1 in 5 Cannot Afford to Eat

We cannot thank Allie enough for today’s guest post. I personally was raised by a single mother who struggled to make ends meet. Fortunately for me, my mom made patronizing thrift stores, going to yard sales, and couponing fun. I remember we had a “game” where we took a calculator with us to the store to see if we could keep the cart under a certain amount. I caught my mom in a lie to a cashier once and accidentally outed her, as she attempted to float a check at the grocery store (knowing they wouldn’t deposit it until her actual pay day).

But all of these experiences made me who I am today. I like to give back and help where I can, saving money on buying used, and admittedly spoil my children in ways that I wish I’d had as a kid. Our family is part of the extremely fortunate few in this country, we can buy almost anything we want (if we plan a little) – including most importantly, high quality food.

Accordingly, when it comes to figuring out how to manage Paleo on a tight budget, I’m no expert. I’ve shared a bit of my knowledge on The Live Love Eat podcast in regards to WIC. I have experience from LLL with coaching breastfeeding mothers through their process, as WIC is a wonderful resource for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, but that’s about all I know.

It is SUCH an important topic. One the community needs to understand. A topic we should all care about, talk about and want to DO something about. I just didn’t know how to get good information out there.

So when Allie, a member of our Facebook page, agreed to write a guest blog in response to our update of “It needs to become a priority for the US to re-prioritize how we subsidize and nourish those who struggle to put food on the table” linking to In The U.S., 1 in 5 Can’t Afford To Eat Every Day, I was thrilled.

Allie is a mother, striving to achieve the health benefits of paleo, while also struggling with how to do so on an extremely limited budget. I sincerely hope that as you read this it helps you in a few ways:

  1. You understand the enormous challenge of overcoming this system for health, wellness & nutrition for the entire country
  2. You come away with the ability to educate those around you on the importance of this topic
  3. You have some ideas of how you can help

Four years ago when we had one child, two incomes, and no known food sensitivities, stories like the one Matt & Stacy posted would have been completely off my radar.  But then my husband’s hours at work got cut and I was laid off.  Then I got a new job and found myself pregnant again in less than a year.  About the time we became pregnant with our third child, my husband finally found a new job—after nearly two years of cutbacks and filling out job applications—and I found myself as a stay-at-home-mom.

Like many growing families, we had weighed the cost of working with daycare vs. staying home, and found that leaving my job was far less expensive than working to keep 3 kids in daycare.

When I quit working we moved to a small town to be closer to my husband’s new job.  We settled in and I started noticing things about my older son that I’d never seen before.  The eczema he’d had since he was 6 months old was getting worse, and managing his violent tantrums was taking over most of my day.  I felt like I was losing touch with my son at a time when we should have been growing closer.

I read everything I could about food allergies and sensitivities to see if I could find a trigger for his eczema.  Fast forward through negative allergy testing, numerous consultations and ineffective medications, and what felt like a never-ending cycle of trial and error with detecting food sensitivities.  Finally a friend recommended the “Paleo” diet.

Once again, I started reading everything I could find.  The science behind the Paleo diet made sense.  Somewhere along the way I stumbled upon the PaleoParents blog, I felt like my prayers for my son had been answered.  The stories they shared about their boys helped me to see my little guy in a different way.

I shared some articles with my husband, and we began to apply some of the methods: we cut out grains and dairy, dumped artificial food additives, incorporated more lean meats and good fats.  We saw major improvement in the health of the whole family in just a few weeks, and I wasn’t spending all day managing violent tantrums.  Things were going great!

Right about that time we realized that we were running out of savings.  The necessary dietary changes had taken a major toll on our grocery bill. I took myself, my older boy, and our newest son in to sign up for the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) supplemental food program.

Because my son’s allergy testing had come up negative we were encouraged to follow the WIC recommendations. Basically, the Food Pyramid we all grew up with.  In no time, my boy got worse.  He became moody again and violent, had 45-60 minute screaming tantrums.  Sometimes I had to spend 10-15 minutes just trying to make eye contact with him or get a verbal response other than crying.  We learned quickly that following the WIC guidelines would not work for us.

My son (and to a lesser extent, me and my other two children) is gluten sensitive, egg sensitive, has violent reactions to corn, and cannot handle artificial anything (sweeteners, colors, flavors, preservatives).  While he doesn’t have life-threatening allergies or celiac disease, we’ve been strongly advised by three physicians to avoid eggs, grains, gluten, artificial additives, and to limit dairy.  On WIC we have a few choices, but for the most part it’s grain- and dairy-heavy.

