# How long can I live on lettuce alone?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-i-live-on-lettuce-alone/208715>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 21, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-i-live-on-lettuce-alone/208715 "2003-10-21T15:20:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-i-live-on-lettuce-alone/208715/1 "2003-10-21T15:20:49Z")

</div>

I’m a 33-year old male, 5’10" and 165 lbs.  
If I had to live on only iceberg lettuce and water, how long would I last?

My friend and I have a bet riding on this. There are probably no empirical examples of this so we’ll evaluate any rational explanations and determine which one of us is closest.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-i-live-on-lettuce-alone/208715/2 "2003-10-21T18:21:57Z")

</div>

Iceberg lettuce is pretty much just water (90%) and cellulose. Almost no nutrients or calories. Low enough so that a quick Google search doesn’t even list them. Loose-leaf lettuce, which is much more nutrious than Iceberg lettuce, has 19 calories in a 52 g (1 cup) serving ([http://www.dole5aday.com/FoodService/pdfs/FACTSHEET\_Lettuce.pdf](http://www.dole5aday.com/FoodService/pdfs/FACTSHEET_Lettuce.pdf)). So even for loose-leaf lettuce, you’d have to eat about 100 cups (5 kilograms) in a day, just to maintain a decent caloric intake. I’m guessing that with Iceberg lettuce, you’d actually run a caloric deficit processing it.

So on an Iceberg and lettuce and water diet, you’d last roughly as long as you would on a purely water diet. Maybe a bit less, although the fiber would at least help to diminish the hunger pangs. How long is that? Based on David Blaine’s recent stunt, you’d could last between 3 and 8 weeks under ideal conditions. Here’s a site that actually backs up my WAG with some facts and a list of the damage you’d do to yourself in the process ([http://www.radio4all.org/aia/act\_hungerstrike.html](http://www.radio4all.org/aia/act_hungerstrike.html)).