parents and grandparents also lived there. Three generations at least, if not more. These people were literally born in the city dump, and had never seen life outside those few square miles. We talked to them about Jesus, and about life outside of the dump. They were completely uninterested, and said that all they needed was Jesus and the life they had. They got all their food from picking through the trash, and build shelter from barrels and pieces of cardboard.

it's hard to miss something you've never had.

Another interesting thing so far has been people's responses. I've gotten messages of encouragement, bible verses, offers of food and other items. It's all nice, really, but in the end I still have all the food I need, a warm bed, and a Macbook Pro. :)

But on a more serious note, that brings up something that's been bothering me a lot since I've started this. Seeing food go to waste breaks my heart. True, you can't realistically ship a slice of pizza to starving children in africa, but you can save it and eat it another day, thus saving money that would otherwise be spent on food that day. And that money can be collected and given to the poor, the victims of injustice.

Finally, today I baked bread. It was delicious. Here is a picture:


It's only enough for about 3 sandwiches, where the publix loaf made 11, but that's great since it goes stale sooner without all the preservatives.

I can't believe I'm a quarter of the way through this!

Today:
1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein
1/2 cup rice - 300 calories, 6g protein
1/4 cup peas 90 calories, 9g protein
1 tbsp spread, 70 calories
1 PB&J sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein
total: 1250 calories, 39g protein

day six.

Today:

1 peanut butter and jelly sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein
1 peanut butter and jelly sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein
1 pancake - 210 calories, 6g protein
Total: 1030 calories, 32g protein

day five.

Today, I woke up to a killer headache.

i'm dehydrated.

Last august, I fasted from drinking anything but water. About a week in, I started getting bad headaches, and peeing really dark yellow. Luckily today I remembered my experiences, and drank lots of water.

I've been working in the lab for 16 hours, and haven't eaten anything but a PB&J sandwich. I'll update this later, and cover moral issues soon.

Sorry guys, it's been a long day.


Today:
1 peanut butter and jelly sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein
1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein

day four.

I am an idiot.

And a prideful one at that. Really. Sometimes I feel intelligent, talented, or otherwise gifted, like when I get into grad school or do well on a test. Other times, like today, I am fortunate enough to be reminded of how short-sighted and insignificant I am. Thanks, God.

When I started this project, some people suggested other grocery stores, like Save-a-lot and local markets. If you know me well, you know that I am a diehard Publix fan. I felt such strong brand loyalty that I didn't want to shop anywhere else... not even look into the idea.

Today, while searching for a source of Vitamin C with $1.69 in my pocket, I decided to stop in at this save-a-lot store. I've never been in one, always feeling like they were too dirty, or the food was of lower quality. Really, I just felt above the idea of shopping at a discount grocery store. My friends don't shop there, so I'd have to go alone. The food is all off brand, and selection is limited.

Something I've noticed these last 4 days is that I've become very protective of the food I have. Every morning when I wake up, I check that it's all there. I've mentally memorized how much everything costs, and calculate the price of each meal as I prepare it. I feel anxious about my food, and worry that someone will take it, or eat it. While I am preparing it, I worry that I will spill or burn it. It's a present, although not overwhelming, anxiety that I am unfamiliar with.

Back to save-a-lot. Because I've memorized the prices of all the food I have, I was immediately shocked to see everything I had for 30% cheaper. The flour was $1.59 versus $2.29. The oats were 30 cents cheaper. The potatoes, almost half price.

Sigh.

This probably sounds like it isnt a very big deal, but it's the difference between 1500 calories a day and 1800. That's almost an entire meal I'm missing out on, only because of my pride.

I returned what I could (flour, yeast, peas, 1pkg ramen) and re-bought all but the peas from save-a-lot. This is a good thing, because it let me afford a ($2.99) multivitamin. This more than covered my Vitamin C needs, as well as most other nutrients. I have 93 cents left now. The things I am most thankful for so far are butter and multivitamins. Who'd have thought?


While I was at Publix, I weighed myself. 169 lbs. I'm hoping this levels off soon. My healthy weight range is 140-180 lbs. I doubt I'll get that low, but if I do, I'll resume eating normally.


This has gotten long enough. I'll leave the moral issues for tomorrow.

Today, I have/will eat:
1/2 cup rice: 300 calories, 6g protein
1 pancake - 210 calories, 6g protein
1/2 cup oatmeal - 140 calories, 5g protein
1 peanut butter and jelly sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein
1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein
2 tbsp spread - 160 calories, 0g protein
total: 1600 calories, 39g protein

day three.

I've gotten overwhelming response to this blog. please feel free to tell friends about it, but if you're new to reading it, please read this post. I feel the need to address three issues:

First off, I am not a doctor or nutritionist, and can't say following this is a good idea. This diet may have understandable consequences that vary from person to person. In other words: don't try this at home. :)

Second, and somewhat related, I want to cover the medical issues. First of all, calories:
Many people are concerned with caloric intake. For this project, I am as concerned, although with a different motive. One thing many people seem not to understand is that cutting caloric intake drastically (under ~1200 calories/day) forces your body into starvation metabolism, in which it works hard to build fat stores and burn calories more slowly. If you are dieting to lose weight, consuming under 1200 calories/day is counterproductive.