We are extremely grateful that there IS such a thing as the WIC program available to families like ours:  but it’s so limiting for us at the same time.  WIC helps quite a bit with covering groceries, but the food items allowed are things that we shouldn’t be eating. A typical WIC shopping trip for us might include the following:

  • 2 gallons of milk (1% or Skim—the baby gets Whole milk until he turns two)
  • 1 dozen eggs
  • 1 lb either brown rice or oatmeal
  • 1 lb either dry beans or lentils
  • 2 boxes of breakfast cereal (sugar-sweetened and colored cereals are excluded, “whole grains” encouraged)
    2 cans frozen concentrated juice
  • $6 worth of fruit or vegetables (can be fresh, frozen or canned)

For the three of us on the program, we are given one check each similar to what’s shown above, plus one more with milk, rice or oatmeal and cheese, and a third with just milk.  Both boys are allowed $6 a month for fruit and vegetables and, being pregnant with our fourth child, I am allowed $10 per month.  Once I start nursing my baby, I’ll be given a limited amount of canned tuna or salmon each month.

As you can see from the above, it’s hard to cobble together the nutritious, Paleo-style meals we need.  As I mentioned before, we so are grateful for the help.  The more we learn about our son’s food sensitivities, though, the more convinced we are that cutting out grains, dairy and possibly beans/legumes will be the best options for maintaining everyone’s health.  This means more out of our pockets, though.

Please understand, also, with the exception of high-speed internet (a necessity, since we’re homeschooling), we don’t have tons of expenses.  Rent, utilities, insurance, gas for our (paid off) vehicles, and groceries are pretty much it.  We don’t take vacations, we rarely eat out, we shop for clothes second-hand.

All this is not to garner sympathy.  We’re actually pretty content with used cars, clothes, and entertaining ourselves at home, we just really don’t have much money to live on right now.  We could go ahead and cut our grocery budget further, live on ramen noodles and hot dogs and canned peaches, but at what cost?  Either we pay at the grocery store and stay healthy, or we give in to cheap food and pay at the pharmacy and the doctor’s office.

So you might wonder as Stacy and Matthew have, what can you do about helping families in need get real food?  I have a few ideas.

First, write to your legislators and state health departments.  These are the folks who, along with the American Academy of Pediatrics, decide which foods are available to families on the WIC program.  The folks spearheading the programs need to be made aware of the positive benefits of the Paleo lifestyle, and of the need for better quality food for struggling families.

Many of you know someone with Celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, autism or ADD/ADHD.  What you may not know yet is that people with these conditions are seeing improved health when they adopt the Paleo lifestyle![1][2][3]

  • 1 of every 133 people in the USA have celiac disease[4]
  • “According to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the incidence of an autism spectrum disorders diagnosis is 10 times more likely than it was 10 years ago. Currently, one out of every 110 children is considered to have some form of autism. Many experts believe that number may continue to rise. The rising rates of autism are being reported worldwide.”[5]
  • (From a survey) “Parents report that approximately 9.5% or 5.4 million children 4-17 years of age have ever been diagnosed with ADHD, as of 2007.”[6]

You have probably also read about or even seen positive changes in your own homes with regard to weight loss, disease reversal and symptom relief for those who live with diabetes, inflammatory conditions and more.  These are the things that our leaders and decision-makers need to know!

Another way to help is to get involved in your community.

  • If you garden, share produce with your local food shelf:  they’re usually willing to take whatever you have that’s fresh!
  • Start, or volunteer at, a community garden.
  • Talk about the Paleo lifestyle with strangers at the supermarket.
  • If you’re Paleo bloggers like Matthew and Stacy, get in touch with your local Community Education groups, natural food co-ops, or even local high school health teachers, and give a seminar on the health benefits of a Paleo lifestyle.

Share this information with your friends, too!  Let them know how they can make a difference in their communities.  You never know—you may need food assistance one day, too.

[1] Paleo Diet for ADHD  http://www.livestrong.com/article/412178-paleo-diet-for-adhd/

[2] Real life testimonial: Scarlet’s turnaround (Autism & Paleo)

http://robbwolf.com/2011/05/23/real-life-testimonial-scarlets-turnaround-autism-paleo/

[3] The Paleo Diet & Celiac Disease http://paleodietnews.com/2254/the-paleo-diet-celiac-disease/

[4] “Tell Me What To Eat If I Have Celiac Disease: Nutrition You Can Live With”, by Kimberly A. Tessmer,  RD, LD

[5] BrightTots: Autistm Rates http://www.brighttots.com/Autism/Autism_rates_information.html

[6] CDC: ADHD, Data & Statistics http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html

 

Allie is a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom to three sweet kids–who are learning to eat like dinosaurs–and has been married to Steve for 11 years.  They live in a small river town in MN, and are looking forward to welcoming a new baby in February.

