I'm starving, not on purpose, just in a crummy situation

[JennyA]

I lost my job at the persian rug store last week. My final check went right to my roommate for rent. I have zero food in my apartment to eat and haven't for a while now.

I'm drinking a ton of water and some vitamin e oil that i have. I'm not super hungry after the first 4 days or so. Now my stomach feels numb. I eat whenever I get a chance from my neighbor and I'm always looking for food somehow.

I was eating pretty sporadically at the rug store too. A day after a semi came in with rugs I had to keep climbing in and out and for a week after my legs were bruised all over, I'm guessing im malnutritioned.

So I was wondering, what will happen to my body as it gets really nothing from me but water? I know that it will try and horde and food I do eat and turn it into fat.

If I find some way to get a stockpile of food should I start off eating a little at once?

I'm in lakewood, oh. anyone know where i can go to get free food?

Thanks!

oh and my roommate isn't a nice person and definitely won't help. she almost kicked me out because I ate 2 buffalo wings when i was really hungry.

[Longing2be-Trisha]

Hi Jenny!

Well your body will use up all the fat and them start eating up the muscle. Have you applied for food stamps, unemployment, plus any other assistants from the county and state were you live. You could look at local food shelf for food also. I hope everything works out for you.

Hugs

[desa ray]

I am so sorry to hear this :(
try to keep your head up and remember that things will always get better. I know that may seem impossible right now but I promise they will. local churches will usually help if you call. also there is saint vincent de paul, they WILL help you. welfare can issue emergency assistance but you will have to go to there office and apply. I truly hope and pray that your situation improves soon.

huggs
Desa Ray.

[JennyA]

been turned down for food stamps twice. i will start googling lakewood churches.
the thing that is kinda been a bummer is that since i have no food that's all thats on my mind and im not concentrating on anything else or ways to better myself. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs pyramid.

[dilane]

Check out this web page, it also has info on getting emergency food stamps...

http://www.foodstampsnetwork.net/usa-search-result/ohio-foodstamps.html

If you don't have any cash at all, and aren't working, how could you be turned down?
Illegal aliens get food stamps and rent assistance, for criminey sakes!

There are other options, too, check out local churches/archdioces, etc.

-- Diane

[lynn_lynn]

some states are different when it comes to food stamps. In many cases the first denial, is to make sure the person needs them. If they are really trying to get them for no reason/ aka drug money cause they are worth something. you should appeal: as most people trying to obtain them for unjust reasons usually dont go back a second time. But they shouldn't deny you, Im a veteran with means still - though I choose not to work right now for my own reasons. I can get food stamps because I had them 3mth ago..

[cara]

Dumpster dive! A lot of good food is thrown out by restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores everyday.
Cara

[JennyA]

Saw two good things on my walk tonight. Their is a free church dinner at 530 tomorrow. Then I went into the local gay bar for a glass of water. I started up a conversation with the couple next to me. They are two gay guys in a long term relationship. If i can get my phone turned on soon they will give me a ring sometime this week and take me shopping at giant eagle

[Myojine]

Drinking a lot of water will flush nutrients out of you
stop it.

Now i dunno if you saw my threads before
But i was literally starving to death myself
I was malnutritioned and dieing.
I'm pretty much back in the same situation.
I have lived through this and am going through it almost again.

Do you have any money at all?
If not I dunno what you can do other than try to find money.

But when i was in that situation theres something i found out,.
staying alive is a math game.

Bascially match a caloric count with something cheap

This is how im living
Dollar store food
Sugar is cheap
Oatmeal is cheap
Soda is cheap

Sugar is a life blood, I dont know if you know where a dollar tree store is but that is a place you can find some cheap thigns to stay alive.
3Litr of soda is 1$ each
No nutritional value but it is literally pure energy and fat once processed in the body
Grain foods are the same way but fill that hole in your stomach.
You have a computer and net access. Use it.
google maps and look around for stuff around your area that could be potentially positive.
At most grocery stores 10lbs of sugar is 6$ depending on yoru area.
Walmart has a brand now that was around 4.50 when i last saw. I dotn know the brand name.
grain, sugar and starches are the best way to sustain and are usually cheap.
20$ will afford alot for a while but you have to manage.
It REALLY sucks for me to see someone else go through this.

