A third-year medical student at the University of Otago, she and many fellow members of Medical Students for Global Awareness (MSGA) are taking the Live Below the Line challenge to spend no more than $2.25 on food a day for five days from September 23-27.
Sarah Mitchell sees it as a good opportunity to raise awareness in themselves and other people to see what it might be like for people who live in extreme poverty, which is defined as living on less than the equivalent of NZ$2.25 a day.
''We use that just for food, but for those in extreme poverty it would cover everything,'' she says.
Hanneke Lewthwaite sees the week as an opportunity to learn more about poverty and its effects.
''It's not that we'll be having a similar experience by any means. We are just so privileged,'' she says.
Last year, almost 40 Dunedin members of MSGA, an organisation that aims to address local and global health inequalities through awareness, advocacy and action, took the challenge to raise awareness and money and this year they hope more will join in.
Although poverty can make people socially isolated, the students participating found meeting throughout the week to share food ideas and give each other support was particularly valuable, especially in the first 24 to 48 hours, Hannah-Rose says.
It sparked a lot of interest among their fellow students who were not taking the challenge, as well as discussion about what it meant to be poor and what could be done about it.
It is estimated that 1.2 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty. In New Zealand, the social welfare system helps to head off the most severe deprivation.
During last year's challenge, participants managed to eat three bland meals a day, but there was no money for snacks, hot drinks or any extras and they were hungry a lot of the time.
''You can't afford snacks in between so you just don't have that extra energy to study. It made me realise how living on a higher wage allows us to work harder without getting tired so easily - it's definitely to do with food as well,'' Hanneke says.
Hannah-Rose adds: ''Poverty has a huge impact on health. Part of our motivation is to understand how poverty is impacting on patients' health and their ability to work and have energy to be productive members of society. Also our recommendations, such as to have a low-fat or modified diet, is not always as easy as it sounds if you are poor.''
The pressure of poverty can also compromise ethical standards and it's hard to live up to ideals about
animal treatment or where food is sourced from if you have significant financial restrictions, she says.
''It makes you a lot more aware of food wastage. I found I was hyper-alert to people throwing food out and food scraps in the bin. As a society, that's how we approach food - if it's got a bit of a brown patch, it gets thrown out.''
The challenge also made Hannah-Rose more aware that this is the behaviour the next generation is learning, and it changed her attitude to food waste and made her more thrifty and a forward planner when it came to food, she says.
The students' medical studies made them aware of nutrition and enabled them to eat relatively healthily on the extreme budget, but many people living in poverty did not have that knowledge, the students said.
After the challenge last year, they felt slimmer, but any weight loss was probably due to cutting out snacks. Hannah-Rose said she had missed meat the most.
Hanneke went out for dinner as there was a special occasion, but it struck her forcefully that what they spent on just one side dish was more than she'd spent all week, she said.
Tips for taking the challenge
Tips for taking the Live Below the Line challenge from Hannah-Rose, Hanneke and Sarah:
• Tell everyone you are going to do it early - you are more likely to stick to it and to raise money.
• It helps to have your whole flat or household involved.
• Shop around - even on the same supermarket shelf, there will be widely varying prices for similar products. Find out about community resources - although not everything is cheap at the farmers market, there are cheap seasonal vegetables. Some grocers source local vegetables and keep prices down for students, they said.
• Make the most of what you have - scrub rather than peel vegetables. Don't waste anything.
• Find out what you can forage, such as onion weed, which is everywhere.
• Understanding nutrition can help stretch the dollars a bit more. You will have to sacrifice something, almost certainly meat and hot drinks, and probably also flavour.
