Instant noodles have become somewhat of a semi-legendary college student food staple. Sure, we ate them. Sure, they were cheap. Sure, they didn’t taste half bad and our 18 to 22-year-old bodies were resilient enough not to bat a metabolic eyelash at how unhealthy they were. That was then and this is now.
The CDC estimates that 34.5% of men are obese and that 32.6% of men have high blood pressure; certainly, no thanks to all those slim-wallet dinner nights of crushing MSG loaded instant noodles and campus food. One Chinese college student made such a dietary adjustment and took it to such an extreme that it seriously backfired.
In the United States, 84% of us choose beers based on the season, the same goes with food. There are different seasons that call for different food and drink, it’s only natural to make those changes. For Chinese student Hong Jia, it was shopping season and her diet called for whatever would save her the most money to splurge shopping on Singles Day on November 11. The Chinese equivalent of Black Friday in the United States, Singles Day is the biggest online and retail shopping event in the world. Jia thought she’d save money by going on the cheapest diet possible: only eating instant noodles.
From October 15 onward, she ate instant noodles for every meal, every day. She made it three weeks before being stricken with a nasty fever that caused her to be hospitalized. Now, it hasn’t been confirmed whether or not her three-week diet of exclusively instant noodles was the cause of her hospitalization, but it certainly couldn’t have helped. Even worse, her hospital visit cost her most of the money she had saved for Singles Day shopping.
“I used most of my savings to get better. The IV drips cost me more than 1,000 yuan ($144) and medicine cost more than 100 yuan,” Jia reported.
Her savings stunt naturally went viral, we leagues of people telling her it was a terrible idea. Of course, afterward, there were even more “I told you so!” comments than we can imagine she wanted to stomach, much less instant noodles. Much like a standard serving of wine is five ounces, a standard serving of instant noodles is surely not multiple times per day for weeks on end. Moderation is key. Even her mother caught wind of her unrestrained savings attempt and showed her no pity other than a tried-and-true remedy for pretty much everything.
“Even I watched that viral video. You deserve it. Just drink more hot water,” Jia’s mother said to her via text.
Yeah, drink more water, sweetie. Nothing like some motherly wisdom in the face of antics only college-aged kids are capable of. Jia will be fine but definitely missed out on all that shopping. At least she knows one savings strategy not to try next year.