Tuna contains comparatively high levels of heavy metals (and not just from pollution, although that’s kind of irrelevant); not an attribute I’d consider positive in our search for the perfect food.
Like I said, humans.
Not sure about the slow-roasting thing - you’ll destroy some of the trace nutrients that way.
No dietary fiber = cranky colon.
Human Chow! People Kibble!
::d&r::
Discussion about People Kibble .
Soylent Green.
Cartlidge would help.
Yeah, Marvin Harris’ book Good To Eat suggests the same thing. Mind, not absolutely perfect - there are nutrients hard to find in human flesh - but any single food will be the same way. Human comes pretty close. After all, you’re trying to turn your food into more human. Wouldn’t human be a pretty ideal starting point?
Anyone know if human liver provides vitamin C? Raw livers of many animals do, but I’m wondering if the fact that humans can’t synthesize it means that it’s not present in the liver.
How does cartilage substitute for fiber? Or am I being whooshed again?
I thought I heard it was the (chicken) egg, but I bet that was from an ad from the egg council or some other extremely biased source.
One problem to keep in mind is that no plant product will contain all of the amino acids required for health. Rice is close, beans are close, but they need to be eatten together (not neccessaryly at the same time) in order to be complete.
My opinion is that having sufficient protein and nutrients is slightly more important than fibre.
Quinoa is an ancient grain that’s become popular as one of those weird foods. In theory its supposed to be a complete protein, but I haven’t been able to find a site to back that up.
If I had to guess I’d say liver.
I read in an Army survival manual that you can live a long time with no ill effects on Almonds and water. Per 2 cups:
2000 calories
66g protein
33g dietary fiber
1060mg Sodium
2200mg Potassium
–US RDAs—
Calcium :91%
Iron: 64%
Vitamin E 184%
Thiamin 14%
Riboflavin 123%
Niacin 58%
Folate 21%
Vit B-6 19%
Phosphorus 146%
Magnesium 215%
Zinc 64%
Copper 150%
So I’m gonna say Almonds
from University of Minnesota:
It’s tasty, too.
I wouldn’t tout it at the perfect food, because while it kicks ass in the iron and mineral department, it’s fairly low in vitamins, expecially A, C & E. Then again, I don’t think there is a single perfect food for humans. We’re omnivores, and one of the traits that has allowed us to spread like vermin across the face of the Earth is that we can thrive on a wide variety of different diets. I guess the flipside of that is that, unlike critters with more specialized critters, whatever we eat we really need a variety of different foods.
Uh, that would be “critters with more specialized diets.”
Pizza.
Protein, carbs, Vitamin C, fat, salt. Forget almonds. I think that if you ate just pizza and drank just water, you’d probably have no change in your expected lifespan.
Again, while good, no vitamin C. You NEED vitamin C to live.
I think the best thing mentioned so far might be a banana. It has a very good amount of protein for a fruit, even has some fiber for the ol’ colon!
It seems to be lacking in fat, as well as a couple vitamins and minerals. However, one of those is Vitamin D, so just go sit in the sun for a while and you’re all set for that, and vitamin E and K? Are those really needed? But almost no calcium and sodium, Both of those are very essential.
But, as said, there is no one perfect food for humans, aside from milk as an infant and then probably other humans as an adult, but I think a banana (or maybe brown rice) is the closest. But were I stuck on an island with no way to cook anything, I’d much rather have to eat nothing but raw bananas than raw rice.
Vitamin K is produced by bacteria in your intestine. Vitamin E you have to get from your diet.
I just looked at a fat sheet that shows a banana with 1g. That is not what I would call alot. not to mention the fact that that measly 1g is not made up of a complete chain of amino acids.
How about the SWEET POTATO?
Hey that looks pretty good, surprisingly high in protein, for a root vegetable.