Okay...heres the 6 week long service project. Bring your questions to the meeting tomorrow and hopefully you will chose to participate...and even recruit others. What goes through your mind when you think hunger? Dictionary defines it as: 1. A compelling need or desire for food. 2. The painful sensation or state of weakness caused by need of food 3. A shortage of food; famine 4. A strong or compelling desire or craving You will see that hunger doesnt just mean not having food...or enough money for food....but hunger is a need or desire for food. Hunger can be caused by varied physical illnesses that can be difficult to control. It can be a diet so limited that you crave food...but cant eat it. One of these diseases is known as Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE / EoE) - that effects the esophagus - or Eosinophilic Gastro-Intestinal Disorder (EGID) – (apfed.org/drupal/drupal/what_is_eoe) that effects the entire digestive system. Research has found that there are 6 food groups that seem to be the main players in this train wreck. These are: Dairy, eggs, nuts, soy, wheat, and seafood. You need a degree just to figure out what foods to eat! Shopping has takes on a whole new meaning, reading the tiny print on every ingredient label before it goes into the basket. Finding that the safe menu you THOUGHT you made...now ends up being an assortment of foods that no longer fit into a meal. A simple salad becomes a disaster. Grilled cheese, PBJ, scrambled eggs, canned soup, Chinese food, eating out at a restaurant, candy bars (because if you read the package - most say processed on nut contaminated machinery), ketchup, mayonnaise, the list goes on and on. This becomes difficult for many reasons: 1) the time to figure it all out, 2) the patience, 3) affording what can eat 4) trying to read all the labels and praying everything has been disclosed thats important. So, since empathy (putting one’s self in another’s place as to understand their emotions)is something important that we all possess, Id like to issue a challenge for 6 weeks. There would be 2 different levels to the challenge...and it would be an honor system event. I want to see who is interested in walking in another’s shoes for 6 weeks. This challenge would be from October 13 - November 19 (so everyone would be off of it before Thanksgiving). You have to be in good health and the elimination of these foods cannot be detrimental to your health. If you find that elimination of the foods interferes with your education, stop - and document why you stopped and how you felt. The elimination schedule would be: Week 1 - Soy Week 2 - Nuts Week 3 - Seafood Week 4 - Eggs Week 5 - Wheat Week 6 - Dairy You will be required to post on our Misericordia Social Work group Hunger Challenge Blog not just of what you ate, but of what you had to eliminate - and how difficult it was to eliminate this...or...of foods that you had to eliminate that you had no idea had that item in them...that you had to eliminate. How did this make you feel? Level 1: Each week, one of the 6 groups listed above would be eliminated from your diet. So week 1, youd eliminate SOY...but week 2...you can add SOY back to your diet, but must eliminate NUTS. Level 2: Each week, one of the 6 groups is eliminated...and you build on it the next week. SO - Week 1 - SOY is eliminated. Week 2 - Soy AND nuts. Week 3 - Soy, nuts, and seafood Week 4 - Soy, nuts, seafood, and eggs Week 5 - Soy, nuts, seafood, eggs, and wheat Week 6 - Soy, nuts, seafood, eggs, wheat, and dairy Those doing the challenge are also welcome to come to Social Work Club meetings and share their experience at the meetings. On Tuesday, November 15th at 5:00, we will arrange a meeting (location to be determined according to number of participants) so that everyone can shares their experience. It will be interesting to have the support and find out who can stick it out with me....and if you learn to redefine hunger.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 00:12:43 +0000