Gwyneth Paltrow’s $300-a-Day "It’s All Good" Meal Plan

[vicky]

Gwyneth Paltrow’s latest, much-anticipated cookbook hit shelves Tuesday, bringing with it all the healthy, high-quality recipes one might expect from such a svelte, wholesome-looking thespian-foodie. 

The tome has been the object of ridicule for many months now because of its premise of shunning all things good: No coffee, dairy, alcohol, sugar, shellfish, potatoes, tomatoes, bell pepper, eggplant, corn, wheat, meat, soy or anything processed at all were to pass Paltrow’s lips following a health scare, including a migraine and panic attack, that led her doctor to prescribe an “elimination diet” to get herself back on track. 

The New York Post says “It’s All Good” reads like “the manifesto to some sort of creepy healthy-girl sorority with members who use beet juice rather than permanent marker to circle the ‘problem areas’ on each other’s bodies.” The Atlantic Wire calls it “the bible of laughable Hollywood Neuroticism.” And, according to Eater.com, the book is “drenched in a chatty faux-populism that could only come from a rich person fearlessly boasting about her life of privilege.… Paltrow casually writes that she overnights homemade vegan cookies to her manager and often has a surfeit of apples from the trees on her $5.4M five-bedroom Hamptons summer home.”

To her credit, Paltrow has found clever ways around her restrictions (including occasional cheating). But, upon a close inspection of recipes and their ingredients, we have to agree with Eater.com on the point of privilege. 

The price of ingredients for her egg-white omelet recipe, for example? Assuming you're going to shop for the dish and stock your pantry from scratch in the Paltrow way (as we assumed for all prices here), it’s nearly $30, thanks mainly to her suggestion that you use duck eggs—which can be hard to find, but typically sell for $1 apiece. (Of course you could use standard hen eggs, though we tried to stick to how Paltrow would do it when we made our calculations.)

But what about her muffins? What’s so expensive about a muffin, you ask? Oh, just the gluten-free flour she suggests you buy—not just any gluten-free flour (which is pricey to begin with), but Cup4Cup, a blend made by celebrity chef Thomas Keller and sold at Williams-Sonoma, which costs $20 for a 3-pound bag. 

Oh, and then there’s the $120 salad, featuring canned tuna packed in olive oil, roasted piquillo peppers and topped with dressing given a subtle sweetness thanks to one of her favorite sweeteners: Manuka honey, which averages about $25 a jar. 

Seriously, Gwyneth, we want to work worth you—even eat with you! But we can’t seem to afford it. Unless you’re buying, of course. 

And now, herewith, a sample of what is easily the “It’s All Good” $300-a-day meal plan (all recipes from "It's All Good"):

For Breakfast:
An Actually Good Egg-White Omelet, Spinach & Mushroom Version
Duck eggs $10/dozen
Garlic $ .80
Crimini mushrooms $3
Onion $ .50
Baby spinach $3.99
Coarse sea salt $3.69
Olive oil cooking spray $6.29
Total: $28.27

Sweet Potato & Five-Spice Muffins
Sweet potato $1
Almond milk $3
Xylitol (a sweetener) $10
Gluten-free flour $20
Five-spice powder $4
Baking powder $3
Baking soda $3
Total: $44

For Lunch:
Spanish Chopped Salad with Tuna and Piquillos With Spanish Salad Dressing
Chickpeas $3
Olive oil $15
Sweet pimenton $10
Coarse sea salt $10
Butter lettuce $4
Scallions $1.49
Roasted piquillo peppers $13.50
8 oz oil-packed tuna $18.40
Italian parsley $2
Dressing:
Manuka honey $25
Sherry vinegar $8
Oil from anchovies $8.99
Total: $119.38

Raw coconut water (a suggested pantry staple)
$5

For dinner:
Best Gluten-Free Fish fingers, Mustard + Old Bay Style
Vegenaise $5
Coarse seeded mustard $5
Dijon mustard $3.50
Gluten-free breadcrumbs $6
Old Bay $3
Fine sea salt $4
4 sole fillets $45
Total: $71.50

For Dessert:
Flourless Anything Crumble
Apples (use any fruit) $5
Maple syrup $14
Sage leaves $2.50
Quinoa flakes $6
Cinnamon $5
Total: $32.50

GRAND TOTAL: $300.65



In the words of the Great HOVA - "Whaaaat? Well fuck you. Bitch." 

