sorta OT - sometimes it's really hard to eat healthy when you're poor

I don't mean sorta poor, but really poor.  I never have a lot of money, but most of the time, I can afford healthy food.  I usually have stuff like almond milk and Greek yogurt in my fridge.  I don't buy a whole lot of processed food, and stuff like dried beans are actually super cheap.  In the summer, I bought a lot of seasonal local produce from local farm stands and I even canned some stuff.  That was cheap.

This month has been tough for me, though.  I had to have a lot of dental work done and my cat, who has cancer, had to go to the vet.  So I am really short of cash for the next couple weeks.  So today I went to a local food pantry for some groceries.  I am really grateful programs like this exist, but... well, a lot of what you get is not healthy.  I got Fig Newtons and Poptarts and Teddy Grahams and couple different kinds of cookies.  That might be great for someone with kids but it's not so great for a RNY post-op.  I also got bread (some really yummy rosemary olive oil bread, like from a bakery), Great Grains cinnamon hazelnut protein cereal, some green beans and some soup.  So anyway, I'm gonna be eating a lot more carbs than normal for the next couple weeks.

So sorry you are going thru some tough economic times.

I think about how i will be able to afford vitamins and protein powders

in my later years when i am retired, and frankly, it worries me.

The only thing to do is take one step at a time and do the best that you can, which you already are doing.

My thoughts are with you.

Jan

I only spend about $30 a month on vitamins and I buy them when I can get them on sale, so fortunately I'm stocked up on those for a while.  I can get enough protein without protein shakes, although I have protein powder right now and will probably be relying on it for the next couple weeks while i'm eating low protein carby stuff.  things will be better in a few weeks.

It is hard...I am right there with ya....I rely on protein shakes a lot, and drink water before I eat a meal so I feel full. Food banks out here have lots of stuff with high fructose corn syrup...I started growing my own veggies in little pots in my apartment...pretty much everything can grow in containters...there are blueberries and all kinds of fruits that can be bought from seeds and grown...not an instant solution, but one long term...and of course, dried beans...but how many ways can a person spell ham hocks, right...:) hang in there....

I just noticed your ticker. Oh Em Gee! I am so totally blown away with the amount of weight you have lost! Seriously, you are my hero!

I noticed you are having a revision, why?

Well... quite simply; it didn't work. LapBands work for some but they require the most amount of self-discipline (basically it's just a diet), take the longest amount of time to lose the weight, and have the lowest success rate. In other words it's a tool that did not work for me. That said, for some people it definitely does work - and I'm sincerely very happy for them - but for me - and many on this site - they don't work. Also, I feel I was "sold" on this as a less invasive, reversible (which it is not - although it is revisable - hence my upcoming surgery), and therefor safer. I now know better and wish I had listened to the numerous people on this website telling me years ago not to do it and to do the RNY first. I was intimidated by the magnitude of the operation, so I went the less-scary route. Wish I hadn't.

I'm sorry your having a rough time.  It sucks! You seem to have a plan.  How about eggs, their not too expensive? Good luck to you. 

Yes, it IS difficult to eat a healthy diet when money is extremely limited. I often see people with the food assistance cards buying nothing BUT processed crap, and I understand needing to buy something for dinner for the whole family instead of fresh vegetables, but I always feel sad for the kids and wonder how long it has been since they have had fresh fruit.

One of the post-op surprises for me is how little my food budget decreased, and it is because I buy less processed stuff and more "whole" foods which are more expensive. By the time I add vitamins (whi*****ludes the pricey calcium chews) and the occasional protein powder for my morning hot chocolate, I spend just as much as I did before surgery.

I'm sorry you have such limited options for a couple of weeks, but you seem pretty creative about food so hopefully you can minimize the carb intake.

Hang in there.

Lora

If you have time to cook from scratch, you can get pretty healthy stuff on a limited budget.  I mean, dried beans are super cheap.  Seasonal produce is pretty affordable and frozen veggies aren't that expensive.  It's a lot cheaper to buy some potatoes and peel and slice them and make your own fries than to buy frozen french fries, for instance. 

I think a lot of people on food assistance eat a lot of processed crap for the same reasons people not on food assistance do.  It's quick, it's easy, and a lot of it tastes good.  And yeah, sometimes it's cheaper than eating healthy food, but not always.

My food budget didn't really go down much.  I eat less in volume, but more high quality stuff, overall.