Four months ago, I set out on an adventure to Africa for my mater's research project with the University of Minnesota. It was an amazing 3 weeks full of adventures--- definitely a trip of a lifetime!! I am so grateful for the Healthy Foods Healthy Lives (PDF Doc) grant that helped get me to Africa-- and made the research component of my trip possible!
Now that my grad school semester is over-- and things are winding down, I decided to go through some old pictures and highlight just a few of my experiences and perspectives!
Top 10 highlights and lessons learned:
1) Met amazing people!! My awesome Ugandan research team, a few med-students, public health students, "random" travel buddies, a peace-core volunteer.. and more!
2) Learned a lot about the Moringa tree (PDF abstract about my research study). I am still in the analysis stage of the research--- so I can't say anything more! Qualitative research is much more difficult than I had anticipated--- but really incredible!
3) African food!!!! It was delicious -- extremely cheap and easy to eat vegan there too! I consider that a bonus! (see related blog posts: Feasting on Traditional Foods and In Uganda: Plant-based )
4) Witnessed the globalization of food, diet, westernized culture. We live in a small world. Big food industry and tobacco (yes, still) are taking over the world... This was definitely not a highlight, but rather lessons learned.
5) Ran out of water for a couple of days.... (see related blog post). It had something to do with these pipes....
6) Went on an African safari!!! It was absolutely breathtaking to watch these beautiful creatures in their natural environments. The creatures of this Earth are incredible! Let's be good stewards to them.
7) Elephants!!! I fell in LOVE with elephants!
8) Met 2 designer and had a dress made for me! (see related blog post)
9) Deeper appreciation for life of all forms--- animals, humans, and plants. Richer understanding of community--- and the importance community plays in our need for security and ultimately our survival.
10) I feel privileged, yet very thankful to be able to do what I do, to see the places I have seen, and to have met the people I have met on all of my global journeys.... all these people, places and experiences have helped shape who I am today and the perspectives I have on life, health, and living!
Bonus: Jackfruit... new favorite fruit!!
I am already looking forward to my next adventure! Hope you can come along with me! Stay tuned for upcoming Moxie travels!
I am doing a fundraiser with ViBella-- an organization in Haiti that employs women to make jewelry. I had the opportunity to visit ViBella's organization back in 2013 when I was living in Haiti. It was wonderful to meet the ladies that make the jewelry and to see the facility where they work. I was impressed with ViBella's organization not only because of what they are doing to give-back to the community, but also because many of their pieces are also made out of recycled goods, such as plastic and cardboard.
I am planning to use the money raised from the fundraiser to help cover travel expenses for an upcoming vision trip to Haiti. I am hoping to get back to Haiti in January or February to visit a few organizations that are currently working on sustainability projects-- like reforestation, compositing, and gardening. I have been asked to help implement a health and wellness summer program at the orphanage where I used to live. We would like the children to learn about sustainability, nutrition, and alternative health/ wellness practice--- we have potential plans to take them to an eco-food forest for a hands-on field-trip to learn about the environment, conservation, and plant-based lifestyle. I am really excited about all the ideas that are currently being generated around our summer program--- and can't wait to share more in the coming months!
Anyways, if you are looking to give a gift that gives back this Holiday season--- check out the ViBella store. If you decide to purchase something and you'd like to contribute to my online fundraiser use:
**Enter Party # 428 at check-out!
To learn more about ViBella, check-out this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt7mq1B8bfA
These are a couple of my favorite pieces from ViBella! The feather earrings are awesome!! :)
How did it go!? Well, pretty darn good! I keep thinking about my meals though. It's like this constant counting and planning.. and worrying. Will my food go bad? will I be hungry later and not have enough? After dinner tonight, I decided that I might actually have more food than I thought... I need to sit down and plan things out so I can STOP stressing and carry-on with my life. Writing a menu will help ease my mind about planning for the week.
Breakfast:
The morning started out with cinnamon banana oatmeal and a small side of berries. Seriously, don't buy the $1 berries unless you have to.. or if they are from the Farmer's Market. These were horribly sour. I threw mine in the freezer and plan to blend them up at the end of the week.
