A monotrophic diet (also known as the mono diet or single-food diet) is a type of

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

that involves eating only one food item (such as potatoes or apples) or one type of food (such as fruits or meats). Monotrophic diets may be followed for food faddism motives, as a form of crash dieting, to initiate an

elimination diet An elimination diet, also known as exclusion diet, is a diagnostic procedure used to identify foods that an individual cannot consume without adverse effects. Adverse effects may be due to food allergy, food intolerance, other physiological mechani ...

or to practice an extreme form of alternative medicine.

Examples

There are examples throughout history of eccentrics living on monotrophic diets. For example,

George Sitwell Sir George Reresby Sitwell, 4th Baronet (27 January 1860 – 9 July 1943) was a British antiquarian writer and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1885 and 1895. Biography Sitwell was born in London, the son of Sir Si ...

ate only roasted chicken.

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

would sometimes spend weeks eating nothing but

canned soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingre ...

and at other times only steak sandwiches.

Monotrophic diets

;Beef A stricter type of carnivore diet known as the lion diet or all meat diet that has been promoted by

Jordan Peterson Jordan Bernt Peterson (born 12 June 1962) is a Canadian media personality, clinical psychologist, author, and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. He began to receive widespread attention as a public intellectual in the late 2010s ...

involves only consuming beef with salt and water."My carnivore diet: what I learned from eating only beef, salt and water"
theguardian.com. Retrieved 29 January 2023. ;Eggs

Piero di Cosimo Piero di Cosimo (2 January 1462 – 12 April 1522), also known as Piero di Lorenzo, was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. He is most famous for the mythological and allegorical subjects he painted in the late Quattrocento; he is said to ...

, an Italian painter ate only

boiled egg Boiled eggs are eggs, typically from a chicken, cooked with their shells unbroken, usually by immersion in boiling water. Hard-boiled eggs are cooked so that the egg white and egg yolk both solidify, while soft-boiled eggs may leave the yolk, ...

Antonio Magliabechi Antonio di Marco Magliabechi (or Magliabecchi; 29 October 1633 - 4 July 1714) was an Italian librarian, scholar and bibliophile. Biography He was born at Florence, the son of a burgher named Marco Magliabechi, and Ginevra Baldorietta. Although ...

's diet was commonly three hard-boiled eggs. In 2008, it was reported that Charles Saatchi lost four stone (56 pounds) from an egg-only diet for nine months.Brooks, Richard; Woods, Richard. (2008)
"Cracked! The Saatchi diet"
''The Times''. Retrieved December 30, 2019. However, the claim that he ate only eggs for this period of time was disputed. ;Milk In the 1920s, the milk diet fad was popularized by physical culturist

Bernarr Macfadden Bernarr Macfadden (born Bernard Adolphus McFadden, August 16, 1868 – October 12, 1955) was an American proponent of physical culture, a combination of bodybuilding with nutritional and health theories. He founded the long-running magazine pu ...

.Toon, Elizabeth; Golden, Janet. (2002). ''"Live Clean, Think Clean, and Don't Go to Burlesque Shows’: Charles Atlas as Health Advisor"''. ''Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences'' 57 (1): 39–60. He advertised the diet as a remedy for diverse ailments such as

eczema Dermatitis is inflammation of the skin, typically characterized by itchiness, redness and a rash. In cases of short duration, there may be small blisters, while in long-term cases the skin may become thickened. The area of skin involved can ...

, hay fever and

impotence Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of mal ...

. Macfadden's milk only regime was excessive and recommended 28 cups of milk a day. ;Potatoes 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 Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American magician, actor, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller as half of the team Penn & Teller. The duo has been featured ...

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

Long-term negative effects of a single-food diet may include

anaemia Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, t ...

, osteoporosis,

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues ...

, nutrient toxicities, muscle catabolism and more serious health conditions. Possible side effects are

constipation Constipation is a bowel dysfunction that makes bowel movements infrequent or hard to pass. The stool is often hard and dry. Other symptoms may include abdominal pain, bloating, and feeling as if one has not completely passed the bowel movement ...

diarrhea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin w ...

, fatigue and exacerbated mood issues. Some experts have noted that pursuing any kind of mono diet may be a sign of an eating disorder developing.

References

{{Fad diets Fad diets

Examples

Monotrophic diets

Health concerns

See also

References