Happy Feet

Well.. seeing as you asked

First, a quote from the Architect of the Matrix: "There are levels of survival we are willing to accept"

Each year in Feb I do a food challenge of sorts to a. have something to talk about with the residents where I work, b. learn about my relationship with various food, c. break up the boredom of deep winter.

It all started about five years ago when I would ask residents a question to stimulate conversation: If you were shipwrecked on a desert island with an unlimited supply of only one meal - what could you eat forever? Only two rules. It has to be the same meal each time, and it has to keep you alive. It can be a meal like spaghetti and meatballs, roast beef and yorkshire pudding or borscht and brown bread (all answers that were given). This was a great way to get residents to tell stories about their favorite foods from the past and even survival in Siberia! My answer to the question was always veggie burgers, as I love them. Or so I said...

That Feb I decided to put my money where my mouth was and try to eat only veggie burgers for a month. I did it pretty easily; four burgers a day, no problem. It gave us a lot to talk about for a month anyways

The next year I decided to up the challenge and try to eat only eggs for a month. I must have just watched Cool Hand Luke. Actually it was eggs and spinach as I was worried about getting constipated but it turned out I did not need the spinach. I ate about 13 eggs a day for a monthly total of about 354. Without thinking about it I went into pure keto with a 70/30 protein/fat split and no carbs at all and I learned a lot about that as it went. Half way through I experienced some electrolyte imbalances and started taking a supplement as well as a daily multi vitamin, which I do for all my challenges now.

The next year I tried only raw, unprocessed foods (like some vegans) and I lasted only a week that time. The prep work of sprouting various grains and oats etc... was just too much and, while I could eat the food, I found no redeeming value to the diet. When I started I found out just how much food has some form of processing, either chemical, thermal or mechanical. Peanuts, coffee, instant oatmeal... even the dip for raw veggies as well as butter, oils and juices.

The next year I opted to eat the same three meals each day: 1/2 cup dry oatmeal for breakfast, 4 hard boiled eggs for lunch, beans and rice for dinner (1/2 cup dry rice and 1 can black beans) with two homemade hardtack biscuits for snacks. That also went well and I learned a lot about long term expedition meal planning/calculating along the way. I could track all aspects of what I ate. Weight, Volume, Calories, Cost... I could calculate and supply a group eating that basic diet (which gave me plenty of energy) for a year (as an example) very accurately. And the food cost budget was very minimal, which I found interesting in a socio-economic way. It was really a challenge to develop a long term sustainable and calculable diet.

This year I pre-tested eating only oatmeal by first doing so for a week. Again, I could do it easily enough mentally but found it too hard to consume enough calories to make a realistic long term challenge feasible.
Instead I ate only beans for a month. Any kind of beans, canned or dried, as long as all the calories came from beans (legumes actually) and not sugary sauces. Baked beans, lima beans, navy beans, lentils, back beans, broad beans... It went well. I got a little bored in the last week because I knew I was going to make it but otherwise had good energy and no cravings. I mountain biked and trail ran throughout.

And that's the story about that. My next goal, something I've been working on throughout, is to make a vegetarian equivalent to pemmican. Early polar explorers and other expeditions relied on a basic diet of pemmican and hardtack and I've always wanted to make a similar food source I could take on wilderness trips.

An interesting side note though is that, when I did my egg challenge I gave up sugar (so I wouldn't get sneak calories) and since then have not started back up. Except for rare occasions no more sweets, sugary drinks, sugar in oatmeal or coffee.