It's been 7 days and I've consumed approximately $14 worth of food. I didn't pass out, I wasn't too grumpy, I didn't think about food all the time. I think my mental preparation helped me get through this week. And the fact that it is a temporary situation also probably helped me endure the long afternoons with no snack, and going to bed a little bit hungry.
I found myself constantly thinking - I'm hungry: I'll have some crackers when I get home; I'm hungry: I'll have a bowl of ice cream for dessert; I'm hungry - I should eat something; I'm hungry: what sounds good to eat? These are normal issues that I think about all the time, and am able to address by eating. This week, though, I experienced a little bit of what it's like not to have that option. To not have something to eat when you feel hungry.
Because I wasn't eating a wide variety of food I did experience some, uh, issues. These almost made me through in the towel and drink a large glass of fruit juice or have a salad. But then I realized that the whole point of the $2 challenge is to experience what it's really like to only have $2 to eat a day. So I suffered (mildly) through it - (ok, I did eat half of a small apple one evening!) I'm sure my body would get used to this food schedule if I continued it long enough, but my body definitely gave me signs that it was not completely happy with what I was (or wasn't) putting in it.
For the rest of lent, I am going to try to allocate about $1 for breakfast and $1 for lunch, and eat a normal dinner. No food purchased from a restaurant (except for on my sister's birthday and for ice tea when I am trying to be social) or coffeeshop. I realize that I might have to be lenient on this one - after all, relationships are more important than my lenten practice, and if the only way to spend time with someone is at a restaurant, we'll see what happens! I'm hoping to stay focused on my lent goal of not relying on food throughout the day, but then be able to eat a normal meal in the evening.
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