Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by s1artibartfast 411 days ago
Calories are cheap. You can get 2,000 calories for a couple bucks.

Everything after that is preference substitution.

This doesn't invalidate consumer demand. People judge society and ultimately governments based on if they are able to obtain their preferences.

1 comments

Re: "You can get 2,000 calories for a couple bucks." Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Can you please let us know how can you get 2,000 calories for $2?
In addition to what others said, I buy 2 roast chickens a week for $5 each.

Rice is $20/25 lbs, and 1600 calories/lb for 2000 calories/$

They are 6.5lbs after deboning. Cooked chicken skin on is 950 calories per pound. That is 620 calories/$.

Tortillas themselves are 110 cal, and 4.99 for 100ct, or 2200 cal/$

Rice bought in bulk can certainly be had for that price per calorie with some left over for a little protein. I don't recommend anyone follow such a diet though.
I lived off $2/day in food for a few years in the US. Oat flour, protein powder, oil, and a multivitamin.

My approach was a little more engineered than most people's would be, but definitely possible if maybe you expanded it to $3/day or $4/day.

I'm a little surprised you didn't get scurvy, or have bone health issues (because of a lack of calcium or vitamin K2), have electrolyte imbalances, or have imbalances in fiber and essential fatty acids. But good for you. Thank goodness we don't base nutritional advice on anecdotal evidence.
This is the precise recipe I followed: https://web.archive.org/web/20240408162605/https://www.compl...

There was never any risk of any of those things, and if anything the diet proves out the quality of our understanding of nutrition.

Rice, beans, bananas, potatoes. It'll keep you alive but it won't be pretty.