How long could u live on eggs alone?

[Sorcerer]

For the last week, I've been living on a diet of eggs, baked beans(tomato sauce), wholemeal bread and water.

 

It made me wonder how long can u live on, eggs alone? And what would be the simpliest possible diet that would sustain a human indefinately?

 

Also, what if anything am I missing from my last weeks diet?

 

I'm thinking theres not much iron and maybe vit A in there. Guess its steak and carrots tomorrow lol.

[CaptainPanic]

Simplest diet? I'm guessing: Bread and water? Bread contains quite a few components, but even the simplest form of bread (using only grain and water) can sustain you for quite a while.

[John Cuthber]

I have heard that you can live on beans on toast (and water of course)for a long while. It's got all the amino acids you need, it's fairly high in calories. I guess you would need to butter the toast in order to get the fat soluble vitamins and I'm not sure about vitamin B12 or folic acid unless the bread is fortified with them.

[Dekan]

Kaspar Hauser supposedly grew up on just bread and water. That may be a made-up story. But didn't Eskimos manage fine, until recent times, by eating only fish, seals and whales?

 

Also, human babies seem to be designed to start their lives, just drinking their mothers' breast-milk.

 

Regarding eggs, I recall reading an account written by some guy who was having a "Paleolithic Diet". This involved him putting a dozen raw eggs into a blender each day, then swallowing the melange ( I think he put the eggshells in as well). He said his doctor, and friends, were amazed how healthy he looked.

[John Cuthber]

I think the milk is "designed" to fit the bay, rather than the other way round.

[Dekan]

I think the milk is "designed" to fit the bay, rather than the other way round.

 

You're right of course! Well, probably. Unless human mammary glands can only produce a limited range of milks. So all viable babies, must be adapted to the limited kinds of milk available. Any baby which required an "off-menu" milk, would get the Darwinian push. I think.

 

The thing is though, can't we go on drinking, and thriving on breast milk, not just as babies, but for the whole of our lives?

 

At what point in our lives, does breast milk become inadequate?

[Mrs Zeta]

Regarding eggs, I recall reading an account written by some guy who was having a "Paleolithic Diet". This involved him putting a dozen raw eggs into a blender each day, then swallowing the melange ( I think he put the eggshells in as well). He said his doctor, and friends, were amazed how healthy he looked.

 

The Paleolithic Diet involves much more than eggs. It should include nuts, raw fruit etc. In mediaeval times, some communities survived on wholemeal bread and water, with rare intake of some beans or vegetables. Christianity suggest that some ascetics lived for years on bran, salt and water.

[Sorcerer]

Bread and Water: wouldn't u get scurvey - or do fresh grains contain vit C?

 

Beans and toast: Seems good, but aren't there certain amino acids that are more readily available in animals (tryptophan iirc), or do we synthesise these? Also I heard that beans contain protease inhibitors, which prevent alot of digestion (could someone confirm that?). About the fat soluble vitamins, theres fat in beans, theres fat in all living cells, lipid membranes.

 

Inuit diet: I'm sure there would be certain seasonal plants, even seaweed they'd supplement it with.

 

Breast milk: would work for non lactose intolerants I guess (most people of north african/european descent) but don't u need fiber or u risk bowel cancer?

 

Bran salt and water: again scurvey?

 

What is in an astronauts diet. Say you had to design a diet for a trip to mars, what would it contain? I could imagine u could get away with vitamins, glucose and amino acids, but again like milk, the lack of fiber wouldn't be healthy for u right?

 

This site was helpful

 

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=88 and http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrientprofile&dbid=34

 

Guess I was wrong about the lack of iron.

 

"Iron for Energy

 

In addition to providing slow burning complex carbohydrates, navy beans can increase your energy by helping to replenish your iron stores. Particularly for menstruating women, who are more at risk for iron deficiency, boosting iron stores with navy beans is a good idea--especially because, unlike red meat, another source of iron, navy beans are low in calories and virtually fat-free. Iron is an integral component of hemoglobin, which transports oxygen from the lungs to all body cells, and is also part of key enzyme systems for energy production and metabolism. And remember: If you're pregnant or lactating, your needs for iron increase. Growing children and adolescents also have increased needs for iron. A one cup serving of navy beans provides 25.1% of the daily recommended intake for iron. "

 

Seems beans also contain omega 3. But lack vitamin A, D, E, B12 and biotin. However eggs make up for all of these.

 

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/111/2

 

BTW I forgot to mention I also put idodised salt and pepper on my eggs, but the idodised salt was probably in my bread anyway.

Edited December 1, 2011 by Sorcerer

[PhDwannabe]

What is in an astronauts diet. Say you had to design a diet for a trip to mars, what would it contain? I could imagine u could get away with vitamins, glucose and amino acids, but again like milk, the lack of fiber wouldn't be healthy for u right?

 

Not to get too far afield, since is not really what you're asking, but you complicate the question by asking what we do or will have to feed astronauts. You can't just hook them up to a feedbag or give them iron rations of some kind. Astronauts, like their close cousins, submariners, need a varied and interesting diet to stave off, well, insanity. If you don't feed them well, to borrow a line from Mencken, it wouldn't be long before they raised the black flag and began to slit throats. It sounds a little bit woo, but food provides psychological nourishment as well as physical, particularly when you're floating perilously in a tube surrounded by the darkness of space.

 

 

That said, add in some greens to that diet, Sorcerer. A salad, perhaps?

 

Oh, and, since nobody else has really asked it, why exactly are you doing this?

[Sorcerer]

I just did because I just did lol, saved alot of money and I didn't have to think of what to cook, plus I didn't get sick of it in a hurry. It was just for the week, I'm eating a more varied diet now.

 

What is in a salad that I was lacking from beans, eggs, bread and the tomato sauce/salt etc in the canned beans?

 

If anything I kind of felt like I wasn't getting enough fat, I poached the eggs, frying probably wouldve countered that. Or maybe that's just my fat addiction kicking in the cravings lol.

Edited December 4, 2011 by Sorcerer

[Josh M]

 

Calories from an egg (see links below): 72

Protein (6.3g x 4 Cal) = 19.2 Cal = 27%

Carbohydrate (0.36g x 4 Cal) = 1.44 Cal = 2%

Lipid (4.8g x 9 Cal) = 43.2 Cal = 60%

 

Content of an egg in grams: http://www.eggnutrit...0Egg%202010.pdf

Calories per gram of edible biomolecules: http://www.nutristra...on/calories.htm

 

I'm a college student, and I do experiments like this too. This one gives you ketone breath. The problem with ketone breath is that it sneaks up on you. You feel great, you think great, you act great, you smell horrible, and you don't even know it. You don't wanna be within a mile of a date while you've got ketone breath. You get it from not getting enough carbohydrates. This doesn't threaten your survival or even give you a feeling of starvation, because your liver converts part your diet of protein and lipids to glucose. When your liver does this, the pH of your blood drops, and that's where the ketone breath comes in. Obviously, since it comes from your blood content, brushing your teeth won't fix it for more than thirty seconds.

 

"Nutrition experts suggest dietary calories be 50 - 60% from carbohydrates, 30% or less from fats, and 12 - 15% from proteins."

Tortora, Gerald J. and S.R. Grabowski. 2004. Introduction to the Human Body: the Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology. Wiley Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ. Page 526.

 

Oatmeal is the cheapest carbohydrates per dollar I've found. I recommend looking into it.

 

And yes, I hung out with friends several times before my mom finally told me I had ketone breath

Edited December 5, 2011 by brodmannstwentysecond