# Gwyneth Paltrow's Food Stamp Diet
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 14, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655 "2015-04-14T16:24:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 10
### Author:  [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/181 "2015-04-17T18:19:38Z")
Editing closed before I could add:
On the off chance that you say “Gee, maybe I WILL start a class like that in my area” instead of telling me off, or other unproductive nonsense, let me know. I will kindly send you money to purchase class supplies, like handouts, brochures, gas money, whatever is needed to put on a class like that. (Not a joke)
---
### Author:  [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/182 "2015-04-17T18:48:56Z")
> [@Slash1972](#):
>
> I guess I’ve lost track of what your point of contention is then. The “class” discussion started by someone stating there are NO classes provided to teach the poor how to shop and cook meals on a budget. This was readily disproven. So, after the point was disproven, I (and some others) guessed that the argument would change to “not enough classes that are convenient for everyone that needs them” which, of course, it has.
**Broomstick** made a throwaway comment about government priorities. When some people took it literally, she could have let it go, but instead doubled down and started a stupid hijack about if classes exist. And instead of ending the hijack with a simple “actually, that’s not correct,” **Bricker** ramped it up to rub her nose in it and lord his victory over all. My point of contention was, who the hell cares if Broomstick was wrong? By itself, it doesn’t add anything to the conversation about SNAP. The questions you raised in jest and I repeated in sincerity are much more interesting (and not as a defense of **Broomstick** , who I have no interest in defending).
> [@](#):
>
> So, what do you want to happen? More classes? How many should there be? Increase the SNAP benefit? By how much should it be increased?
It’s a good question and I don’t have an answer. Are people lacking education about healthy cooking because they’re lazy? Then more classes won’t help. Are there not enough classes, or at inconvenient times for someone working 2 jobs? Then maybe more are needed, or maybe just at better times. I don’t have the info about what’s available and why people don’t take advantage, and no one has provided it here yet. I was hoping someone would. And if it’s still too much of a hijack from the original Gwyneth topic, fine, we can drop it.
> [@](#):
>
> As for you, **Troutman** , maybe YOU could start a door-to-door budgeting/cooking class that educates those who need it, instead of just complaining on the Internet that no classes like that exist.
This is an odd statement. We don’t require people to solve every problem they complain about. For now, I’m trying to educate myself a bit on the topic, and if I decide that IMO the current healthy cooking education efforts are lacking, starting my own door-to-door class doesn’t seem like the best solution.
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### Author:  [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/183 "2015-04-17T18:55:50Z")
> [@TroutMan](#):
>
> It’s a good question and I don’t have an answer. Are people lacking education about healthy cooking because they’re lazy? Then more classes won’t help. Are there not enough classes, or at inconvenient times for someone working 2 jobs? Then maybe more are needed, or maybe just at better times. I don’t have the info about what’s available and why people don’t take advantage, and no one has provided it here yet. I was hoping someone would. And if it’s still too much of a hijack from the original Gwyneth topic, fine, we can drop it.
Fair enough.
> [@](#):
>
> This is an odd statement. We don’t require people to solve every problem they complain about.
Solve? No. Contribute to a solution, yes.
---
### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/184 "2015-04-17T19:05:00Z")
> [@TroutMan](#):
>
> It’s a good question and I don’t have an answer. Are people lacking education about healthy cooking because they’re lazy? Then more classes won’t help. Are there not enough classes, or at inconvenient times for someone working 2 jobs? Then maybe more are needed, or maybe just at better times.
Part of it is that, of course, sweet and fatty foods just taste good and a lot of healthy food doesn’t. Plus doing something like getting take-out from a fast-food restaurant is so easy that people do it all the time. And junk foods like Cheetos and Doritos are [designed to get you addicted to them](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html).
And these issues don’t just affect poor people; I’m not rich but I don’t really have to watch what I spend on groceries and I still buy and eat stuff that I know isn’t good for me. There’s a packaged salad sitting in my refrigerator but last night’s dinner was a frozen pizza.
