[[posterous-content:gHBkpwhoipkFwvJdyhIt]]

 

Dear Premier McGuinty,

You propose to freeze social assistance rates in your budget.

The Ontario Disability Support Program provides just $1064 a month and Ontario Works just $599 a month – leaving many people with no money for food after paying their rent! After inflation -in the past year, food prices have gone up 4.9% and electricity 8.9%; and rents can increase 3% this year.

The freeze on social assistance rates is a cut.

This budget does nothing to close the growing gap between rich and poor. The freeze on MPP salaries is a token measure, and corporations and wealthy CEOs face no tax increase.

I support an immediate increase to put food in the budget of people on social assistance.

I support a small tax increase on people earning over $200,000 a year.

I believe public services should not be cut at a time when the rich are getting richer.

Your budget appears to abandon your commitment to reduce poverty.

Maintain your commitment to reduce poverty and increase social assistance rates immediately!

 

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CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR SURVEY LEAFLET!

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[[posterous-content:gHBkpwhoipkFwvJdyhIt]]

 

Dear Premier McGuinty,

You propose to freeze social assistance rates in your budget.

The Ontario Disability Support Program provides just $1064 a month and Ontario Works just $599 a month – leaving many people with no money for food after paying their rent! After inflation -in the past year, food prices have gone up 4.9% and electricity 8.9%; and rents can increase 3% this year.

The freeze on social assistance rates is a cut.

This budget does nothing to close the growing gap between rich and poor. The freeze on MPP salaries is a token measure, and corporations and wealthy CEOs face no tax increase.

I support an immediate increase to put food in the budget of people on social assistance.

I support a small tax increase on people earning over $200,000 a year.

I believe public services should not be cut at a time when the rich are getting richer.

Your budget appears to abandon your commitment to reduce poverty.

Maintain your commitment to reduce poverty and increase social assistance rates immediately!

 

[[posterous-content:sxAfbxDtomehcnvBFwAG]][[posterous-content:fJJzICCmJzxstpeiopkD]]

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR SURVEY LEAFLET!

TAKE THE SURVEY!

As promised, I've sorted through the nutrition labels and RDIs (or ULs for the 'bad' things) and quantified how the food hampers stand up nutritionally. Here are the numbers:

Nutrient	Daily Value	Weekly Value	Provided	Deficiency/Excess
Calories	2500	17500	6054.5	-11445.5
Carbohydrates (g)	130	910	1163.3	253.3
Fibre (g)	38	266	114.3	-151.7
Sugar (g)	32.5	227.5	237.8	10.3
Fat (g)	73	511	47.5	-463.5
Cholesterol (mg)	300	2100	75.0	-2025.0
Protein (g)	56	392	262.7	-129.3

I'll let the numbers speak for themselves.

I had planned to do each micronutrient as well, but that would take considerably more time, and I didn't expect that the macronutrient situation would be so striking. With these values as they are (not to mention the actual quality of the nutrients they represent), it seems senseless to even begin worrying about molybdenum, niacin and all their friends.

Now this might be a bit unfair, as the hampers aren't supposed to be a week's worth of food. The challenge was just for 5 days, and I believe that the hampers are actually only for 3; but those number don't fare much better:

5 days	Recommended	Provided	Disparity
Calories	12500.0	6054.5	-6445.5
Carbohydrates (g)	650.0	1163.3	513.3
Fibre (g)	190.0	114.3	-75.7
Sugar (g)	162.5	237.8	75.3
Fat (g)	365.0	47.5	-317.5
Cholesterol (mg)	1500.0	75.0	-1425.0
Protein (g)	280.0	262.7	-17.3

3 days	Recommended	Provided	Disparity
Calories	7500.0	6054.5	-1445.5
Carbohydrates (g)	390.0	1163.3	773.3
Fibre (g)	114.0	114.3	0.3
Sugar (g)	97.5	237.8	140.3
Fat (g)	219.0	47.5	-171.5
Cholesterol (mg)	900.0	75.0	-825.0
Protein (g)	168.0	262.7	94.7

As I said before, I haven't really felt all that terrible this week, but over any appreciable amount of time a diet like this would effectively suck the life out of you. So although a week may not be a huge problem, the facts certainly stand as a firm statement to the injustice that is Ontario's social assistance.

