Why Eating Real Food Matters

Among the many, many reasons it matters is: 

For the first two weeks of February I was traveling, mostly in LA and then 2 days in NYC and not on my SNAP budget. I ate almost every single meal in a restaurant, none of which were super high end nor did I eat any prepared or fast food (ok, I did go to In-n-Out Burger once because that's my tradition). Other than eating out, I cooked one dinner (jerk chicken, a big salad, roasted broccoli, roasted potatoes and chocolate chip cookies) for twenty of my college age daughter's nearest and dearest; had a few cups of yogurt, many cups of tea, coffee every morning and a few apples and oranges. I didn't eat food I tend not to eat anyway but I felt a bit like someone who goes off a diet, that since I wasn't sticking to my diet, I might as well really not stick to my diet. I can't really describe what I mean but when I got home, it was hard to go back to SNAP. It wasn't the money, it was having to think about every little thing: was I within budget? but more importantly, was I spending my money smartly?, was I getting the proper nutrition? Strangely enough, I was way more conscientious about my intake on SNAP. 
Additionally, all that eating out made me sluggish, head-achy, bloated and dehydrated. The amount of salt, sugar and fat hidden in prepared food is telling in how I felt. 

Even though I was often hungry, 

I felt better on the SNAP regime. How crazy is that?