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### Author:  [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/185 "2015-04-17T19:30:44Z")
A relative is complaining he’s poor, has no rent money and is now begging in various places. He’s ignored my suggestions about how to earn extra cash and has adopted a second dog. He and Paltrow deserve each other IMO.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/186 "2015-04-17T19:38:28Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#):
>
> This has fuck-all to do with shopping list and lime and avocados. This is a publicity stunt by a rich cunt to make herself look good about a cause she will _never have to worry about._
>
> And what I mean by that is twofold. First, She is rich and will never need food stamps. She can make herself look good by advocating the poor unwashed masses get more. Second, She ain’t gonna have to _pick up the tab!_ I’m sure she has an army of accountants and tax lawyers making sure she pays as little as possible every April 15th. (I don’t know? Is this cunt a U.S. taxpayer?)
Your charming language aside, this isn’t something that Gwyneth Paltrow dreamed up as a “publicity stunt.” The [Food Bank for New York City dreamed it up](http://www.foodbanknyc.org/how-you-can-help/food-bank-nyc-challenge), to help make people aware of the issues, to raise money for a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization and to publicize their awards dinner (also, presumably a fundraiser).
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/187 "2015-04-17T19:56:35Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#):
>
> My take:
>
> This has fuck-all to do with shopping list and lime and avocados. This is a publicity stunt by a rich cunt to make herself look good about a cause she will _never have to worry about._
>
> And what I mean by that is twofold. First, She is rich and will never need food stamps. She can make herself look good by advocating the poor unwashed masses get more. Second, She ain’t gonna have to _pick up the tab!_ I’m sure she has an army of accountants and tax lawyers making sure she pays as little as possible every April 15th. (I don’t know? Is this cunt a U.S. taxpayer?)
>
> So who pays? People like me, and probably a lot of other Dopes. Shit, its the 17th and I _still_ can’t sit down from the financial butt-fucking I got earlier this week.
>
> Anyway, just my opinion.
I agree with a lot of this. I just think that Paltrow is more vapidly clueless than self-aggrandizing.
I think she honestly believes that the kind of food she (or one of her personal assistants/life coaches/butt lickers) buys for her and her family is really the only possible “healthy” option. In her mind, to the extent that she ever thought about it - not very much - dried herbs are the moral equivalent of dried ramen, and fresh cilantro is the only alternative to feeding her children a concentrated mix of gluten, steroid-fed cattle offal, GMO peanuts, laced with a 50/50 mix of Alar and refined white sugar.
What you say about her being so rich that she will be forever shielded from the horrors of a food budget that she actually has to stick to. That’s why she lasted four days.
But I think she really thinks she proved something to the rest of us unfeeling peons.
Regards,
Shodan
---
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/188 "2015-04-17T20:26:17Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> My prediction now is that Broomstick will avoid the thread for a bit, and then pick up commentary without mentioning this discussion. What we won’t see from her, if prior behavior is a guide, is a forthright admission that yes, in fact, there are classes.
Let me prove you wrong.
I am happy to see that there were at least 10 classes so _someone_ benefited from those course materials. In this case, I am happy to be wrong on that point and stand corrected.
I would still prefer to see MORE classes available to people on low food budgets, but some it better than none.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/189 "2015-04-17T20:32:41Z")
> [@ivylass](#):
>
> [And she’s done, after four days.](http://goop.com/my-29-food-stamp-challenge-and-the-recipes-brouhaha-that-ensued/)
In fairness… those recipes she posted DO sound pretty good…
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### Author:  [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/190 "2015-04-17T21:48:44Z")
The Brown Bag people (bless them) brought me 2 bowling ball size cabbages,4 bags of Russet Potatoes(5 lb each) and 9 big as both my fists together Red onions! I’ll make Bubble&Squeak (my recipe) with some and share with my aid Monday…
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### Author:  [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/191 "2015-04-17T22:25:16Z")
> [@ivylass](#):
>
> [And she’s done, after four days.](http://goop.com/my-29-food-stamp-challenge-and-the-recipes-brouhaha-that-ensued/)
Somebody needs to educate Gwyneth on the facts. 47 million people might be on food stamps, but as I said before food stamps are mostly intended to supplement household income and to assist people in buying the food they need. They are not intended to be one’s sole source of food. Plus many people receive a good deal more than $29 a week in food stamp benefits. In truth very few people are actually trying to eat on that amount of food stamps per week.
