Like to Know How to Live on a Dollar a Day?

Then go to the One Dollar Diet Project – you will be shocked at how difficult it is. Christopher Greenslate and Kerri Leonard tried it for a month. To survive the two Californians had to give up most purchased food and make their own from the raw ingredients. Many vegetables were too expensive, and they had to forage. Vitamin intake became a serious problem. The two school teachers found that they could not sustain their previous energy levels. The average American eats $7 worth of food per day, but it can go below a dollar late in the month before pay day or when food stamps run out. In a New York Times article on the project, Christopher says: “I challenge anyone to live on a dollar a day and eat fresh food in this country”.

This resonates with the British debate around food and poverty, which has been given another boost by Jamie Oliver (see our earlier posts). Obesity is generally above average among low-income groups in rich socities. Why? One reason is that junk foods (energy dense: with the most calories and fewest nutrients per ounce) are cheaper than nutrient rich, lower-calorie foods like fruits and vegetables.

Pablo Monsivais and Adam Drewnowski found that junk food is not only less expensive, but that it has gone up less in price than nutrient rich, lower-calorie foods. In their Seattle study, the cost of the latter is $18.16/1,000 kcal, compared with $1.76/1,000 kcal for the most energy-dense (junk) food. Over a 2-year period, junk food actually fell by – 1.8% in price while the least energy-dense foods saw a price rise of 19.5 per cent.

Tags: Chronic Poverty, food, Jamie Oliver, nutrition, Poverty, UK poverty, US poverty