It's not just the food though, and that's why I've struggled a bit with the relevance of our challenge. At our meeting on Thursday, we heard all about the other struggles, which I think are more pertinent to the short-comings of current social assistance provisions. It's not so much the food as it is the rent, supporting children and covering the unpredictable costs of simply living that drain one's resources before they can even get to a grocery store. We took the one aspect most easily and reliably recreated and ran with it. From that, it's the digging and discussions of all the issues faced by someone who has no financial freedom that brings about change and makes all the efforts of the challenge worthwhile. As we learned and discussed, there was more to the challenge than just the food; and that certainly holds true to the people we're trying to help. Let's see what comes of it.

Well, I'm officially sick of this now.  A couple things I'm thinking as I eat my final bowl of Kraft Dinner w/ tuna scrapings:

1) A lot of our comments here focused around the nutritional value of the food.  I've had a couple conversations this week with people who pointed out that the typical middle-class/upper-middle-class med school student is unusally aware of the nutritional value of what they eat (especially during Med Foundation 2...) We try to eat veggies, we try to watch fat & sodium, Kraft Dinner is only an occasional guilty pleasure (well, I like it... for some, perhaps pleasure is the wrong word).  So when we're put on a diet of superprocessed food for a week, we notice changes in our mood & energy and are very aware of just how gross what we're putting in our body is.
But many people who have the means to eat healthy don't eat any better than this - whether due to lack of education, lack of appealing fresh food available, lack of time to prepare & cook whole foods, or the North American food culture, which privileges convenience and novelty over wholesomeness.  So the causes of poor nutrition, no matter the income level, are always going to be complex.  This experiment makes me want to continue working on changing our food culture.  Eg, the juice boxes we got, with no vitamins and no fiber - just sugar & fruit flavor - have absolutely no reason to exist.

But at the same time, people living on social assistance CAN'T choose to eat better even if they are trying to.  Social assistance is something like $592 a month - and that has to cover everything from rent to clothes to toiletries to food. 

2) Another thing that was really frustrating for a lot of us was the lack of choice and the lack of flexibility (can't just pick up a sandwich on the way to class - you have to heat up Kraft Dinner the night before, or go with bread-and-peanut-butter.)  These are some of the effects of living on this income that are beyond nutrition.  I realized how lucky I am to choose what I eat and to be able to tailor my diet to my busy schedule.   

This was a humbling experience - I didn't think it be as hard as it was.

Too much salt, too much sugar, not enough fibre, definitely not enough fruit and veggies. I have also never been so bored with food in my life . . . there are so few options. I never want to see a peanut butter sandwich again.
Right now I am eating an oatmeal packet for lunch and it somehow doesn't taste quite right. Too many preservatives? I love oatmeal normally, but I make my own and add brown sugar.
What has really struck me about this diet is not so much its cheapness, but its focus on pre-made food. Perhaps I lack enough knowledge about food prices (I am lucky enough to not have to worry too much - certainly I can afford healthy food), but it seems like substitutions could be made that would still be cheap, but healthier. Instead of two boxes of KD, what about a bag of pasta and a can of tomato sauce? If you bought in a big enough volume, it would work out to a similar price over time. What about a 79 cent bag of carrots instead of canned? A large bag of unflavoured oatmeal instead of premade oatmeal packets? The upfront cost, in some cases, may be slightly more, but the food would last longer than a week. The nutritional profile would certainly be better.

This may also be down to what people do donate to food banks and how food banks are able to store that food. Whenever my elementary school had food drives, my mom always sent me in with Kraft Dinner and Campbell's Soup. Where does that standard come from? Why not, as I said, a bag of pasta and tomato sauce?
Something to think about.
I am definitely donating a massive bag of apples and a massive bag of carrots to the food bank.
As for what I've been eating, I simply can't make myself eat the other box of Kraft Dinner. Too gross. I've been subsisting mostly on peanut butter sandwiches, the oatmeal, and tonight I will be using up my potato and onion. I did a stir fry with the rice, veggies, and chickpeas, which was fairly tasteless and salt-laden. My pantry items have been coffee, milk, oil, and soy sauce.
-Caitlin

Meals on Day 3

I'll start with an apology: this a bit of a long post and somewhat disjointed. Some of it may be taken the wrong way, so please be assured that I think that what we're doing is worthwhile and that I certainly think social assistance is in need of a change; but it's more than just money. If anyone finds offense in or thinks ill of anything I say or thinks I've overlooked something, please comment or contact me, as I'm sure it would be a case of miscommunication. Here we go!