 

About Stacy

Stacy Toth has written 308 post in this blog.

Stacy is the matriarch of the Paleo Parents family. After beginning a paleo diet and founding PaleoParents.com in 2010, she lost 135 pounds and found health and happiness for the whole family. The following three years have been a progressive journey with a mission to educate people about nourishing their bodies by eating real foods. Stacy can be found on all forms of social media as @PaleoParents as well as the top-rated The Paleo View Podcast and her two cookbooks, Eat Like a Dinosaur and Beyond Bacon.

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  • Bonnie

    I have tears in my eyes as I read this. We were just about set to try and start following some Paleo principles in our life when we realized we just can’t do it right now. We are very overweight (DH and myself) but I don’t even have money to buy the gas to get to the grocery store let alone healthy foods at the moment. We are so, so, very grateful for WIC, food pantries, and the free lunch program at my oldest’s son school. But we are also at their mercy. They have helped to sustain us but our supplies are very carb heavy. At a time that we wanted to eliminate grains (especially) we have had to become grain-dependent (pasta and rice is a lot cheaper than meat). My husband works 50+ hours/week and we live very conservatively but since we are the owners of the company, we get paid last – if we get paid at all. We know that we will not be in this situation forever and I look forward to the day that we can give back to others and begin to eat “clean.” Until then, I keep reading and learning so when some day comes, we can do it fast!

    Here’s an observation I made yesterday while in line at the food bank…the general population is so “down” on those that are fat and unhealthy and feel that it is because they make poor food choices. Let me share that there were few skinny people in line for food any of the times I’ve gone for assistance. When you can’t afford food, you eat what you can get – which isn’t always what is best for your health.

    • Sarah

      I tried to reply yesterday and I don’t think it went through… I had a lot to say, but the first would be to research WAPF principals on properly preparing grains and legumes–lots of cultures have been making the best of non-optimal food sources for thousands of years through soaking, fermenting, etc.! Rice and lentils with caramelized onions cooked in lots of healthy fat was one of my favorite cheap, nourishing meals before I went completely grain-free.

    • Bronwyn

      My reply yesterday was lost too :( I just wanted to say how saddened I am for you. I live in Australia and here we have a pretty good social welfare system. Good enough that it is at least possible for us, with a fair bit of effort, to eat well even when we are on welfare. It must be so hard in the US.

      I replied yesterday saying that one thing that had helped me so much, before I’d even heard of paleo, was getting rid of sugar from my diet. I realise this would be still really hard with food programs, and probably impossible with school lunches, but… I just thought I’d mention it as it was so beneficial for me in terms of health and weight loss. There is a book by an Australian author called Sweet Poison, and in it he describes how fructose (regular sugar is 50/50 fructose/glucose) is so damaging to us and also messes with our natural appetite control. It was so helpful for me and I lost weight without otherwise changing my diet.

      Anyway, I am happy to provide more info if it would be helpful for anyone. I really feel for you and I hope that some changes can be made that will help everyone get access to the food that they need for good health.

      • http://PaleoParents.com Stacy & Matt

        I don’t know why, but Disqus keeps marking all these long replies as spam, so I have to manually approve each one. Sorry for the delay!

  • http://www.facebook.com/sharee.garza Sharee Garza

    We are in pretty much the same boat. I have two kids and am pregnant with #3 and we are in the WIC program. Before going paleo it was just me and my older son and the program helped us out so much, but it was the kind of food we ate. I went paleo in 2008 and it was no longer beneficial to us. I developed this aversion and disgust with the food and refused to eat it or feed it to my son. In 2011 my daughter was born and I found myself unable to breast feed and jobless for the first time in my life. Formula is EXPENSIVE so once again we went to WIC. My boyfriend works and I stay home with the kids. He also is not as strict as I am with the food so he eats the WIC foods. I have no idea how the govt thinks a one year old and one adult can consume 61/2 gallons of milk in a month or that 16$ of fruit and veggies is supposed to last a month for that matter. It seems like they have everything backward. You would think that since they promote eating healthy they would know the dangers of packaged food and promote less processed foods. Thank you for covering this. I always feel a little akward in the forums when people are saying things like “paleo isn’t expensive” because for us it honestly is.

  • Nicole

    Yes feeding a family an appropriately healthy is a real challenge even without overly restrictive budget constraints. It saddens me when reading books like Omnivore’s Dilemma and the like detailing the subsidies given to grain, corn, and soy manufacturers. However, it makes me angry when we see real life people struggling to feed their families and they are forced to eat food that lobbyist have paid off assorted government officials to promote. Thanks for the great post. You have inspired me to do more to help not just my own family be healthy, but many more. Good luck with the pregnancy!

