Do the Math Challenge, Day 4...

Breakfast: 1 package of maple and brown sugar oatmeal
Lunch: 2 peanut butter sandwiches
Dinner: Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, stuffing, canned vegetables, mashed potatoes), pumpkin pie

The breakfast and lunch meals were the same for today and day 1 and I could really tell a difference. It may be that I didn't push a 3 year old on a swing for 30 minutes, but I definitely was not that hungry all day. I pushed having breakfast until 10 and then had 1 peanut butter sandwich at noon and another at 2 p.m., and I was fine until dinner.

I did feel hungry sometimes, but in general, the pains were way less than what I felt on day 1. So I guess the theory is correct, that your body will feel hungry less often when you condition it to eat less.

The difficulty today was that I had meetings on campus from 10:30-2:30 and didn't feel like packing tuna casserole. I would have had to microwave it and then, it would make the surrounding areas smell fishy. When I have meetings during this period of time, I generally make one of them a meal meeting. So, I told myself that I could survive on oatmeal and 2 peanut butter sandwiches until 7:30.

And I did. I was hungry at around 5, but I had made it that far, so I knew that I could make it for dinner. And it was fun to break the diet with my students, celebrating Thanksgiving.

I am glad that I participated in this challenge. It was hard at times, but it was growthful. It made me realize that I don't think that people who need food from food banks as people. They are just a number, a part of the problem.

I'm now asking what it means to be a part of the solution, to bring justice to those who need it the most.