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Gwyneth Paltrow flubs $29 food stamp dare, swallows pride instead

Manages four days on subsistence diet before hitting the chicken

A not particularly shamefaced Gwyneth Paltrow has admitted she failed to survive for seven days on $29 (20 quid) for food as part of the #FoodBankNYCChallenge, which invites participants "to walk in the shoes of 1.7 million New Yorkers who rely on SNAP (formerly Food Stamps)."

At the behest of celebrity food-botherer Mario Batali, Paltrow went forth with her modest fistful of dollars, and immediately caused a bit of a rumpus with her choice of foodstuffs:

Paltrow's supplies for the week

The thesp made it through just four days with the above. She later explained: "It cost $24.40 (plus a little olive oil and salt) — things like avocados and limes are cheap in Southern California."

"Dubious" that she could complete the challenge, Paltrow covered her shapely arse by donating some dosh in advance to the New York Food Bank, and having suffered for a few days on dishes such as "black bean taquitos" and "brown rice, kale and roasted sweet potato sauté with poached egg," the thesp cracked and "had some chicken and fresh vegetables (and in full transparency, half a bag of black licorice)."

Despite this "C-" performance, Paltrow declared: "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."

Given that $29 over seven days is $4.14 per day, we'd advise the actress not to attempt the perspective-altering Live Below the Line challenge, which allows US participants a daily $1.50 for food over five days.

Our own El Reg Quid-A-Day Nosh Posse will be participating from 27 April to 1 May, in support of Malaria No More UK.

We'll bring details of our mighty team members' diet plans next week, but as far as we're aware, limes do not feature heavily. ®

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