Because of responses in a previous thread I’m going to start eating 3 cups of black beans a day for fiber to keep the stomach bugs happy.
From time to time I take up a restricted diet for a limited time to learn something about people from the past.
So now, since I have to eat a grip of beans anyway, for a limited time I would like to only consume fresh ingredients that fulfill my daily nutritional needs, no more no less. Just to see what that’s like.
Turns out finding just a complete and concise list (calories, Vitamin A, Iron, Potassium) from an organization with some medical knowledge is difficult. Mayo has been no help, nothing clear in the USDA guidelines, reading between the lines it’s just “yeah, eat more vegetables and less pizza you fat fucks, not like you’re going to do it anyway”.
So I turn to you Dopers, you’ve never let me down. I’m a 200 lb man in my early 40’s and with a lifestyle somewhere between sedentary and light activity.
Bonus points awarded if you can find an actual menu of items I must eat to fulfill this quest.
Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me.
Starting out with 3 cups of black beans is pretty easy to build around to get great nutrition. If your game is to just hit RDA for all items, but not go over, like a Price is Right game, that can get a little Rubik’s cubing like.
But you are starting off with about 700 Cal (roughly 1/3 of your calorie needs) in the beans and already over RDA for folate (which is okay to do).
I guess if I was to play the game I’d figure out some combination of fruits and veggies and a few nuts (mainly because I love me my nuts) that just about got me to the vitamin targets, add in a bit of animal protein (to be safe on B12), then fill in the rest with potatoes and/or some grains. Adjust up down based on results.
Thank you, at least I have a start now. I am surprised this information isn’t easier to find.
People like certain things and/or have dietary restrictions for whatever reason, but it shouldn’t be a big deal for experts in the field to just publish a healthy menu for one person for one days requirements if for no other reason than to produce some kind of ballpark for what portions and ingredients constitute a healthy diet.
It is harder than you may think because there is not a healthy menu. There are a huge variety of healthy patterns of eating. I’m not sure how the health.gov dietary guidelines could do a better job giving examples that cover the spectrum.
For example, here is the page on the specifics of a “vegetarian” pattern. You are just starting out with lots more legumes than what their sample includes (at the 2200 Cal per day they’d estimate you should be on they see that pattern as 3.5 cups of legumes a week, and you are wanting to do near that per day).
Personally if I was you and looking for a healthy pattern that encouraged a healthy microbiome I’d not suddenly move to that many black beans. Sticking with the patterns that they list for vegetarian or Mediterranean-Style will give plenty of fiber. But you do you!
Details of those patterns here and here. They provided 41 and 36 grams of fiber at your advised calorie level respectively, both of which are plenty.