Monotrophic diet


A monotrophic diet is a type of fad diet that involves eating only one food item or one type of food.

Examples

There are examples throughout history of eccentrics living on monotrophic diets. For example, George Sitwell ate only roasted chicken.
Howard Hughes had strange eating habits. He sometimes would spend weeks eating nothing but canned soup and at other times only steak sandwiches.

Carnivore diet

The carnivore diet involves eating only animal products. People following a carnivore diet consume large amounts of meat, such as beef, pork and poultry and some may include dairy products and eggs. The diet can be traced to the German writer Bernard Moncriff, author of The Philosophy of the Stomach: Or, An Exclusively Animal Diet, in 1856.
There is no clinical evidence that the carnivore diet is safe or provides any health benefits and the diet has attracted criticism from physicians and nutritionists as being potentially dangerous to health. Medical experts have warned that the diet can cause vitamin deficiencies and followers run the risk of raising their LDL cholesterol, which can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Criticism also derives from concerns about greenhouse gas emissions associated with large-scale livestock farming required to produce meats commercially, and the potential for such emissions to worsen climate change.

Egg diet

, an Italian painter, ate only boiled eggs. Antonio Magliabechi's diet was commonly three hard-boiled eggs.

Milk diet

In the 1920s the milk diet fad was popularized by physical culturist Bernarr Macfadden. He advertised the diet as a remedy for diverse ailments such as eczema, hay fever and impotence. Macfadden's milk only regime was excessive and recommended 28 cups of milk a day.

Potato diet

In 2010, Chris Voigt, executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, ate twenty potatoes a day for two months. He accepted that the diet is not sustainable in the long term but said his experiment had revealed how "truly healthy" potatoes are.
In 2016, comedian and magician Penn Jillette began his weight loss regimen with a mono diet, eating only potatoes for two weeks, then adding in other healthy foods to change his eating habits.

Health concerns

Nutritionist Helen Andrews Guthrie has written:
Long-term negative effects of a single-food diet may include anaemia and osteoporosis. Possible side effects are constipation, diarrhea and fatigue.