Oh and my coffee... I am not a black coffee kind of girl. I prefer a little dark cocoa powder in there with a splash of Almond milk. I know drinking coffee/ tea with your milk/ plant milk isnt the best for optimal nutrition (there are binders in the tea and coffee that inhibit absorption of minerals). I drink my coffee this way out of luxury not out of nutrition. I am "privileged" enough not to have to worry about those kinds of things...
I worked out before my class today, and had to contemplate if I wanted to eat my apple as a post workout snack. I opted not to. I decided to wait... I knew I was going to be hungry again come 2-3 pm. My glycogen stores will just not be prime today. Maybe tomorrow I will have to eat breakfast after I work out instead of before?
Lunch:
Pumpkin soup: (Click me for recipe)! It was so tasty... except the microwave was broken at school, so I ate it cold. None-the-less, it was filling and held me over for the next 3 hours.
Thank you to my friends in Haiti for teaching me to make this!!!
I drank a lot of water today. Well, actually no more than usual. Filling up my bottle really made me think.... you know, I am privileged to have access to clean drinking water and a BPA-free water bottle that gets cleaned in a dish washer. I am able to drink water that's CLEAN.. for free. I just kept thinking about what my (soon-to-be) sister-in-law was telling me about the water in El Paso, Texas. People can't drink out of the faucet. Water is muck brown and people get sick if they drink it. So what do they do? They have to buy water. Yeah, and mind you many of these people are not rolling in dough... This is something I take for granite EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don't have to make a decision between water or food.
SNACK:
Just what I needed.... Something naturally sweet and chrunchy! Hmmm mmm
Dinner:
Well, I came home and was hungry. So I ate a small bowl of pumpkin soup.... (that soup will be never ending. I might have to freeze it by Wednesday). And I got to work on my master piece of a dinner.
I found the recipe first at the No Meat Athlete. And then followed his link to the burger recipe here: Lentil Burgers.
What did I do to modify my burgers?
1 cup lentils (40 cents)
1 1/2 cups oats (24 cents)
2 carrots (16 cents)
1 cup or so of spinach/ kale (25 cents)
A dash of garlic and basil (???)
....and then followed the instructions on the original recipe.
I contemplated topping them off with a little tomato paste, but decided to save that for the end of the week. I have some other creations up my sleeve!
Total cost of one burger?
Hmm its about 15 cents. THE DOLLAR MENU HAS NOTHING ON ME!
Seriously, sometimes I think I eat like a queen.
I served my lentil burger on a bed of spinach with some roasted garlic squash and broccoli on the side. Nom Nom NOm..
And did I mention, I have six of these left in my possession! Looks like I can eat a vegg burger every single day of my SNAP challenge if I really want to! Maybe I will have to have friends over for dinner on Sunday to eat veggie burgers to celebrate the end of a successful week.....
Life is NOT boring eating plant-based on a budget!
Oh and about these little buggers....
Yeah, like I always say: SAVE THOSE SEEDS. I roasted up the seeds from my squash this evening, and will be using them for some snacks throughout the week. Seriously, squash has to be the world's perfect food; starchy vegetable rich in vitamin C, beta carotene .. (that's just to name a few)... and packed with a center of proteins and fat (THE SEEDS).
So how much money did I spend on food today?
That's to be continued... time to get some actual homework done!
SNAP, commonly referred to as "Food Stamps", is the supplemental nutrition assistant program for individuals and families living below the poverty line in America. It's been a hot debate in the political arena over the past few months (google it and learn for yourself). My dietetics practice group Hunger and Environmental Nutrition (HEN) has proposed a challenge for dietitians to step-up and take the "SNAP Challenge" in response to the recent budget cuts in the program.
So what exactly is the "SNAP Challenge" and why did I decide to participate?
Well, the "SNAP challenge" is an attempt to mimic what it would be like to live on food assistance for one week (however, participants on the challenge can go longer if they desire). The maximum allowance of spending is $4 a day (or $28/ week) for one person. I found these links to be helpful at explaining it: FRAC, South Arizona Community Food bank .
I decided to participate in the challenge for several reasons. The most predominant reason being that I care about people living on a dime and believe all people should have access to healthy, wholesome food. Secondly, experiencing what many Americans (and people around the world) face on a day to day basis (Will there be enough? How can I make this food stretch? What if it goes bad? ) will help me be a better health professional. Yeah, this is only a one week experience (for now), but it sheds light on risks, barriers, and potential solutions for helping those living with food insecurity obtain optimal health. Finally, watching "A Place at the Table" in one of my public health courses really got my wheels rolling.... Here, take a sneak peak.