I'm quite conflicted in what I should/shouldn't be writing in response to doing this, but we were told to be candid, so I guess I should just say what's on my mind. Basically, I'm doing fine. Sure, there haven't been too many 'satisfying' meals, but I am by no means hungry. And yes, fresh fruit and vegetables would be wonderful right now, but I have enough food.

I won't list off all that I've eaten so far, but here's what I have left:

1 can of tuna
1 can of vegetable soup
2 small potatoes
2 (very) small onions
1 cup of rice
More than half a can of chick peas
Almost a whole loaf of bread (I put it in the freezer and just rediscovered it!)
1 can of carrots, peas and corn
1 can of green beans
1 box of macaroni
4 popsicles (1.79 juice boxes?)

I feel like I'll be having a feast for the last two days! I'm in the process of figuring out the nutrition comparison between what was in the hamper and what I should have each week, and I know it will be lacking, but I am seeing why someone would think that this is enough food for the week. I'm not sure that living this way for a week or even a few weeks throughout the year would be such a bad thing; I think it only comes up if you're doing this week after week after week. That's where the lack of nutrients and poor quality of the food will start to take effect.

This poses significant problems in my mind for what we're doing and the way things are. It's not so black and white. Yes, I think this is an unacceptable way to live; but I can also see why a change may not seem as necessary to some as it may to us. This is especially true when you look at the diets of a lot of people. It seems that everyone who is doing the challenge is used to a pretty significant portion of their diet having colour to it. This is certainly not the norm for the general public. If it were, public health would not have to fight a never-ending war in the name of 7-10 servings of vegetables. So many people who have the means to eat healthy simply don't.

From working in shelters, food banks, and just having friends in financial hardship, I can guarantee that there are plenty of people who rely on food hampers that wouldn't eat vegetable curry (or even a piece of broccoli) if it was served to them on a golden platter. It's difficult to say that we should be providing fresh vegetables in every food hamper or that social assistance should be increased so that people can eat healthier, because we can't speak for the eating habits of others. I can't tell you the number of times I've had a sandwich returned to me because it wasn't on bright-white wonderbread. Not everyone likes 'good' food.

Of there are people on social assistance would jump at the opportunity to buy an organic carrot or have some spinach in a hamper, but not everyone would. That's why change will be hard to come by (I promise you, I am for it!); and that's why careful thought and creative ways of doing things need to be in place before we look for more money. Just like humanitarian aid, there has to be a plan, it has lead to sustainability and there has to be reason to believe that things will change. If we do this, it needs to be done right.

A brief thought into a big issue; but that's what's running through my mind. Do question me if I've missed the mark.

Time for toast!

Usually after I go for a run I feel more energized for my day. Today a short run left me feeling exhausted, and even after an unsatisfying nap and little other activity, I am still tired. This food pack simply doesn't have what it takes to really supply my energy needs. It was pretty much all leftovers today; just a couple more days to go! I'm looking forward to discussing everyone's experience at the reflection session tomorrow night. 

Never in my life have I felt so limited in my food choices. Today I starred at my nearly bare cupboard for several minutes, hoping that some of my favourite foods would materialize (or even just some foods I don’t HATE). I can’t stand the smell of tuna, let alone the taste, but for two days in a row it has been my only source of protein. It surprised me how easily a few hunger pains can overcome my distaste for certain foods.

Without a choice of what to eat, I feel like I’m merely filling my stomach (and by filling I mean keeping it from self-digesting), rather than truly eating. Food has become simply a fuel, and definitely not a very good one. There’s no enjoyment from eating slices of plain bread, especially when it requires ignoring inquisitive glances from people eating their well-dressed sandwiches at the same lunch table. If you are what you eat, then this week I’m nameless and tasteless.

Christine

I might not eat bread again for a year.

Christine