Have you ever considered what it would be like to live below the poverty line? The Australian equivalent of which is only $2 a day! As part of our commitment to using Scoop Nutrition for #socialgood we are very pleased to bring you this post by two dietitians who have just completed the live below the line challenge. And in typical science nerd fashion (they are two PhD candidates after all), they completed a nutrition analysis of what $2 a day provides. We bet you’re interested to know?
About our experts:
Brooke Devlin
Born and bred on the Gold Coast, Brooke began her career studying Exercise Science, followed by Nutrition and Dietetics at Griffith University. After working in private practice for a number of years, Brooke ventured to Melbourne and commenced a PhD in sports nutrition at La Trobe University. Since moving to Melbourne, Brooke spends her spare time running ‘the tan’ and exploring the plethora of cafes Melbourne has to offer! Connect on twitter: @BrookeDevlinElena Papamiltiadous
Elena is an Accredited Practising Dietitian who studied Food Science and Nutrition and Dietetics at Deakin University Melbourne. Her career has included work in the food industry, private practice and community health. She is currently undertaking her PhD in the area of Mediterranean diet and the effect on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Elena is passionate about all things related to food!
Live below the line is an initiative organised by Oaktree, a youth-run organisation striving to help end extreme poverty. Importantly, Oaktree has international partnerships in Cambodia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea and the funds raised as a result of the ‘Live below the line’ challenge go towards training teachers, funding scholarships, renovating schools and providing resources such as uniforms and stationary for young people.
The aim is to ultimately break the poverty cycle as education not only provides knowledge, but also it empowers individuals to develop personally and pursue their goals.
On the 4th May a group of PhD students at La Trobe University (ourselves as well as Oana, Gina and Hannah, aka ‘Team PhooDies’) embarked on the ‘Live below the Line’ challenge. There’s still time to donate to our sponsorship page (hint hint!).
The goal of the challenge was not only to raise money but also provide insight into some of the challenges faced by those living in extreme poverty and this sparked a lot of interest for us as dietitians.
And the BIG question for us was, can you meet your energy and macronutrient requirements for $2 a day?
The five of us pulled together so we had $50 to spend on five days’ worth of groceries, which is not always practical or possible for those living below the line. Here is what we bought:
• Penne pasta (120g per day per person uncooked)
• Brown Lentils (80g per day per person uncooked)
• Oats (72g per day per person uncooked)
• Pasata (1 bottle per person)
• Canned diced tomatoes (1 can per person)
• Popcorn (16g per day per person uncooked kernels)
• Coffee (8g instant per day per person)
• Peanut butter (15g per day per person)
• Canned fruit (peaches and apricots) (66g per day per person)
• Yogurt (40g per day per person)
• Frozen veggies (peas corn carrot) (120g per day per person)
• White Bread (1/2 loaf per person)
• Salt (20g per day per person)
• UHT FC Milk (1L per person)
Total cost $49.82
Needless to say that there are many other combinations we could have opted for! But this was the ‘compromise’ taking everyone’s likes and dislikes into account. We decided it was easier to cook up the same meal each day to ensure everyone had even portions so we went with spaghetti ala lentil bolognaise. It goes without saying that we haven’t looked at lentils again since. But there are more interesting ways to approach the challenge and recipes provided by Masterchef alumni Julie Goodwin and Dani Venn.
The nutrition composition of our ‘menu’ is outlined below. We were certainly not very close to meeting the ideal fat intake as we would recommend on the Mediterranean diet! However, the foods we selected provided adequate protein and plenty of fibre…gotta love those lentils.
Nutrient Average/Day
Energy (kJ) 7580; Protein (g) 72; Total fat (g) 36; Carbohydrate (g) 271; Dietary fibre (g) 54; Sodium (mg) 3390. *Analysed via Foodworks using NUTTAB database.
The experience was definitely an interesting one and we hope this has provided some ‘food for thought’ about the challenges of eating on a (very low) budget, especially when feeding a hungry family. While it was virtually impossible to meet ALL of our nutrition requirements (calcium and iron were particular low for our bunch of girls), we feel that even with a low budget there is still opportunity to be eating a nutritious diet. We also noticed how little waste there was with all of the planning associated with this challenge (there is always a positive) but we certainly don’t want to trivialise the extraordinary barriers people have when faced with food insecurity and living below the line.