I suspect her equal pay rant is similarly lacking in facts.
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/192 "2015-04-17T22:40:07Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> In fairness… those recipes she posted DO sound pretty good…
They do. And I think her post about the experience may not be the world’s deepest, but it’s more than many do. She is engaging with the topic of trying to get healthy food options on people’s plates.
Though she loves black licorice, which is an abomination.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/193 "2015-04-17T22:42:53Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#):
>
> Somebody needs to educate Gwyneth on the facts. 47 million people might be on food stamps, but as I said before food stamps are mostly intended to supplement household income and to assist people in buying the food they need. They are not intended to be one’s sole source of food. Plus many people receive a good deal more than $29 a week in food stamp benefits. In truth very few people are actually trying to eat on that amount of food stamps per week.
>
> I suspect her equal pay rant is similarly lacking in facts.
That may be the case, but it wasn’t the challenge. From the [website](http://www.foodbanknyc.org/how-you-can-help/food-bank-nyc-challenge) of the Food Bank for New York City,
“What is the #FoodBankNYCChallenge?
Attempt to live on a food stamp budget for one week. That’s only $1.38 per meal.”
The website also says,
“How do I take the challenge?
Use $29 per person for all your food for 7 days. Share your experience, challenge a friend, and challenge Congress to strengthen food stamps.”
But feel free to go ahead and rant and rave at celebrities for participating in a charity event. Were people this pissed last year when celebrities were pouring buckets of ice water on their heads as part of the ALS Association’s campaign?
---
### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/194 "2015-04-17T22:48:05Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> Were people this pissed last year when celebrities were pouring buckets of ice water on their heads as part of the ALS Association’s campaign?
Well, Paltrow is connected in people’s minds with some nutty ideas and pretentious foodisms, so I can understand finding her more eyerolling than if, say, Rita Wilson did it. (Just to pick another actor, one I’ve never heard attached to any sort of eyerolling (and now it will turn out she’s actually Hitler’s favorite niece or something (probably grand niece))).
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/195 "2015-04-17T23:59:34Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> Let me prove you wrong.
>
> I am happy to see that there were at least 10 classes so _someone_ benefited from those course materials. In this case, I am happy to be wrong on that point and stand corrected.
>
> I would still prefer to see MORE classes available to people on low food budgets, but some it better than none.
It’s very seldom that I’m happy to be wrong.
But: I’m happy to be wrong. I know this is unsolicited feedback, and so I’ll simply say that I appreciate the concession. I’ll even point out that no one would have blinked if you had said, “Look, I was never trying to make a literal point about NUMBER\_OF\_CLASSES = 0. I was making a point about how marginalized communities suffer from all types of neglect, and access to nutrition training is one such.”
---
### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/196 "2015-04-18T04:27:52Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> It’s very seldom that I’m happy to be wrong.
Goddalwmit! This shit has got to STOP! Too drunk to link, buy this is the second thread where you’ve done this!
People need heros, Max!
---
### Author:  [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2015, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/197 "2015-04-18T07:38:06Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> That may be the case, but it wasn’t the challenge. From the [website](http://www.foodbanknyc.org/how-you-can-help/food-bank-nyc-challenge) of the Food Bank for New York City,
> “What is the #FoodBankNYCChallenge?
> Attempt to live on a food stamp budget for one week. That’s only $1.38 per meal.”
>
> The website also says,
> “How do I take the challenge?
> Use $29 per person for all your food for 7 days. Share your experience, challenge a friend, and challenge Congress to strengthen food stamps.”
>
> But feel free to go ahead and rant and rave at celebrities for participating in a charity event. Were people this pissed last year when celebrities were pouring buckets of ice water on their heads as part of the ALS Association’s campaign?
I’m not ranting and raving at celebrities for participating in a charity event. To the degree I’m ranting and raving at all, I’m doing so because the challenge is a dishonest attempt to deceive people into thinking that the 47 million food stamp recipients in this country are having to try get by on only $29 a week for food when nothing could be farther from the truth.
