Gwyneth Paltrow Failed the $29 Food Stamp Challenge

Gwyneth Paltrow made headlines when she told the world that she was going to only eat $29 worth of food for one week to raise awareness for a NYC food bank and now she reveals she failed the challenge.

“Last week, chef (and great man) Mario Batali challenged me to raise awareness and money for the Food Bank For New York City by trying to live on $29 dollars for the week (what low income families on SNAP are trying to survive on). Dubious that I could complete the week, I donated to the Food Bank at the outset, and all of us at the goop office began the challenge,” the 42-year-old actress wrote on her Goop blog.

“As I suspected, we only made it through about four days, when I personally broke and had some chicken and fresh vegetables (and in full transparency, half a bag of black licorice),” Gwyneth added. “My perspective has been forever altered by how difficult it was to eat wholesome, nutritious food on that budget, even for just a few days�”a challenge that 47 million Americans face every day, week, and year. A few takeaways from the week were that vegetarian staples liked dried beans and rice go a long way�”and we were able to come up with a few recipes on a super tight budget.”

Gwyneth also touched upon the unequal pay in the workplace and how that affects families not being able to put food on the table.

“I know hunger doesn’t always touch us all directly�”but it does touch us all indirectly. After this week, I am even more grateful that I am able to provide high-quality food for my kids. Let’s all do what we can to make this a basic human right and not a privilege,” Gwyneth concluded. Read the whole piece now on Goop!