I dont know about recovery though. I know that when i got money again when my boyfriend rescued me i would eat ALOT of dairy. dairy has alot of fat stored in it.
but its expensive.
Whole milk and cheeze... was so good.
Unfortuantely the healthy stuff is pretty expensive.
I really dont know
how hard would ti be to find a new job?
i know we can get discriminated agaisnt, but money is the survival here.
Craigs list might help finding a new place to live but... do you ahve things they dont care about loosing... I mean...
I dont know youre entire situation.

[JennyA]

Thank you for the reply. If I can get my hands on some Oatmeal and peanut butter ill be golden. then ill worry about other nutrients.

but really, i should stop drinking so much water?

[Alexiz]

This is terrible! I'm sorry to hear that you've fallen on such hard times..

I don't particularly have much advice that I can give... other than points out that Myojine has a point. There is a lot of good information there, you should try you best to make the best of it.

It's not recommended, but water and bread can keep me going for long periods of time. Peanut butter is definitely a good way to give yourself nutrients and it digests slowly, so it should keep your hunger at bay for extended periods of time.

I'm sorry I can't offer much help other than that. I really hope things start turning up for the better! Keep your chin up, and I'm sure things will work out just fine.

[Myojine]

Thank you for the reply. If I can get my hands on some Oatmeal and peanut butter ill be golden. then ill worry about other nutrients.

but really, i should stop drinking so much water?

Yes, water is absorbant. drinking a lot of it can flush nutrients out of and cause you to urinate a lot.
Water has no nutritional value what so ever. It's just something your body needs.
You could be flushing potential nutrition out of you.
1 ~2 litre's a day is fine.
Oatmeal sugar bread soda.
Energetic intake is nessisary.
the only problem is that you can only go for so long before youre body becomes seriously malnutritioned
I went for 6months on a diet of soda, koolaid, bread, oatmeal and sometimes bologna
in the end I lost a lot weight and became very malnutritioned.
Although i did become resistant to food that was starting to rot...
starvation will lead to desperation and you'll eventaully learn what the body can really consume and not consume.
Going through stages of starvation will teach you alot about the human form and the way the body reacts to depersation.

I remember days when i was on the street I woudl hang around burger king or the malls food court waiting for lazy peopel to leave their trays there with half eaten food, and then sneek up and swipe it like i was doing the community a favor by cleaning up after lazy people.
... I really dont know what else to say other than you have to learn to survive.

[JennyA]

my plan tomorrow is to walk into some restaurants and just tell the owner my story and ask him for a meal. i'm going to shoplift too, it's really easy, i've had to do it before. i wish i could fall asleep. i've been up all night and my mind wont let my body rest. i think im feeling delirious. i have visions and fantasies of food. i had this awesome dream last night about my sister and i raiding the fridge and looking at all the different items we could eat. i also know i can sell my body on craiglist too, but i don't want to.

[Myojine]