[Jalapeñomel]

This is totally realistic. I think I'll start tomorrow.

[poppyseed]

Omg, I hate her. She eliminates ALL of those things from her diet? What the fuck is left? Jesus.

[ECB]

While they are stretching a bit on how they came up w/ their #'s (You're not going to eat the entire dozen eggs in one sitting) - at the same time, this diet of hers is clearly another example of how grossly out of touch she is.

[hisno1girl]

$18.50 for a can of tuna fish?

Insane.

[iamgrace]

sheesh. SHEEESH.

[Jalapeñomel]

Who will buy this book besides her celebrity friends (who probably get free copies anyway)?

[pantsparty]

The calculations ARE silly - the omelet ingredients are not that expensive, and of course you're not going to put an entire bag of spinach in one recipe. They would really need to be broken out PER serving.

But yeah, I couldn't follow that diet for 10 minutes.

[runforrest]

Apr 4, 2013 7:44:43 GMT -5 kevin arnold said:

I'm sure it's all way out of touch, I'm not defending her or the cookbook. BUT, these recipe calculations are silly. Aside from a few exorbitantly expensive items, if you calculated any old recipe in this way (the cost of a whole bag of flour plus a whole box of salt plus a 1lb bag of pecans plus 1 pound of butter, etc) you're going to come up with some silly "cost" of a muffin.

I agree with this - sure, a bottle of good olive oil may run you $15-20, but you don't use the whole damn thing in one meal.  If you divide that price into Tbsps, it is probably pretty cheap considering how many times you can use the oil before you have to buy more.  Same goes for the eggs, flour, etc.

But yes, she is way out of touch.  However, I would kill for her body.

[anlo]

Apr 4, 2013 8:01:35 GMT -5 puddleofgrace said:

Life is way too short. Sure she may be skinny and look great but what a sad life to live. No thank you.

::Grabs coffee, chocolate and pizza while giving Gyeneth the bird::::

(high5)

Is she really planning on this book selling? Really? Me thinks this is yet another "Look at me and how rich and better than you peasants I am!" plea for attention. I can't stand her.

[ECB]

Apr 4, 2013 8:01:35 GMT -5 puddleofgrace said:

Life is way too short. Sure she may be skinny and look great but what a sad life to live. No thank you.

::Grabs coffee, chocolate and pizza while giving Gyeneth the bird::::

Plus her whole thing about not being seen in public w/ her DH....  it's so not a life I'd want to lead!  I want to be able to be out and about w/ my family.

This is actually one of the reasons I like Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale - I love seeing pics of them out w/ their kids and just being a family together.

[Deleted]

I kind of feel sorry for her, if it's possible to feel sorry for someone who has a 5.4 million dollar Hamptons vacation cottage. She's an idiot.

[Deleted]

Also I think she could stand some fat in her face. All that starving and dehydration is making her look much older. Chicken neck.

[daisybuchannan]

She is soooo smug I cant stand her. I read somewhere she was saying her family (kids included) sometimes gets a deep hunger from avoiding carbs and white sugar. WTF. A nutritionist chimed in and said children should receive up to 50% of their calories from carbs. Basically Gwynnie, stop starving your fucking kids!

[Deleted]

I detest her. And I don't think the article needed to exaggerate to make the point that GP is NUTS. There is absolutely no reason she can't eat anything but gluten free flour and organic sugar - I am 100% positive she has made up all of her food allergies - and I am equally certain she could be just as thin eating regular sugar instead of honeycomb cultivated from bees fed on the finest of organic flowers.

[Deleted]

DListed is always ripping her a new ass, her and her red panda leather sofas. (heads over there to see if he has commented on this mess.)

[Kit]

That diet sucks.

[sonrisa]

This article is ridiculous because it makes it look like she's eating a dozen eggs, an entire box of salt, an entire bag of spinach, an entire can of cooking spray, the entire batch of muffins (which appear to contain an entire container each of baking soda, baking powder and spices plus a whole bag of flour), the bottle of olive oil, the jars of honey and mustard, etc. 

By phrasing it like this they only look stupid.  I'm sure the meals would be expensive enough if you priced them out properly. Jacking up the prices for hyperbole makes them look much more ridiculous than Gweneth. (or, they think we are stupid).