Wow, Gwyneth Paltrow's latest "diet" is not at all what we expected. For one whole week the woman famous for eating only expensively artisan-made, organic, celeb nutritionist-approved food will try to spend no more than $29 on her groceries. And no, this is not part of some spring cleanse fast.
Check it out -- here is what Gwyneth is eating this week.
[code]
This is what $29 gets you at the grocery store—what families on SNAP (i.e. food stamps) have to live on for a week. pic.twitter.com/OZMPA3nxij
— Gwyneth Paltrow (@GwynethPaltrow) April 9, 2015Okay, we left out one very important detail: Paltrow has accepted a challenge from Mario Batali to eat on a SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- i.e. food stamps) budget of $29. Batali is a board member of Food Bank for New York City, and together they are raising awareness to stop congress from slashing funds the SNAP program.
So this is for a very worthy cause, and I have to give GP some respect -- especially looking at her choices. It's not surprising to see veggies in there, but those dried beans and rice are the ultimate in frugal nutrition. Well played, Paltrow.
The shocker, what no one ever wants to believe, is that contrary to all the lies you hear people on food stamps actually eat less junk food than the rest of the population.
The other shocker is that Paltrow is limiting herself to only one avocado this week. Welcome to my world, Paltrow! I may not be on food stamps, but there are weeks when I sigh reluctantly and take that second avocado out of my cart because I've hit my limit. Those things are a luxury for most of us.
Could I do this challenge? Maybe -- if I took the week off of work for cooking (and also so I'd interact with fewer people because HANGRY). But keep in mind, as GP points out, this is the budget per family. So now picture yourself feeding your kids on that amount, too. Well, some of you already know because you've been on food stamps before. It's not easy, and it's just going to get harder if those funds get slashed again.
Are you surprised to see Gwyneth Paltrow accepting the challenge to eat only $29 worth of food for a week?
Image via Max DeAngelo/Pacific Coast News