I spent a few hours over the weekend, thinking.... thinking about where I wanted to shop for my produce, what I should buy, what I might eat... it was a bit exhausting thinking about how I was going to plan all this. But none-the-less, I continually become more excited to do this when I thought about how creative I can be with my resources and when I saw this: plant-based eating on $25 per week.
Sunday: The day before my challenge.
I did a little more shopping than I think a person on SNAP may actually do in one day, but who knows! I guess it all is relative to where people live and what their situation is like. I hit up 2 grocery stores and the Farmers' Market. It's a bit challenging doing the SNAP for one week only since buying in "bulk" can actually be beneficial for saving money (like buying a large bag of dried beans for the month). If I were doing this on a month-by-month basis, I would hope to stock-up on dried beans at the start of each month. The same goes for things like peanut butter and oatmeal. Those two staples, based on how I eat, would last me more than a week. But anyways.. maybe that will be experiment two. Eating like this for a whole month.
My list
For my first stop for food, I decided to go to Aldi.
The website featured some incredibly low prices on food. I happened to be in the area, so I dropped in. It was a little goofy... I had to put a quarter in to get a cart, but thankfully that was returned to me afterwards.
The store was nicer than I expected. A lot of things I was not interested in.... like the packaged process stuff, but did find some cheap deals on bananas, apples, and produce. It was difficult trying to decide what I wanted to buy.. frozen or fresh? Canned or fresh? Do I want more fruit or more vegetables? Do I really want to spend $1 on a small container of blackberries? It took a bit of time contemplating these things... a bit stressful trying to keep track of prices so that I wouldn't go over my "limit." I purposely spent under $20, knowing that I was going to be going to the Farmers' Market.
My final total at Aldi's was $14.91...leaving me with a $10 or so to spare on food else where.
3 tomato past, 4 pounds of carrots, 7 bananas, 6 apples, broccoli, 8 sweet potatoes, blackberries, spinach, 30 servings of oats, 2 zucchini, and 1 cucumber.
With the remainder of my money, I bought a few things at the Farmers' Market... like this fancy, ginormous "banana squash" for $2, a large head of Kale for $1, and a large cabbage for $1.
Accepting EBT (aka SNAP)
so much cheap kale!!!!
bigger than my head!
Enough squash for the week!
It was also my birthday... and my mom bought be some cabbage flowers! :) (this doesnt count for my SNAP budget)
Most beautiful flower, EVER. (and edible).
On my way home from the Farmers' Market, my mom and I went to a co-op and I picked up some lentils, tofu, a small bag of popcorn, and flax milk for $7. I saved 10 cents since I used a reusable bag! :) (Don't forget to bring those....)
I am a coffee lover and will be drinking it throughout the challenge. I am also factoring this into my total allowance of $28. There is NO way I will get through 30 servings of oatmeal in one week (I guess, if I am REALLY hungry I could eat 3+ servings per day... in addition to all my other food). And I don't think I will go through one of my $3.50 bags of coffee from Haiti in one week (but I guess who knows... maybe it will be a rough week). So it could also be considered an exchange between my coffee and the oats? Other "freebies" I will be doing this week include spices: pepper, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, and some italian.
Upon returning home from the store, I started making my first meal--- need to pack lunch for school on Monday! What did I make?!
PUMPKIN SOUP, of course!!
I only used 1/2 of my pumpkin, 1/4 of my cabbage, 1/2 of a zucchini, 3 carrots, 1 cup spinach, and 1-2 cups kale... and LOOK AT ALL THIS SOUP! Might last me two...three... four meals! Maybe this will even be a snack one day? Don't worry, I also saved my pumpkin seeds! I am planning on either making some sort of dip with them or making pumpkin seeds to munch on when I am hungry!
Other things I am planning to make this week: lentil and sweet potato dish of some sort, maybe some lentil oat burgers with sweet potato fries, creamy tomato soup (made with tofu and canned tomato)... hmmm we'll see how creative I can get! Stay tuned!
And these.... well, the rest of my birthday "cake" is going in the freezer until AFTER my challenge week. Seriously, these were amazing!!!! Recipes Here: Chocolate Cream Pie Banoffe Pie
