Variety is the Spice of life....and....

Thousands of people are starting their live below the line experience today and first of all I want to wish them all the very best of luck.

I am starting on Wednesday, which is explained in previous blog posts. But I am so aware looking at my twitter page in particular how difficult people are finding day 1, and its only lunch time. I am going to go shopping tomorrow and get organised, but I have done this challenge in the past and I know how difficult its going to be. I was aware eating my egg and bagel this morning how privileged my breakfast was, given that the bagel would have been about 25p and the egg 9p if from a caged hen...which mine are not! Then the butter, say another 1p, then milk and coffee...before I even think about it my breakfast costs almost 40p, from Wednesday that will be nearly half of my total daily allowance, and I am already hungry again!

So a few plans are developing...first of all I am probably going to have to go cold turkey with the coffee and stick to tea were I can as the tea bags work out much cheaper. I am also going to have to put my ethical shopper to one side. Not only is fair-trade unaffordable I will have to compromise on other things as well. Like my aforementioned eggs, I only ever buy free range but when every penny counts and eggs will probably be my only source of protein this week then I am going to have to go for budget caged, and the thought makes me a little sick.

Being restricted in meal choices, in the quality of food you can buy, is one of the points of the live below the line challenge. Its not just about trying to get the best deals, no matter how creative you are, how much you can get for every penny, you are still severely restricted in your choice. Variety and quality are compromised over quantity.

Now you may think that this is not important to the starving. Who cares what you are eating as long as you are eating. Well first of all as I noted eggs will probably be my only source of protein, which is also found in white meat like chicken and fish, which I can't afford. Now I am no dietician, but years of diet plans has taught me something (thankfully, as I have yet to gain anything else from them barr more weight...) is that protein is very, very, good for you! Protein is actually our best source of energy and builds muscles. So when you don't have enough...you get fatigued, you burn more energy than your eating, which causes weight loss, and if you aren't building muscle...you're burning it.

Variety is more than the "spice of life", its a necessity!