Monotrophic diet

A monotrophic diet (also known as the mono diet or single-food diet)[1] is a type of diet that involves eating only one food item (such as potatoes or apples) or one type of food (such as fruits or meats). Monotrophic diets may be followed for food faddism motives, as a form of crash dieting, to initiate an elimination diet or to practice an extreme form of alternative medicine.[2]

Examples

There are examples throughout history of eccentrics living on monotrophic diets. For example, George Sitwell ate only roasted chicken.[3] Howard Hughes would sometimes spend weeks eating nothing but canned soup and at other times only steak sandwiches.[4]

Monotrophic diets
Beef

A stricter type of carnivore diet known as the lion diet or all meat diet that has been promoted by Jordan Peterson involves only consuming beef with salt and water.[5][6][7]

Eggs

Piero di Cosimo, an Italian painter ate only boiled eggs.[8] Antonio Magliabechi's diet was commonly three hard-boiled eggs.[9][10]

In 2008, it was reported that Charles Saatchi lost four stone (56 pounds) from an egg-only diet for nine months.[11][12][13] However, the claim that he ate only eggs for this period of time was disputed.[12]

Milk

In the 1920s, the milk diet fad was popularized by physical culturist Bernarr Macfadden.[14] He advertised the diet as a remedy for diverse ailments such as eczema, hay fever and impotence.[14] Macfadden's milk only regime was excessive and recommended 28 cups of milk a day.[15]

Potatoes

In 2010, Chris Voigt executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission ate twenty potatoes a day for two months.[16][17][18] He accepted that the diet is not sustainable in the long term but said his experiment had revealed how "truly healthy" potatoes are.[19]

In 2016, comedian and magician Penn Jillette began his weight loss regimen with a mono diet, eating only potatoes for two weeks, then adding in other healthy foods to change his eating habits.[20][21]

Health concerns

Long-term negative effects of a single-food diet may include anaemia, osteoporosis, malnutrition, nutrient toxicities, muscle catabolism and more serious health conditions. Possible side effects are constipation, diarrhea, fatigue and exacerbated mood issues.[22] Some experts have noted that pursuing any kind of mono diet may be a sign of an eating disorder developing.[23]

See also

References
  1. Guthrie HA (1986). Introductory Nutrition. Mosby. p. 446. ISBN 0-8016-2038-4.
  2. "Ultimate Guide to Mono Diet". The Fashiongton Post. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  3. Shaw K (2009). Curing Hiccups with Small Fires: A Delightful Miscellany of Great British Eccentrics. Pan MacMillan. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-752-22703-0.
  4. "The Bizarre Billionaire". Facts & Fallacies. Reader's Digest Association. 1988. p. 234. ISBN 0-89577-273-6.
  5. "My carnivore diet: what I learned from eating only beef, salt and water". theguardian.com. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  6. Sutton, Malcolm (5 December 2019). "The beefed-up diet 'changing lives' but health experts not so sure". ABC News - Australia. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  7. James Hamblin. "The Jordan Peterson All-Meat Diet". The Atlantic. ISSN 1072-7825. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  8. Blow, Douglas. (2009). In Your Face: Professional Improprieties and the Art of Being Conspicuous in Sixteenth-Century Italy. Stanford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0804762168 "The Tuscan painter Piero di Cosimo (1461-1521), for instance, ate only boiled eggs, cooking them by the bucketload and then consuming them one by one as he worked."
  9. Newman, Jeremiah Whitaker. (1838). The Lounger's Common-Place Book, Volume 2. London. p. 5
  10. Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham. (1880). The Reader's Handbook of Allusions, References, Plots and Stories: With Two Appendices. Lippincott. p. 592
  11. Jamieson, Alastair. (2008). "Charles Saatchi ends nine-eggs-a-day diet, says wife Nigella Lawson". The Telegraph. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  12. Brooks, Richard; Woods, Richard. (2008). "Cracked! The Saatchi diet". The Times. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  13. Nigella reveals husband's 'mad' egg diet . RTÉ.ie. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  14. Toon, Elizabeth; Golden, Janet. (2002). "Live Clean, Think Clean, and Don't Go to Burlesque Shows’: Charles Atlas as Health Advisor". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 57 (1): 39–60.
  15. Smith, Jen Rose. (2019). "America's Weirdest Historical Fad Diets". HuffPost. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  16. Collier, Roger. (2010). This spud’s for you: a two-month, tuber-only diet. Canadian Medical Association Journal 182 (17): E781–E782.
  17. "Is a potato-only diet good for you?". BBC News. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  18. Collins, Nick. (2010). "Man eats nothing but potatoes for two months". The Telegraph. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  19. Allen, Nick. (2010). "American loses over a stone on 'potato diet'". The Telegraph. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  20. Susan Rinkunas (19 August 2016). "Eating Only One Food to Lose Weight Is a Terrible Idea". The Cut. New York Media LLC.
  21. Pawlowski, A. (2016). "Penn Jillette started weight loss with a mono diet — here's why you shouldn't". Today. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  22. "5 of the most extreme diets (and what they could do to your body)". British Heart Foundation. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  23. Howley, Elaine (29 January 2021). "Mono, or Monotrophic, Diet Review: Pros and Cons". U.S. News & World Report.
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