NYC Mayor Eric Adams says he will live on $10 a day diet
NEW YORK - While announcing the expansion of a healthy eating initiative, Mayor Eric Adams said Monday he would lead the way by spending no more than $10 a day to eat healthily.
"In a few weeks, I'm going to have Rachel (Atcheson) put through a program where I'm going to live off of $10 a day by eating a healthy, plant-based diet," said Adams from Kings County Hospital.
The hospital along with others within the NYC Health and Hospitals System is adding additional Plant-Based Lifestyle Medicine clinics that will offer healthy cooking classes.
Atcheson, a member of the Adams administration, helped the mayor develop his healthy eating initiatives.
Get breaking news alerts in the free FOX5NY News app! | Sign up for FOX 5 email newsletters
RELATED: Vegan Fridays coming to NYC public school cafeterias
"There is a myth out there that states eating healthy is too expensive. You can take a bag of lentils which costs about $2.80. You can make lentil stew, lentil burger, you can make lentil pasta," said Adams.
On Friday, all New York City public schools began offering vegan options for breakfast, lunch and after-school menus.
The lunch menu included vegan veggie tacos served with a crispy or soft vegetable tortilla and a vegan salsa cup. Seasoned broccoli and a carrot and lemon salad were also vegan options.
The breakfast menu features vagal bagels and jelly, hot oatmeal, and seasonal fresh fruit.
"We want you to show New Yorkers- not only what happens in the hospitals- but we want to show New Yorkers that you can have culturally sensitive food that is healthy. That is not what people have been shown," said Adams.
While he has long claimed to be a vegan, the mayor did have to admit on Monday that he does eat fish.
After beating peppered with questions about his diet, his office released a statement saying: "I aspire to be plant-based 100% of the time. I want to be a role model for people who are following or aspire to follow a plant-based diet, but, as I said, I am perfectly imperfect, and have occasionally eaten fish."