Getting Back to Basics

I’ve been planning to delve into the adventures of the couple who spent a month on a dollar a day diet . From what I’d read in one article, it seemed that they had no idea what they were doing, and the experiment cost them dearly.

So, I just backtracked to the first couple of posts on their blog, and it’s already clear that they know nothing about a balanced diet, and not a whole lot more about cooking to save time. There are little things that don’t make any sense at all in the context of wanting to understand how people survive on very little money. I doubt that many third-worlders would have peanut better around, much less consider it a dessert — five cents for one tablespoon. Or how about twelve cents for a tablespoon of taco sauce?

What they ate the first day, if it set a pattern, and it apparently did, was a recipe for malnutrition and serious weight loss. No surprise, then, that by day four, Christopher was starting to have less energy than usual. On day five, the fatigue continues, along with a headache and lightheadedness, all of which he wants to believe is just “in my head.” At this point, he’s told about the possibility of getting scurvy, which he has to look up. Solution? A glass of water with juice from a foraged lemon. No money in the budget for fruit, of course.

Day six: he’s already lost four pounds or more and has somehow converted the fatigue to proof that he “can eat less and feel more lively.” Cognitive dissonance, maybe? Delusional from insufficient blood sugar feeding his brain?

Oatmeal and peanut butter and jelly are still a major staple, but they’re beginning to add more variety, which is all to the good. Except for using white rice instead of brown, which would contribute far more to their nutritional well-being.

It was nice that they figured out how to make pancakes, and even that Christopher scored free packets of maple syrup from McDonald’s and Burger King, but I can’t quite see an Indian family pouring syrup (undoubtedly fake maple) on their chapattis.

This is pretty much the pattern they followed throughout the month, and by day ten there had been one incident of devouring 70 cents worth of beans and rice at one sitting because of overwhelming hunger, and Christopher’s loss of seven pounds, which he realized wasn’t healthy. Along the way, a greater appreciation of what they have, but not much indication that they would be willing to give any of it up — three dogs, gym membership, etc.

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