Gwyneth Paltrow has egg on her face after failing to finish food challenge

Hollywood star tried to feed her family for a week on a budget of £19

Gwyneth Paltrow faced criticism after abandoning her pledge to eat on a budget (Getty)

Hollywood actress and self-acclaimed healthy living guru Gwyneth Paltrow is used to being derided, whether it’s for describing her split from Coldplay frontman Chris Martin as ‘conscious uncoupling’ or the advice she gives out via her website Goop.

But now she has hit back at the avalanche of criticism which came her way after she bailed out of a seven-day challenge to live on a food budget of just £19 a week after only four days.

The self-proclaimed “common woman” signed up to the challenge set by her friend, chef Mario Batali, in order to raise awareness and money for a New York food bank. Ms Paltrow was allowed just $29 for the week with which to feed her family, which is the amount low-income families in the United States can receive in food stamps.

Writing on her lifestyle website, she said she actually spent around $24 because “things like avocados and limes are cheap in Southern California”.

After posting images of her ‘basket’ – a selection of fresh vegetables and rice – the actress admitted later that she had failed the challenge after four days by giving in and opting for chicken instead.

Commenting on her broken vow, Ms Paltrow said: “As I suspected, we only made it through about four days, when I personally broke and had some chicken and fresh vegetables (and in full transparency, half a bag of black liquorice).

“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.”

The actress, whose previous lifestyle blogs have included controversial advice, for instance that women should steam-clean their vaginas, was heavily criticised online for the selection of food bought on her tight budget. Her basket of kale, eggs, limes, coriander and avocado were viewed as unwise choices for anyone depending on the food to last and feed a family for seven days. Twitter users called Ms Paltrow’s shopping challenge unrealistic and condescending, commenting that the star was treating the food stamp programme as if it were “a game”.

Ms Paltrow, who said her performance was worth “a C-minus”, said: “I’m not suggesting everyone eat organic food from some high horse in the sky. I’m saying everyone should be able to afford fresh, real food.”

The food writer also added that she was “outraged” by the lack of equal pay in the workplace which results in “many hard-working mothers… being asked to do the impossible: feed their families on a budget which can only support food businesses that provide low-quality food.”

According to the Food Bank for New York City, approximately 1.4 million people in the New York area rely on food donations to survive.

In her blog post, Ms Paltrow said: “I know hunger doesn’t always touch us all directly — but it does touch us all indirectly. After this week, I am even more grateful that I am able to provide high-quality food for my kids. Let’s all do what we can to make this a basic human right and not a privilege.”