Physiological consequences of a human eating almost exclusively beans, rice, and vegetables?

Unbelievable, humidity-altering flatulence.

Oh reply, to get a bit technical and nitpicky we should distinguish between “satiation” and “satiety.”

That immediate sense of fullness is “satiation”, the sense that you have eaten enough at that meal.

Being less hungry at the next mealtime, or going longer before being hungry again, is “satiety.”

That’s putting it mildly. You may have to file an Environmental Impact Report. Aside from that, as has already been pointed out, you’ll be eating a typical vegan diet. If you think about it, humans only eat four things: grains, vegetables, legumes, and animal products. What else is there? Scratch the animal food, and there you go. Nothing is missing except B12, but your liver stores a three-year supply of the stuff anyway. The only long-term side effects you’re likely to experience are that you’re going to have more energy and general sense of wellbeing than you’ve ever experienced in your life. Last February I finally decided to work some lard off my ass. When you have to rest for half an hour after walking half a mile and need to hold your breath to tie your own shoes, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. My daily diet now typically consists of the following:

Breakfast: one rice cooker cup (135 grams dry weight) of whole-oat groats with 25 grams sugar (I use dextrose instead of sucrose) with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a cup of soy milk mixed in.

Lunch: a foot-long Subway Veggie Max (the one with the patties) without cheese, loaded with veggies, and a bag of Sunchips.

Dinner: one rice-cooker cup of rice (switch among different types for variety) seasoned with a pat of margarine and some Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning, a huge salad consisting of iceberg lettuce, spring mix, cucumbers, and some Balsamic Vinaigrette (make your own; it will cost you one-tenth the amount you pay in the store and you can choose your own oil(s)), and maybe a small bowl of lentil soup if I feel inclined.

I’ve gone from a waist 38 to a waist 34, have more energy that I did when I was in my twenties, and if I had lab tests, I’d bet my serum triglycerides, levels of C-reactive protein, and other biomarkers of general homeostasis would come out stellar. What’s to lose? I’m never hungry, I look ten years younger, and all my fifty+ friends are jealous and want to know what my secret is. I sleep like a rock, jump out of bed in the morning ready to face the challenges of the day, and I never run out of energy. I spend a total of about 20 minutes a day on food preparation and cleanup, leaving me with unprecedented amounts of extra time for work and study.

One caveat: for the first couple of weeks, you are going to have excruciating cramps from the sudden influx of fiber in your new diet. They will scare the bejeebus out of you; they’re that painful. But they will pass in short order.

With a diet like that, I don’t think you’d actually need an external gas supply. :stuck_out_tongue:

Heh.

It does depend on what you are used to.

Once you’ve been eating a bean-heavy diet for long enough, your gut bacteria will adapt, and the gas will diminish. And even before then, bean farts don’t generally smell as bad as meat farts.

:smiley: I was a hippie/commune-raised kid and the OP’s diet is very similar to how my siblings and I ate growing up. Except with occasional added fish and seaweed (dulse, mostly) we picked ourselves. And wild greens and mushrooms, ditto. Oh, and raw milk because we had goats.

It wasn’t until I was well into school-age that I realised paint-peeling farts were not actually normal and were unacceptable in polite society.

My youngest brother did not eat meat until he was about 20, and is over 6’, fertile :slight_smile: and healthy. My other sibs and I are very healthy (so far) into middle-age. My mother is in her early '80s and still active and healthy, and mostly eats the hippie/beans/rice/vegetable and occasional meat and fish routine.