As some of you know (and many of you have heard too many times), in the summer of 2016, I took a multi-month road trip across the states, in which I ate on $4.23/day (as a healthy food challenge) while personally simulating homelessness, while volunteering at homeless shelters, food banks and other nonprofits along the way. What a mouthful. And not an easy dinner party convo, I must say. I camped everywhere or slept in my car, showered with jugs of water, went to the bathroom in the woods more times than I’d like to admit and documented what it was like to live in such a way. The goal was to bring awareness to making healthy, whole food affordable and available to everyone, everywhere across all socioeconomic statuses, and to educate people on how to eat healthfully on such a low-budget. The $4.23 was calculated based on the average amount a person received on food stamps per day. For the full experience and embarrassing videos and such, visit 423aday.com.
I will be posting articles here about health and the environment; however, it won’t be about my travels across the country eating on $4.23/day. This will be about making people aware of how to improve their lives in a multitude of ways, how food affects our brains, how food connects us, how our food choices and overall health relate to how we treat the rest of our life, food injustice and education, how we are all connected as human beings and how we can empower ourselves and others through our choices. Wow, that was a lot of “how’s.”
Taking control, building habits.
Food is a reflection of who we are. I don’t just mean our culture or ethnicity, but how you choose your food—your discipline, your drive to improve yourself—these aspects begin to shape who you are (literally and metaphorically). And I’m not just referring to your size or how much weight you’ve lost or gained, but preventing disease and building longevity. We know what to do but we don’t do it, and this is true in every facet of life. We let other people influence how we eat. We let other people be the reason we don’t improve ourselves. We let ourselves get in the way of improving ourselves.
If we know something will make us better, why wouldn’t we do it?
Eating healthfully, for the most part, isn’t totally a matter of knowing what to eat and not, the grandest piece is just actually implementing what we know to be true. The same is true of exercise. The same is true of how we argue and fight. Should I really say this passive aggressive, smart-aleck comment? We know better, but it feels so good in the moment, both that chocolate chunk brownie and the hurtful/stinging comment.
Our daily, hourly, momentary choices define who we are and what we do. This is daunting, yet it also means we can readily and easily change what we do.
What choices did you make today? What type of person are you building and becoming? We are always in the becoming. You are never at one final destination (Well, until death—I think).
In the healthy food world, there’s a quote that goes something like, “You’re either fighting disease or your feeding it.” I think this goes for both the food choices we make and basically every other life choice. Are you adding to your life with the choice you just made? Are you building up your life? Better yet, are you benefitting anyone else as well? By bettering yourself, improving yourself, you are better able to serve others. How cool is that? Take care of yourself, please, so you can then take care of others.
If you know you need to make a change, if something bothers you daily, if you crave something, it’s gnawing at you, then make that change. Make it happen. No one else is going to. I’m learning this daily and constantly reminding myself to implement what I know to be true.
It’s not just about the food.
Back in 2016, my $4.23/day road trip wasn’t just about food. It never really was. It was about getting uncomfortable, experiencing and understanding others’ lives, building empathy, making myself and others aware of how we can help each other and realizing that we are all in this together—we are all in struggle.
I (and sometimes others too) make fun of the premise of the trip—how millennial, how dreamer-like and maybe “hippie” of me. But, alas, I live in a land where change can happen, where common humanity exists—where we can get along. I don’t think it should be viewed as some absurd, naive mindset. We can come together to make change and rebuild any pieces of our world that may literally or metaphorically be falling apart.
We have to form this protective layer of belief within ourselves in order to move forward. If we get caught up in all that is wrong, what good will it do? You are setting up yourself and the rest of the world for failure otherwise. Yes, learn about and know what is wrong and what needs to change. Listen, research and seek out the truth. But take whatever you discover, and be proactive. Use that to make change.
Even when it gets tough/life stinks.
As I’ve said, this health, food and nutrition stuff isn’t just about being getting fit or losing weight, it’s about empowering yourself, taking control, as this translates into basically every other aspect of life.
And we don’t have to be defined by what we can do right now, but by the actions we take and how we react to what we have been dealt.
I’m not saying we must always be positive, as being falsely positive is likely unhealthy, for you never grapple with your true feelings. Acknowledge and accept what’s happening—what’s been given to you. Cry if you need to, get angry—but don’t swim and drown in it. The pain, sadness or anger can propel you to change.
Something personally challenging for me currently… (though there are far worse things)
I ran a trail half marathon about a month ago and was in the top 10 women (it’s really not very impressive as there weren’t many people running the race), I exercise regularly, I ran an eight mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving… and then my body crashed. I can’t run more than 10 feet without extreme discomfort/pain, mainly in my right knee. Also, both hips and my left knee are entirely not functioning properly. While walking, if I turn more quickly than a baby sloth, my knee screams. And walking up and down stairs is torture.
My body has been feeling odd for the last year, various parts of me slowly hurting more. Sometimes my body feels like it’s morphed into a state of slowww motion and insane fatigue, forcing me to embarrassingly sit on the side of the road during walks and runs because I’d feel like I was literally about to fall over. (Please see this article to hear more about all the other weird things that happened to my body.)
It comes and goes though.
Unrelated, but another (comical) body problem: I woke up yesterday morning and couldn’t move my neck to the right side at all without wild pain. I looked like I was doing a terrible version of the robot. Is this what aging feels like? Am I officially “old” at 28? This can’t be! One of my coworkers, age 37, said to me: “You are now at the stage where you can actually injure yourself while you sleep.” We laughed, while likely both secretly crying on the inside. Just kidding. Sort of.
I don’t know about you all, but I am SO not cool with this decline.
But this deterioration in my athletic ability and my ability to live life normally has brought an entire new perspective. I’ve had to make some grand mental leaps, and I’m still working through this mental and physical game. I’ve felt defeated, as it often feels like I’m going backward. I feel weak, but I have to keep moving forward in some way though, strengthening what I can, using new muscles, doing new exercises and trying to repair. I have to be patient and allow this process to unfold. I made a joke recently that my body is in hibernation like a bear during the winter. It needs time to rest and rejuvenate (that’s what bears do during hibernation, right? Spa cave time?). Well, my body is repair mode.
What do you do if things never get better?
You know what… I had to pause after I typed that question, as I didn’t know what to say. I became despondent. I think the answer comes down to human connection—bonding with others over each others’ struggles, being in it together. Community, belonging and love are an absolute necessity. Seek it out. Seek out others who you know also need that community. Being connected and in community with others is an enormous determining factor in health and longevity. I say this while having the default setting of being alone. It’s what my introvert-leaning brain always wants to do. But when I actually spend time with others, find common-ground, share stories, tragedies, successes and grief… that’s when I feel most invigorated. That’s when I feel most connected to this universe in which we live.
While typing this, I was simultaneously (somehow) listening to a speech given by author/endurance athlete/former lawyer/wellness-promotor Rich Roll (he holds many titles). He said, “It’s when things go wrong that you’re presented with a teachable moment, you’re presented with an opportunity, a decision, and the decision you make, that’s what reveals character.”