Posted on 04/11/2015 10:11:30 AM PDT by drewh
Gwyneth Paltrow has vowed to live on just $29 worth of food for a week, after agreeing to take on a charity challenge aimed at raising awareness and funds for New York's food banks.
The 42-year-old posted a picture of her $29 grocery shop on her Twitter account yesterday afternoon, showcasing a range of healthy options, including a variety of fresh vegetables, some brown rice and some black beans.
'This is what $29 gets you at the grocery store - what families on SNAP (food stamps) have to live on for a week,' she wrote. There are those, however, who are already criticizing Gwyneth's attempt to experience what living on food stamps is really like, many suggest that her bizarre food choices demonstrate just how out of touch she is with the average person.
Writer Rebecca Brink highlighted the incredible lack of calories contained in Gwyneth's food choices, suggesting that those people living on SNAP benefits would require a lot more sustenance in order to go about their day-to-day lives. 'I know other people are critiquing this already, but this bothers me on a basic level because eight of those 16 items are not calorically significant (sic),' Rebecca wrote.
'People who live on SNAP benefits don’t just have to get nutrients, they have to get actual calories, because they tend to have very physical lives, doing service labor and taking care of children and not necessarily being able to afford a car.'
According to The Frisky, the food in Gwyneth's Twitter post contains a total of 7,059 calories, which means the star will be consuming a paltry 1,000 calories per day for the duration of her week-long challenge. That is approximately half of the recommended daily intake for adults suggested by the American Heart Association.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Because the US food system is geared for high calorie food which is very low in real nutrition. So what happens is your body gets fat YET it is starving for vitamins and minerals and fiber etc. that you need to stay healthy when you eat the cheap ready to eat microwave/fast food.
Low income areas tend to have crappy produce available mainly because low info voters tend to believe the bullshit on the box of cereal that sez it is the mainstay of a healthy breakfast when in reality it is box of sugar and carbs and corn byproducts... Same goes for pizzas and hot pockets and cans of ravioli and spaghettios etc. so the low info voters tend to buy the crap food because it has the fats and the sugars and the salts we all crave thus the produce section is crappy since few buy fresh veggies etc.
This is why we have an alarming increase in diabetes etc.
You are of course right, I was merely pointing out that it is entirely possible to get more than adequate calories for less the $1/day.
Not Latino by ancestry, but my family may have been the only Anglo family in Kansas City eating Mexican food regularly in the 1960s. We used to go down to restaurants in the (Mexican) Argentine section maybe twice a month.
There weren’t many Mexicans in KC back then.
If forced to choose only one type of food, I’d go Mexican without pausing to think about it.
That’s probably cultural appropriation or something.
30 years ago I had a small and non-profit business in NM. We weren’t non-profit on purpose, it just happened.
Business tended to be even slower in the winter, so one winter I qualified for food stamps. Never ate better in my life.
But we could have survived without them and I felt guilty, so the next winter, in similar circumstances, I just didn’t apply.
$412 divided by 3 people, divided by 4.33 weeks in a month = $31.72 per person/per week.
I actually thought they got more than that.
Of course, no one ever mentions the other options that people have - depending where they live.
In my town, the local food bank give a free large box of food to anyone who qualifies, each month. Many recipients are elderly people who are trying to live on less than $1k a month in SS. The food bank also offers free (used or not) clothing.
There are other options, as well. Once again - depending where people live.
Depends on a lot of things, metabolism how often they eat and what they eat. Just because someone is getting a certain amount of calories per day does not mean they are getting the right calories per day the body needs. Also if a person consumes all their calories in one meal each and every day, the body goes into a survival mode and stores the fat instead of using it. A person can become overweight on a reduced caloric diet by just eating one meal a day. For example lets say I drink 4 soda pops in a day, Then at dinner I have a frozen dinner. That is roughly 1000 calories depending on the frozen meal. The body sensing it does not have enough calories would store the fat rather than expend it. That is the reason why people get fat who do not eat three meals a day.
Native Americans had been eating beans, corn-and stuff made from ground corn-tomatoes, squash, peppers, turkeys and doves, maybe wild pigs-and chocolate for dessert-for 1000’s of years with good results-Spaniards arrived, interbred with the natives, adopted the food, added some European frills-like tame pigs and chickens and rice they’d imported-I guess that made it cuisine instead of just food- So you are probably right about the cultural appropriation/absorption.
Yes, indeed-whether they are supposed to or not, the food stamp users I see at the store in that nearest town all buy big orders of fried chicken 1qt. containers of mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits and cakes at the deli. Apparently, the only cooking they do is with a microwave...
They should be uncomfortable in their poverty. They should only be allowed to buy raw basic foods, rice beans, vegetables, flour, bread, butter, milk and meats/cheese. That’s it.
No actual pigs in America before Columbus, but native javelinas and peccaries were certainly a reasonable standin.
Anyone can eat rice and beans for a week, actually she could just live on McDonald’s for a week, on $29.00.
She should do this for a year.
It was my understanding that deli foods were a no-no. Maybe they have changed the rules.
Maybe she can do okay with that caloric intake because of her V steams. LOL
Lol, Doug, I forgot about the V steams!!! Maybe that is what the limes are for! Patchouli not pictured!!
Those are the porcine creatures I was referring to-peccaries/javelinas-a bit gamey and stringy, but definitely pork...
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