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 Linda Thomas
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Seattle woman will eat food only from Starbucks for a year

January 8, 2013 @ 4:12 pm (Updated: 9:56 am - 1/9/13 )

Beautiful.jpg
A Seattle woman says she'll only consume food from Starbucks for all of 2013, though friends and family tell her it's going to "cost a lot of money" and she's "going to gain weight," (Photo courtesy Beautiful Existence)
"That's going to cost a lot of money."

"You're going to gain weight."

Those are the reactions a Seattle woman gets when she tells friends about her plan for the year.

Beautiful Existence, her legal name, is only going to eat food and drink beverages from Starbucks for all of 2013.

"I've been going in and getting their nutrition by the cup charts for all their serving sizes," she says. "I'm already getting a feel for what to eat - the plain nut pack as a snack because it only has 190 calories, compared to the piece of pumpkin bread."

Lucky for her, Starbucks bought a tea business and a juice company last year, so Beautiful will also purchase food from Evolution Fresh and Tazo Tea.

"I'm still trying to figure out how I can do sushi," she says. "I have two friends who are chefs and I want to see if I can get them to help me tear down some of the products at Evolution fresh and do something else."

Are you still trying to figure out why she's doing this?

Beautiful, who does not work for Starbucks and isn't getting paid by the company, designs year-long challenges for herself.

I met her after she spent a year shopping only at Goodwill.

This year's project is about more than eating turkey paninis and sipping green tea, she says.

She wants to document her experience to show how communities benefit from Starbucks.

"The company pays good benefits for part-time workers. That's where my money is going," she says.

In keeping track of her receipts, so far she's spent an average of $18.79 a day on food and drink from Starbucks.

"We're really lucky and I would say actually spoiled as Americans because we have all these different eating options," she adds.

"You go to all these other countries and they don't have these luxuries. Really? Is it really going to be that hard for one year of my life to limit my menu? We'll find out."

By LINDA THOMAS

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (68)


  • Add A Comment

  • shark75 wrote...
    @William Lawn aka "9am Beer Goggles"
    January 9, 2013 9:05 am
    Dude, you can't be serious. She's not ugly but she aint cute and getting that pixie lib hairdoo didnt help her cause any. Her blog picture isnt the best either...she looks like a brainwashed drone on autopilot waiting for her next set of orders from Obama.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ten4goodbuddy wrote...
    Bravo
    January 9, 2013 11:40 am
    I agree with you Shark.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Mavila wrote...
    "I like Beautiful Existence and the challenges she creates for herself."
    January 9, 2013 9:07 am
    Nothing reeks more of elitist snobbery than being legally named, "Beautiful Existence." Well, that and eating nowhere else but Starbucks for a year. Oh, and let's not forget the presumption that anyone else will be interested in what she has to say about this frivolous undertaking. A real challenge would be eating K-rations in Afghanistan for a year. Now THAT I'd find an interesting read.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ten4goodbuddy wrote...
    even better
    January 9, 2013 11:40 am
    Well said.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    @Mavila
    January 9, 2013 9:16 am
    Well put.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Zoeller wrote...
    She looks as -
    January 9, 2013 10:57 am
    Crazy as she sounds.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    take a time out BL or Bookkeeper - now go eat some flounder thats an order . . . .
    January 9, 2013 11:57 am
    She's not ugly but she aint cute. what number are u shark? 2?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • C"mon Man wrote...
    Starbucks ban
    January 9, 2013 11:58 am
    At new NBA/NHL venue.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • The Dude Abides wrote...
    Greeeeeat...
    January 9, 2013 12:01 pm
    This story should get absolutely ZERO attention. It's a flower child trying to get some meaning out of her pitiful existence by giving her money away to an awful major conglomerate. Starbucks doesn't deserve a penny from the poor folks of Washington who got the shaft from an owner who had no qualms about selling us taxpayers out because we wouldn't let him take another half billion dollars out of our pockets. Shame on this woman's parents for screwing her life up from the getgo with the hippie complex. Shame on her from trying to garner attention for something so stupid. Shame on MYNW for making you do this story, Linda.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • TheNewsChick wrote...
    Here's the funny thing about "news"
    January 9, 2013 3:52 pm
    Everyone defines news differently. The Dude Abides, I will not let you "shame" MyNorthwest for "making" me do this story. Every story I write is something I think is interesting for whatever reason. So you can shame me if you like, but realize no body tells me what to write. Although you might not think this story is worth reading, I think what Beautiful is doing is unique. I'm not alone. A national news site picked up my story today too. Maybe in doing this year-long experiment she'll have a different story about Starbucks and what it does for the community than she even thinks. She's a good person, and she doesn't deserve anyone's harsh comments. She's also been a blogger for awhile, so hopefully she has a tough skin that one needs to develop to deal with an online world where anyone with a screen name can say whatever they like. Even so, I've always supported the double edge sword of open/anonymous comments.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Oly80 wrote...
    "This story should get absolutely ZERO attention."
    January 10, 2013 7:19 am
    yet, you gave it attention...

    AND POSTED ABOUT IT.

    i'd say the article did it's job.

    way to go, Linda.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • TDuncan47 wrote...
    15 minutes
    January 9, 2013 12:43 pm
    Beautiful is getting exactly what she wanted - her 15 minutes of fame. I'd give her 3 months before she falls off the wagon, or gets back on. Whichever one means she can't stand it anymore. Scones and frappes can only get one so far in life...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Oly80 wrote...
    "I'd give her 3 months before she falls off the wagon, or gets back on."
    January 10, 2013 7:21 am
    totally agree with you.

    and the beauty part of this is that they don't have to PROVE that they actually did, or did not, stay strict to their challenge.

    but, WOO!!! EVERYBODY WATCH/READ AS I DO THIS STUPID, ATTENTION SEEKING STUNT!!! AIN'T I SO COOL!!!???

    the generation right under mine is pretty pathetic.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • uralnutjobs wrote...
    do they take food stamps?
    January 9, 2013 12:47 pm
    since she is eating on less than $20/day so far; maybe the gov. of nj should try his living on food stamps experiment at starbucks. i also thouhgt s-bucks was a tea company that started selling coffee.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • TheBopeep wrote...
    Stupid
    January 9, 2013 3:41 pm
    Hipsters.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Oly80 wrote...
    exactly.
    January 10, 2013 7:22 am
    thank you!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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