Woman Named ‘Beautiful Existence’ Eats Only Starbucks Food For A Year; Spends Over $500 Per Month
Considering there's one on every other corner in every major city, it would probably be pretty easy to eat only Starbucks for an entire year. But what would happen to your body if you did? Would you get fat? Would it make you sick? Or would you actually lose weight?
For her 2013 New Year's Resolution, a Seattle woman named ‘Beautiful Existence’ decided to only eat Starbucks for an entire year – and now she has completed the goal. Existence has eaten only Starbucks-affiliated food and drinks, such as Roy Street Coffee & Tea, Tazo Tea, and Evolution Fresh, for 365 days. Though she did it simply for the challenge and to learn new things, her Starbucks journey may be indicative that Starbucks food is probably not as bad for you as most other fast food restaurants, such as McDonald’s.
Existence, an employee and student at Bellevue College in Washington, documented her year of Starbucks consumption on her website, For 1 Year of My Life. “I just have a natural curiosity to find out about companies and how things work in the world,” Existence told USA Today. “I had to deal with a lot of food changes as they introduced products on a continuous basis. And if I didn’t plan accordingly, Starbucks would be closed.”
For Thanksgiving, Existence ate only grapes, apple slices, eggs, cheese, and a bagel. Even though her meals might have been simpler, she still ended up spending over $500 a month for food. As a wife and mother, however, Existence continued shopping for and cooking normal food for her young children.
Despite the common belief that eating “fast food” for a year would be unhealthy, Existence claimed she didn’t gain weight. “I’m a typical woman and my weight fluctuates a bit,” she told USA Today. “But I didn’t see higher weight gain even when I had more Frappuccinos.” According to Starbucks’ website, the company has “removed the high fructose corn syrup and artificial trans fats, flavors, and dyes” from their food. Furthermore, the company conveniently lists each food item on its website, as well as the number of calories, grams of fat, carbohydrates, fiber, and protein, that each bagel, butter croissant, brownie, egg salad sandwich, or yogurt may have.
She did, however, have a difficult time restraining herself from eating different types of food. “In the last month, in the last couple weeks, it’s been really difficult,” she told the New York Daily News. “People had pizza at the office last week and I was dying. I’m happy to be able to eat whatever I want [again].”
Starbucks 365 HD.mov from Beautiful Existence on Vimeo.