  • http://twitter.com/healthyMOchick Jenny

    Allie you are fantastic. It’s wonderful to know that other parents out there are having the same issues as myself. I would rather pay the money (as little as I have) like you and keep my kid healthy than knowingly put the junk into them that will poison their body! Thank you for voicing this and for your suggestions.

  • http://www.facebook.com/linda.dazey Linda Dazey

    I have had to get another job just to pay for our food budget whick is a little less than a third of my income! But i dont have healthcare and drug expenses!

  • Karyn

    We are in a similar situation with five kids and one income. I couldn’t believe how my food budget shot up going paleo – as someone pointed out, I didn’t save money by not buying junk food because I wasn’t buying much to begin with. Here are some ways I have kept the costs down: we buy beef in bulk from a local farmer with our tax refund, use Sam’s Club to buy cheaper produce and meat that is too expensive locally (like whole chickens), check for deals on Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program, raise chickens for “good eggs”, use a lot of chicken stock and eggs since they’re cheaper forms of protein, don’t buy drinks (just drink water), shop at the damaged goods warehouses for things like canned tomatoes, and when I used WIC (we would still qualify but I try not to use it) I would only get the produce and tuna and such (cashiers thought I was goofy). I don’t think WIC’s selections will change anytime soon since the worker said it was a big deal getting them to give out the fresh produce vouchers. Also, try to keep in mind that this food is more nutrient dense – we don’t need to eat as much of it. A couple of eggs fill bellies better than a couple of bowls of cereal. Yes, I feel bad for not buying free range chickens and organic produce, but I figure that conventional paleo food is better than organic pop tarts, or whatever. Thanks for this post – at least I don’t feel so alone!

  • NJ Paleo

    Thank you so much for sharing this — it is not something I have thought about before, I’m ashamed to say. Eating paleo is expensive — I know people argue that it saves money in the long run, which is probably true, but week to week as I am purchasing the highest-quality foods that I can find, it really does add up. Bread, pasta, beans, rice, and corn are definitely less expensive, which is reflected in my receipts at the end of my shopping each week. I AM paying more. I live in NJ and I noticed that at the farmer’s market many of the vendors of fresh produce do accept WIC. I was happy to see that, but I don’t know if people know about it.
    Education is the key. The current medical establishment is not on board with the paleo diet — my family’s doctors try to discourage it, so I don’t bring it up anymore. My morbidly-obese cancer-surviving mom recently switched to paleo and started losing weight for the first time…ever…and her doctor tried to get my mom to go back to more “traditional” diet! Can you believe it?
    Keep up the good work — as we all will.

  • Dee Dee

    Great topic, so glad to see this post. We too are blessed that we can afford to take the “pay now or pay later” approach. Before I married my husband, I was a divorced single mom of two and I used WIC. When I complained about the amount of milk they gave us (4-6 gallons a month for a 6-yr old and a nursing baby) the counselor offered to exchange it for cheese. While I still couldn’t consume the dairy, it was a much better option for my daughter. Don’t be afraid to ask.

    Depending on where you live, you might be able to take advantage of “Hunters for the Hungry” (www.h4hungry.org). Even Craigslist or local churches might help you connect with a hunter who will give away meat or organs. My husband hunts with friends who enjoy the sport and give us the meat (we eat it ALL) because their families won’t eat it. We don’t waste a scrap of venison, antelope, duck or goose thanks to my crock pot and a meat grinder.

  • JK

    I’m not 100% paleo, a little less so I suppose since we have been getting wic. Fortunately we don’t have dairy issues, so all of those gallons turn into yogurt or kefir, using the babyfood fruits and sweetpotatoes or squash to make different flavors when it is done. (just reuse the individual jars!) Also made super yummy popsicles with baby food too. And apple butter in the crock pot with like 2 dozen applesauce jars. We usually get corn tortillas for the whole grain option, or rice to soak. (With the arsenic warning, it should be soaked and rinsed anyway!) I’m sure all stores are different, but many of the wic foods I get organic or ‘natural’ at my Super Target. I only got Beechnut rice cereal (doesn’t have soy! gluten free!) and used it to ‘cut’ recipes that had flour in them, like pancakes and waffles, so my expensive almond meal and sourghum could go a little further, etc.
    To make the veggies go further, I try to pair it with sales and coupons, so if green giant has such and such and I have coupon, I’d work around that and only get dirty dozen items organic.