my plan tomorrow is to walk into some restaurants and just tell the owner my story and ask him for a meal. i'm going to shoplift too, it's really easy, i've had to do it before. i wish i could fall asleep. i've been up all night and my mind wont let my body rest. i think im feeling delirious. i have visions and fantasies of food. i had this awesome dream last night about my sister and i raiding the fridge and looking at all the different items we could eat. i also know i can sell my body on craiglist too, but i don't want to.
Don't shoplift if you don't have to.
You're not a minor anymore so you wont get away with a slap on the wrist and a complaint to your parents.
You can get landed with fines, petty/misdemenor larceny, or other theft charges. Not a good idea for a transexual to end up in jail. pretty as we try to, its either isolation/segregation or death/hospitlization by gang rape. 90~180days in an isolation chamber will ****ing drive you nuts, and they WONT put you with the other girls, and even if they did they'd be pretty threatened by you and be very dangerous if not leathal to your existance.
Prostitution isnt a good idea either. thats a whole risk factor that could jepordize your entire transitionin... or get you once again, in jail or worse.
I used to be a kleptomaniac. I know how to walk out of a store with anything pocket sized sometimes more depending on the equipement i have with me. Notably I do still lift things from time to time but its only things that are essential or can be. such as food items and its usually damage stuff thats going to be thrown out.
Getting a job is the best way out of the problem. even if you have to man up to survive.
Dont freak over that comment either. If it must be done to survive it must be done. Unfortunately westerns are a bag of ignorant filth and dont understand the bullshit LGBTQ have to live through.
I don't think that a church or shelter would turn you away but at the same time I was once on the streets myself. Not that hard sometimes dangerous, sometimes cold. but find a metropolis... if you dont have much to loose as in possessions then you mgiht have no choise really.
If it comes to this situation again for me...
I ahve my laptop, i'll have some money stored away to get a storage unit and store my precious computer. i have nothing else thats important. I've been in homeless before, I have my laptop, i woudltn be so bothered to be homeless again except loosing my beautiful computer, which my life revolves around.
I'm sorry but it might seem like admitting defeat but you might have to plan for the worse.
I have, i know i could be on the streets again anytime.

I don't think a shelter would turn you away, other than being physically different than both men and women.
I'd be confusing where to shelter you.
I woudlnt know honestly, I hope you woudltn have to find out either.
It's july 18th... 5/8ths of the month is over.
Im assuming you dont have anymore rent...
God this reminds me of myself... a few months ago
Im concerned... and worried.
Do you mind PMing me where you live? what city and metropolis area you are at?

[JennyA]

Thank you so much for your concern, I PM'ed you.

[danielleb]

As Myojine said, get some sugar into your system! Sugar is required for the brain to function, and when you start to deplete that the body can't convert anything fast enough to keep up and you enter the phase of delerium that you're clearly in. Search out Food Banks on google, they'll keep you going. The longer you let yourself go the more likely you are to make poor decisions, so get yourself to a food bank whatever the cost as a first priority, then worry about everything else.

[JennyA]

i doing ok. i had a neighbor give me a package of poptarts and nutter butters. i wrote emails to everyone i know asking for help. waiting for responses and responses from the applications i put in.

[Schatten Lupus]

Only thing I can really add, is you do need about 64 ounces of water a day. Soda is terribly unhealthy, and SOME sugar is needed, but a soda and sugar diet is simply not sustainable and will be devastating to your bodies organs and blood sugar levels. Oatmeal is good. In your situation fatty foods are also good as it will give your body a boost in energy and a little something to store for later. Depending on your location and knowledge, you may be able to walk around and find wild berries (a much better source of sugar than table sugar) and other plants to eat. One of my friends even picks mushrooms in a city park.
And it sounds barbaric, but fresh road kill (and it is very important that you know it is fresh) can provide some meat.
Other than that, food stamps and reapplying and appealing, food pantries, shelters, various outreach programs, and some places will host dinners for donations. And dumpster diviing at restaurants and grocery stores can provide you with food that is past the sell-by date, which is usually a few days to a week before the actual expiration date.

[Myojine]

Only thing I can really add, is you do need about 64 ounces of water a day. Soda is terribly unhealthy, and SOME sugar is needed, but a soda and sugar diet is simply not sustainable and will be devastating to your bodies organs and blood sugar levels. Oatmeal is good. In your situation fatty foods are also good as it will give your body a boost in energy and a little something to store for later. Depending on your location and knowledge, you may be able to walk around and find wild berries (a much better source of sugar than table sugar) and other plants to eat. One of my friends even picks mushrooms in a city park.
And it sounds barbaric, but fresh road kill (and it is very important that you know it is fresh) can provide some meat.
Other than that, food stamps and reapplying and appealing, food pantries, shelters, various outreach programs, and some places will host dinners for donations. And dumpster diviing at restaurants and grocery stores can provide you with food that is past the sell-by date, which is usually a few days to a week before the actual expiration date.

