Health is More Than a Diet

Health is More Than a Diet

Oct 19, 2021

I wouldn't say my first week has been the most successful in the hunt for how to survive in poverty and remain healthy. But I will say that I cooked a couple decent meals from my pantry hunts. Otherwise, my primary focus has been getting everything into the SNAP offices, which is always a fun thing. "You must call by 10/16, but the earliest time we have available for anyone to call is 10/18". And even MORE paperwork, fun fun fun.

But let's pretend I wasn't trying to get some assistance for cash, what do I purchase regularly? I try to go for the meats on sale or the cheapest burger available, which tends to mean high fat. Our local grocery store has a BOGO bin that I am fond of clearing out. Granted, it never has any variety and only ever has 4-6 packages, but I go for that baby. I also look out for sales. We can't afford to be picky in this house. Next week on my shopping trip, I will be pricing fruits and veggies but poor man style.

As we all know, though, health is more than just the food we put into our bodies. This week I will bring to attention a very common problem with an expensive solution that I could not get. I needed the ever fun chiropractor! Had (and still slightly have) a crick in my neck for over two weeks now and thought, "I'm covered under a decent health insurance through the state, surely they'll help me fix this problem because that would lead to me being a more productive member of society." To no one's surprise, at least not mine, they only covered adjustments for those younger than 21. If you don't know me, know this... I am a decent bit past 21.

Now, I don't know the specific inner-workings of an insurance company or how much say a business gets in whether or not they can accept a specific insurance, so I can't say for sure who here is at fault. But I can say this, as a person who is both expected to and desires to continue to contribute to society, one would think that having insurance would cover the basics to allow me to be in the work force. The very first time my back went out, I couldn't find a chiropractor to take my insurance, but I was also unable to move off of my bed. So I was forced to take a week off of work PLUS pay nearly $700 in fees to get my back fixed. At your typical bottom-rung job, one doesn't even MAKE $700 in a week. And paid sick days? Oh heck no. Or if I did have them, I would have had to be in the business for 3-4 years to have a full week off paid.

So, as a poor person, what do I do? I already can't afford the $700, and I definitely can't lose the $6-700 I'm losing by not working the week. To answer the question of what we poor people do, we skip a few meals. We decide that bill A won't be shut off if we miss it for a month as long as we pay just a little extra on it for the next 2-3 years just to catch up. We work and extra shift or so even though it cuts into the time we would normally get with our kids! (For those of us who have them...)

Health in poverty means so much more than eating healthy, which is a difficult enough task on it's own. More so if the individual has special dietary needs. It means wondering if you can afford to fix that abscessed tooth or if you shouldn't just pull it out with a pair of pliers and swish hydrogen peroxide for the next several days all while working through excruciating pain. It means having to wait until you are so sick that the hospital can't turn you away (let's be real, you couldn't take work off if it were any less serious...) and then wonder if you can afford to add the bill to your finances. It's an epidemic of mental health issues because deep down, we all desire some basic things and our "First World Society" denies us these things. Humans are not meant to sleep, work, and then die and that's our whole life.

If you are lucky enough to be middle class or even upper lower class, there's a chance that you are able to take care of some of these needs, but even they suffer. We are not machines, but I have learned that the working man, the poverty class, is nothing more than rusty cogs in a poorly cared for machine.

I had more points to touch on, but it is bedtime for littles and it's an issue tonight. So I'm not sure where I was going with it. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

Enjoy this post?

Buy Courageous Victory Creations a coffee

More from Courageous Victory Creations