Can You Eat on a Dollar a Day?

From the Washington City Paper blog City Desk

Earlier this week, the New York Times published a fascinating piece about a California couple who tried to live for a month on a $1-a-day food budget. Their mission was certifiably insane, but their motivation was noble. After all, as reporter Tara Parker-Pope noted, “The World Bank says nearly a billion people around the world live on a dollar a day, or even less…”

Here are the money quotes from the story:

The budget forced them to give up many store-bought foods and dinners out. Even bread and canned refried beans were too expensive.

Instead, the couple — Christopher Greenslate, 28, and Kerri Leonard, 29, both high school social studies teachers — bought raw beans, rice, cornmeal and oatmeal in bulk, and made their own bread and tortillas. Fresh fruits and vegetables weren’t an option. Ms. Leonard’s mother was so worried about scurvy, a result of vitamin C deficiency, that they made room in their budget for Tang orange drink mix. (They don’t eat meat — not that they could have afforded it.)

In other words, they had to live on crap, which helps you understand why poverty inevitably leads to a shorter life span. You can read all about Greenslate and Leonard’s experiment on their—what else?—blog, http://onedollardietproject.wordpress.com

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