For this project, starvation metabolism is beneficial which is why for the first week I aim to average about 900 calories a day. The idea is to use my remaining calories more effectively.

Starvation metabolism is not without risks, though. Short term, low blood sugar contributes to lack of energy and irritability. Long term, the risks are even greater. I have put in hundreds of hours of research into human nutrition, and understand the warning signs for nearly every nutrient deficiency. For example, not enough Vitamin A shows up first as poor night vision, which if left untreated can lead to permanent blindness. Vitamin C deficiency shows up as scurvy, and symptoms include bleeding gums. Deficiencies in other vitamins can affect digestive processes. Most vitamins are fat soluble, meaning they are stored in the liver. Enough vitamin A to last 2 years, for example, is stored in the liver. Vitamin C is the only major vitamin that is water soluble, and should be replenished daily. That said, my diet is completely lacking in Vitamin C. I was planning on using the potatoes for vitamin C, but they were unaffordable. Now I have $1.69 to figure this out. tomorrow.

I strongly urge people that are dieting to lose weight to spend time researching nutrition, and to take a multivitamin.

the third ting i wanted to talk about are the moral issues.... but I'll save that for tomorrow.

Physically, I feel okay. sometimes I lose my train of thought, but I'm not sure if that's caused by my diet.


Today, I ate:
1/2 cup oatmeal: 140 calories, 5g protein
4 pieces bread: 320 calories, 6g protein
1/2 cup rice: 300 calories, 6g protein
PB&J sandwich: 410 calories, 14g protein
3 tbsp spread: 210 calories
total: 1380 calories, 31g protein

day two.

I really don't like oatmeal.

I have never had completely plain oatmeal, before. it's rough. so rough, in fact, I couldn't finish my double serving. I put it in the fridge to save for later. I went to bed feeling somewhat defeated, but strangely full.

I woke up this morning with a strong memory of completely plain oatmeal, and decided I had to have something with flavor. I went for the emergency food supply, the Beef Top Ramen. I carefully measured it out, careful to be sure each noodle fell in the bowl. I boiled the water, and stirred in the seasoning. As I began to eat, I realized how strong the seasoning is, and made a mental note to start saving some of the seasoning for use in the rice and peas preparation. This made me very thankful, as I had no money to purchase any sort of spice or flavoring independently.

You might think it's weird to eat ramen for breakfast, and you'd be right. Unfortunately, these were my options:

rice/peas: not yet cooked
sandwich: conserving for meals at school
oatmeal: blech.
pancakes: YES! well, here's the thing....

When shopping for pancake mix, I realized I couldn't afford to buy oil or eggs. This is not an issue, as there is affordably priced pancake mix that (apparently) has those things premixed. What I didn't remember is that I'd need a way to grease the pan each use.

Oh, no. I quickly remembered how many calories of pancake mix I had. 3360. That's $2.19. I can't let that go to waste. I assured myself I could cook the pancakes scrambled eggs style, constantly scraping the pan. I knew I only had $2.48 left, and after checking online, butter was that much, is not more. Scrambled egg style pancakes it would have to be, and I didn't want to hassle with that this morning... so top ramen was selected.

I made my PB&J sandwich, careful to use exactly 2 tbsp peanut butter, 1 tbsp jelly, and lick the utensils after use. If I didn't, I could lose 10-20% of my peanut butter or jelly each sandwich.

I went to Publix to pick up some toiletries that were thankfully not part of this experiment, and hopped on the scale.

171 lbs. In 24 hours, I'd lost 3 pounds.

this. is. not. good.

More on the medical stuff tomorrow. I wandered off in search of things to keep me smelling fresh, and then remembered the pancake situation. I went to the dairy aisle, and found something that was beautiful beyond words.

only seventy-nine cents. $0.79. I could buy this and have $1.69 left! YES! More than that, it has 2835 calories per dollar, second only to flour.

Awesome. Unfortunately it has no nutritional value outside of fat and calories, but I can cook with it, and it opens up new worlds for bread, rice, and oatmeal. This find was a gamechanger.




The rest of the day went well. That's my dinner at the right, which you'd probably think is low in protein, but today I ate 45g. (the FDA recommends 50g or more per day for ages 4 and up)


2 pancakes - 420 calories, 12g protein
3 pieces of bread - 240 calories, 9g protein
1 peanut butter and jelly sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein
1 pkg ramen - 380 calories, 10g protein
3 tbsp spread - 210 calories, 0g protein
total: 1660 calories, 45g protein

day one.

I hate grape jelly.

More on that later.

For the past week, I ate as much as I could in preparation for this month.