And the reason for this duplicity? Why, to try to get people to “challenge” Congress to “strengthen” food stamps. And even here they can’t be honest and forthright, choosing instead to use weasel words such as ‘challenge’ and ‘strengthen’ rather than coming right out and saying they want people to harangue Congress into an increase in food stamp spending.
So this isn’t a charity thing at all; it’s an attempt to motivate people into demanding higher food stamp spending based upon the dual deceptions that people are getting only $29 a week in food stamps, and that food stamps are intended to supply all the food that people need rather than functioning according to their true purpose which is merely to provide supplemental assistance in purchasing food - as should be obvious from the name of the program itself.
---
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/198 "2015-04-18T15:19:04Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> But: I’m happy to be wrong. I know this is unsolicited feedback, and so I’ll simply say that I appreciate the concession. I’ll even point out that no one would have blinked if you had said, “Look, I was never trying to make a literal point about NUMBER\_OF\_CLASSES = 0. I was making a point about how marginalized communities suffer from all types of neglect, and access to nutrition training is one such.”
And I was making a point that while I had seen plenty of stuff on line I had never seen or heard of ANY class actually _occurring_.
I think that is _important_ because we are social creatures and having a human in the learning loop can be extremely important. A human being can address individual questions and concerns in a way no on line resource can. That, and poor people should not be treated as if they are not worthy of the concern of other human beings.
I’m a reasonably intelligent person, quite literate, but I struggled with learning how to apply for work in the current environment for _years_… but _two months_ after taking classes lead by a _live human being_ I had a job at a company were I went from part to full time and received two raises in under a year, and am now on track to getting in management, again in less than a year. A lot of that had to do with actual human feedback from the instructor AND the other participants. It sure would have been helpful if I had had that class, oh, five years ago… except five years ago no one was offering them anywhere near me. They were a recent innovation in my area, but a very successful one.
If you want to _look like_ you’re doing something then putting stuff on line is easy. If you actually want to DO something, like help people get a job or learn to cook cheap and nutritionally, then sometimes going to the bother and expense of renting a room and hiring a teacher is the shortest route to your goal.
---
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/199 "2015-04-18T15:26:20Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#):
>
> And the reason for this duplicity? Why, to try to get people to “challenge” Congress to “strengthen” food stamps. And even here they can’t be honest and forthright, choosing instead to use weasel words such as ‘challenge’ and ‘strengthen’ rather than coming right out and saying they want people to harangue Congress into an increase in food stamp spending.
Well, I dunno, maybe it worked - yesterday I got a letter from Public Aid stating our monthly SNAP benefit is going up by TWO DOLLARS! Whoo-hoo! Haven’t decided if I’m going to spend the two bucks on a slice of lobster tail or a speck of Kobe beef or maybe just purchase some nuts to go into my banana muffins.
> [@](#):
>
> So this isn’t a charity thing at all; it’s an attempt to motivate people into demanding higher food stamp spending based upon the dual deceptions that people are getting only $29 a week in food stamps, and that food stamps are intended to supply all the food that people need rather than functioning according to their true purpose which is merely to provide supplemental assistance in purchasing food - as should be obvious from the name of the program itself.
Oh, like politicians have NEVER given programs a clever or misleading name?
For about 4 months total several years ago food stamps WERE the whole of our food budget. So it does happen. For people on the high end of benefits it would be more accurate to say other food sources supplement the SNAP rather than the other way around. You’re insistence on a literal reading of the name of the program is just as misleading as claiming that SNAP supplies all the food for all participants.
People in SNAP are on a spectrum, from complete reliance on the program to in some cases it being so small an amount the participants stop bothering to re-sign because they deem the amount not worth their effort. Try to wrap your mind around the concept of it being a spectrum rather than a binary state.
---
### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwyneth-paltrows-food-stamp-diet/717655/200 "2015-04-18T16:08:15Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> Well, I dunno, maybe it worked - yesterday I got a letter from Public Aid stating our monthly SNAP benefit is going up by TWO DOLLARS! Whoo-hoo! Haven’t decided if I’m going to spend the two bucks on a slice of lobster tail or a speck of Kobe beef or maybe just purchase some nuts to go into my banana muffins.
My god, woman, will your decadence never cease? You take hedonism TOO FAR!
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