I woudl be VERY VERY careful of eating fungi. especially because its something that is more often than not, posionous.
Unless you grow mushroomers under a controlled setting, thats a pretty bad idea.
unfortunately most grocery stores had a locked disposal bin these days. I know where I work. we do.

[Schatten Lupus]

I woudl be VERY VERY careful of eating fungi. especially because its something that is more often than not, posionous.
As can many wild berries, which is why having the knowledge of what to look for is important.

[BRANDYJ]

my plan tomorrow is to walk into some restaurants and just tell the owner my story and ask him for a meal. i'm going to shoplift too, it's really easy, i've had to do it before. i wish i could fall asleep. i've been up all night and my mind wont let my body rest. i think im feeling delirious. i have visions and fantasies of food. i had this awesome dream last night about my sister and i raiding the fridge and looking at all the different items we could eat. i also know i can sell my body on craiglist too, but i don't want to.

I'm sorry Jenny, You had my sympathy until I read that you will shoplift and how easy it is and that you did it before. I have to deal with shoplifters in my retail position. They cost my store tons of money which in turn stops pay raises and adds to the cost of goods to honest people. There is never a good reason to be a thief! I was in your place once too. I never resorted to stealing even when I was hungry.

[Myojine]

I'm sorry Jenny, You had my sympathy until I read that you will shoplift and how easy it is and that you did it before. I have to deal with shoplifters in my retail position. They cost my store tons of money which in turn stops pay raises and adds to the cost of goods to honest people. There is never a good reason to be a thief! I was in your place once too. I never resorted to stealing even when I was hungry.

Offtopic but while i agree theres no real reason to be a theif, theres plenty reason to be a pirate these days.

[lizlizzie]

Your location says Lakewood, OH on your Avatar. If that is correct, hopefully the following will help:
http://www.onelakewood.com/pdf/2009_Community_Resource_Guide.pdf
pgs 22 and 23 have a list for community meals and which churches, locations and what time.
pg. 46 has the Salvation Army which gives out 3 days of food - you might check with them.
there may be more resources as it's a lengthy document.

[JennyA]

Thanks a lot. Im going to look into those.

[donnalee]

Can you cook? Do you have the resources to do so?
I've had to live with almost no resources at times in the past. You need to have a food supply that will last without refrigeration (when they cut off the electricity they don't usually turn off the gas).Dried - rice, pasta, beans, lentils, split peas, cous-cous, bulgar, kasha (buckwheat) etc., fruit; canned - veggies (tomatoes, particularly) and fruit (canned pasta tends to be overcooked), preserved meats, cheese (these were made for unrefrigerated storage and will last a long time if left sealed in the original package). If you shop a restaurant supply store, you can find bargains in dry & canned foods, particularly in large sizes.
Private food banks such as church - run ones are your best source as most don't require a whole lot of paperwork. The problem is that the government has taken over access to this kind of help and will jerk you around with different forms & qualifications until you are scraped raw. If, at ANY time, you hear the words "Social Worker" get up and RUN, don't walk, to the nearest exit (although stealth may be a better idea).
Shoplifting is a bad idea; it may get you 3 hots & a cot, but the ambiance leaves much to be desired.
No one in this country should be starving, but one can disconnect from their usual resources at times and need to connect to new ones. Look on this as a momentary glitch in your life; it's not a permanent condition. You will survive.
Best Wishes,
:hugs: Donna

[SallyS]

I saw your post in passing. I'm totally shocked at what your going through!!!

Here in the UK, despite all the government cutbacks, no-one willing to work goes hungry, even if they don't have job. Just so long as your are actively looking for work you will receive unemployment benefit.

I have gone back to Uni as a mature student and have four kids. We have a loans and grants system that helps students (whatever their age). Sure I'll have to pay some of it back once I've got a new job, but it only cost around £3,000 per year in fees ( although for new students this has gone up to £9,000 per year, in some case).

I'm amazed that anyone willing to work, and who has worked, can nearly starve!

Is this just a state-to-state thing or is this all over the US?

Anyway I hope your luck changes and I'm sure the good nature of most poeple will help see you through this rough patch.