I donated the rest of what I'd spend on food in February to the Red Cross. I was committed.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon coupon clipping, preparing for this. i found coupons to bring the price of a box of pasta down to 19 cents. i made a spreadsheet with calories per dollar, made a list of cheap food, and felt like this was going to be easier than expected.

At 11:55, I ate 2 big macs... a last ditch effort at loading my body with calories. I then went to bed dreaming about delicious recipes.

I woke up this morning with a full belly, feeling hopeful. I got my coupons together, and drove to Publix. as I began to fill my cart, I realized that i could decide on a particular item based on whether it passed the following test:

(calories per serving * total servings) / cost = calories per dollar

Since the limit is $1 a day, and 1000 calories a day are needed to stay out of starvation metabolism, I needed that formula to work out to 1000 or better for each food item. Additionally, I needed to balance protein, vitamins, and minerals. thankfully, I couldn't afford anything close to fatty - today I had 22 grams of fat, less than 35% of my daily allowance. meat was completely out of the question, as were most vegetables. i could afford potatoes or beans. I chose beans, to go with my rice. As I looked at the varieties of beans, I ran the math on black beans:

70 calories * 12 servings / $1.09 = 770 calories/dollar.

I couldn't afford black beans to go with my rice.

I think it was at this point that I first felt the urge to fight back tears... not for my own predicament, but realizing that hundreds of millions of people worldwide were facing this same issue, many at the very same moment. I checked all the bean varieties, and finally found that black eyed peas almost qualified, with 980 calories per dollar.

I put two bags in my cart.

As I continued roaming Publix for the next two hours, I repeated the same process several dozen times. As a friend of mine pointed out, clementines were on sale, $6 for a 5 pound crate. This sounded tasty and delicious, until I ran the numbers:

178 calories per dollar. each clementine was 35 calories, and would cost about 20 cents. For 20 cents, I could make a 400 calorie peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Goodbye, clementines. See you March 1st.

Continuing to walk around Publix, and thinking about how many calories I was burning while walking (102/hour for a 175lb male in their 20s), I started feeling angry, especially towards people medically classified as overweight. I remembered from a sermon that $60 billion is spent yearly on weight loss in the US. (http://www.worldometers.info/weight-loss/)

Sixty Billion Dollars.

That's enough to feed all of the malnourished in Africa, South America, North America, and the Carribbean, combined. (http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm)

Better still, various sources put the US spending on obesity caused disease at somewhere around double that, so 120 Billion. That's enough to cover the rest of the world's hunger.

dang.

My last item to purchase was peanut butter and jelly for my sandwich. I got the cheapest peanut butter, after calculating what it was worth to me (1461 calories/dollar). I looked at the available jellies, and licked my lips in excitement over the strawberry jelly.... until I saw it's price. $1 more than grape.

Like I said before, I hate grape jelly. A lot.

I grabbed the grape before I had the chance for a second thought, and headed to checkout.

Total: $33.15.

Something was wrong. I looked at the receipt - the buy one get one pasta was a different variety than what I had a coupon for. This pushed me up and over the $28 goal. I took my groceries out to the car, too embarassed, angry, and confused to do anything else. I got to the car, and realized I had to return the pasta.

I have never had to return food. Ever. I always just eat it, like a human garbage disposal. Soggy cereal? Done. Day old McChicken? Down the hatch. Never an issue. I had to return this, though. The dialogue went something like this:

me: "I need to return this pasta."
cashier: "Is there anything wrong with it?"
me: "no, I just can't afford it"
cashier then looks at my iphone, car keys, american eagle sweater, etc.

oh, boy.

He rang all the pasta up, and started counting back my refund. I realized he hadn't compensated the value of the coupons back to the store, so I was getting $4 more than was right. I was thrust into a moral quandary. Four dollars is close to a quarter of what I had to spend. I could afford delicious pasta and pasta sauce with that four dollars. In what was probably less than 10 seconds, I visualized a dozen different meals I could purchase with this newfound four dollars. I realize I had to do the right thing though, and asked him to take out the $4 from the coupons.

Here's what $25.48 buys you:


5lbs rice
2lbs black eyed peas
5lbs oats
5lbs flour
1 box buttermilk pancakes
1 jar grape jelly
1 jar peanut butter
6 packages of ramen noodles (chicken)
6 packages of ramen noodles (beef)
1 loaf of bread
salt
yeast

By now it was lunchtime, and I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I licked the knife clean, and poured a glass of water. (that's another thing - I can't afford anything but water) I prayed over the food, giving thanks more earnestly than I had in a long time. I began to read the miracle of the feeding of 5000 (Matthew 14). Jesus feeds 5000 men with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Afterwords, 12 basketfuls of bread were left over.

I pray that God blesses this food and the other 1 billion people who go hungry every day similarly.


Today:
1 peanut butter and jelly sandwich - 410 calories, 14g protein
1 bowl oatmeal - 280 calories, 10g protein

Weight: 174lbs, no physical changes.