Thinking about the post I made yesterday, regarding lowcarb on a very tight budget I thought jeez, I have been promoting the lowcarb lifestyle for five years, and it has hardly crossed my mind, people in my own country are going short of food. How many reading this have got some tins of food they will probably never eat taking up space in their kitchen, I know we have. Last winter I thought we may have some shortages in the shops because of bad weather, or we may not be able to get out because of snow. We got some tins of chicken curries and the like, all fairly lowcarb. Time to get them to the nearest food bank I reckon. Checking out the food bank situation I read.
“The Trussell Trust is a Christian charity that does not affiliate itself with any political party and receives no government funding. We are non-judgemental and inclusive, providing assistance to people of all backgrounds and all faiths or none who are found to be in genuine need”
They have a place near you I am sure, if you are in the UK, what about it, get your unwanted grub down there.
Us lowcarbers have fought to promote and encourage others to a healthier way to live for so long, maybe we should count ourselves very lucky we at least have a choice in what we eat. Some people are just glad to have some food, any food. We think of people going short of food or staving happening in some far away country, but this is the UK 2013 and is a complete disgrace, that poor, disabled and disadvantaged people have to rely on charity to not go hungry.
Eddie
The Trussell Trust can be found here.
Please check out our website www.lowcarbdiabetic.co.uk We created and maintain this site without any help from anyone else. In doing so, we do not receive direct or indirect funding from anyone. We do not accept money or favours to manipulate the evidence in any way. Please visit our Low Carb food and recipe blog www.lowcarbdietsandrecipes.blogspot.com
4 comments:
My uncle is unemployed and on benefits, he has to keep his food budget very low. He finds that he doesn't need to eat so much on a low carb diet and gets fatty bacon and meat, which costs a lot less than lean meat. He is 60ish and looking a lot healthier than his 'healthy-eating' brothers and sisters.
A
Thanks for highlighting this Eddie,there is a scheme similar to this one in my area which is struggling as it used to be subsidised by the local council and then had its funding stopped due to austerity measures.We often find ourselves with surplus each year with the buy one get one free deals on tinned foods or food given to us by my mother-in-law who buys FAR too much for one person and send them in to them via my daughters school who are a dropoff point and at christmas we send a box in of assorted long life foods such as baked beans,hot dogs,pot noodles,tinned potatos,rice pudding,tinned soups etc..not my kind of food but means someone far less fortunate than me gets some food in their belly,people can end up in a bad situation through no fault of their own,marriage break up,mental health issues,addiction etc..sometimes it's easy to forget how easy we have it compared to some and we need a reminder sometimes.
Paul
I think this problem must be looked at urgently by the government. As I understand it food parcels are generally only given once, unless this has changed, so people are not able to rely on Food banks feeding their children. They get 3 days supply of food, once, if they are referred by a social worker Dr etc. These are emergency rations only for most people.
At the same time there has always been a need to feed the very poorest homeless, vagrants (many of whom are mentally ill) etc and this has always been done by charities. If the government and changes in other organisations are putting people in this position due to incompetence, short staffing etc then the government has a duty to look at these matters. So often charities are putting a plaster on these situations and governments are allowing them to do so of course. No criticism is intended, naturally, of the charities who do this truly charitable work.
When we read of starvation in other places we understand that although the causes of famine etc are sometimes totally avoidable and down to greed and corruption, the urgent thing is to ensure that people don't starve. The cause can be addressed later.
Same here The Trussell Trust are providing a valuable service. In many cases it should not be necessary. If Doctors Social Workers etc have to refer people to the food bank then this is taking up their time too. If the only reason the person is obliged to call on them is because of some blip in government organisations then the government should make provision for this eventuality and deal with it themselves. They must have to provide evidence of what has gone wrong so they may as well deal with the consequences.
Our Civil service is blamed for everything and most politicians will try to claim credit for cutting their numbers. But so many problems are caused by administrative errors they should rethink this policy, getting it right in the first place would save a great deal of misery.
On a practical and immediate note, supermarkets are the natural collecting points for food donations. I imagine the logistics could be difficult but I am sure many more of us would donate in that way if it were possible.
Kath
We are all guilty at times of thinking about me. We should take time and action our thoughts to talk about those less fortunate. It may be a good idea to use supermarkets as drop off points to donate tins of food and essential household items.
Kay
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