One food.
For how long?
Apples. Eggs. Nothing but steak.
What happens when a varied diet becomes
a menu of one?
One food. Every meal.No other foods or supplements.
Water is always allowed.Plain drinking water, as needed.
Cook it. Don’t add to it.No oil, salt, sugar, or seasoning.
A reference adult.
Pick your only food.
Explore what it gives you. And what it leaves out.
Risk horizons, not a death clock. There is no reliable lifespan estimate for these diets. Timelines describe possible nutritional problems—not safe durations. How this works ↗
A curated collection of 100 familiar foods—not a measured global popularity ranking. Profiles use the preparation shown.
Same rules. Different gaps.
Compare up to four foods under the exact same assumptions.
The body isn’t
a countdown.
Food composition can reveal a missing nutrient. It cannot tell us the day a person would die.
MONO makes the assumptions visible, shows its arithmetic, and keeps uncertainty in the picture.
Linked evidence. No magic score.
So, how long would you actually survive?
We don’t have a defensible number for any of these scenarios. Survival depends on existing reserves, body size, intake, illness, absorption, preparation, and more. A deficiency’s first symptoms and death are different endpoints.
The explorer shows general risk horizons. “Weeks–months” is not a promise of safety until then, or a prediction of death afterward. These diets should not be attempted.
What is calculated—and what is inferred?
Calculated: edible food mass = calorie target ÷ kcal per 100 g × 100. Nutrient intake = food mass ÷ 100 × the food’s nutrient value. Coverage compares intake with 10 reference targets.
Inferred: potential concerns and most time bands. The model flags protein below half its reference, thiamin below one quarter, vitamin C below 10 mg/day, fat below 5% of energy, and selected upper-limit exceedances. These are transparent screening rules, not a validated clinical model. The “leading concern” uses an editorial priority order, not proof of which problem would happen first.
NIH reports that scurvy symptoms can appear within a month when vitamin C intake is below roughly 10 mg/day. That population-level observation is not a food-specific trial. Read the vitamin C evidence ↗
Who is the reference adult?
A healthy, nonpregnant adult male, age 19–50, weighing 70 kg. The default energy scenario is 2,000 kcal/day; it is not a personalized requirement. Protein uses 0.8 g/kg (56 g); the selected vitamin and mineral targets use U.S. adult references. Changing calories changes food intake, not age, body mass, or nutrient targets.
Not modeled: children, pregnancy, chronic disease, exercise, starting nutrient stores, medication interactions, sunlight, food intolerance, contaminants, and individual absorption. The app is educational—not medical advice.
Where do the 100 food profiles come from?
This is a curated selection of familiar foods, not a statistically established worldwide “top 100.” Each of the 100 profiles comes from one USDA Standard Reference (SR28, 2016) record for the stated preparation; all 100 were checked field by field against the official SR28 file on 23 September 2026. SR28 is a historical release, not current FoodData Central. Each dossier shows its record number.
The dataset has not been clinically reviewed. Values vary by variety, brand, cut, farming, and preparation. Treat the displayed arithmetic as an illustration based on those inputs, not laboratory precision. The source bundle includes all per-100-g values for inspection and replacement.
What does “cook it, but add nothing” mean?
Use the edible part and the preparation named on the food card: for example, raw apples, baked potatoes, or cooked rice. No salt, oil, seasoning, other foods, supplements, or fortification. Butter is unsalted; milk is unfortified. Naturally occurring sodium is not removed. Water for drinking or cooking is allowed.
Profiles are preparation-specific—not a live nutrient-retention simulator. Heat, draining, storage, and edible parts can change the result. Dry oats and dry chia are measured before added cooking or soaking water; their hydrated mass is not included in the optional mass cap. This prevents direct volume comparisons with ready-to-eat foods.
Cook foods that require cooking safely. The scenarios do not assume eating raw animal products, raw kidney beans, or other unsafe preparations.
What does the model leave out?
It is not a complete nutrient assessment. It does not quantify iodine, sodium and fluid balance, vitamin E, vitamin K, all B vitamins, amino-acid quality, individual essential fatty acids, bioavailability, or every nutrient’s upper limit. A near-zero sodium intake, extreme fiber or protein intake, and food-specific hazards may matter without receiving a timeline.
Ten targets met does not mean “complete,” and an RDA shortfall does not establish deficiency. Excessive intake can be harmful even when every target is met. The food-mass cap is an adjustable editorial assumption—not a measured stomach limit.
A shelf of evidence.
Primary nutrition references. General mechanisms—not 100 survival trials.