Caloriffing

 I   n a mild panic about what the hell my so-called "restricted" new diet was going to consist of, I decided to just do a quick survey of the non-meat-non-wheat-no-starch items I'm actually willing to eat.

I was scared shitless that it would be such a tiny list that the diet would be un-doable; I'd be missing too many nutrients due to my picky-eater syndrome that I've had ever since dinner consisted of rice and ketchup every night, with an optional change-up of spaghetti and ketchup (roughly ages 5-8).

I was happily surprised when the "tiny" list actually proved to be quite substantial; with not a single processed item in there and with no meat or poultry, I was able to cover quite a few nutritional bases and food groups, and this was even before counting in optional items such as cheese, meat and grains (rice, wheat, legumes).

My entire "sweets" conundrum was completely covered with the number of fruits I was willing to consume. This means I'll never need ice cream or cakes or even chocolate to fulfil those insane sugar cravings that have always been my bane.

And I was surprised at just how many vegetables I was not only willing to eat on a regular basis, but in retrospect, actually love.

And on this list folks, there is not a single "white" item—no rice, no pasta, no bread, no potatoes, no milk, no cream, no butter . . . there is not a single item that needed a factory to create . . . there are no mammals or winged things (not that I object to their consumption) and basically, if I were on a desert island and this was the ingredient list I was condemned to for the rest of my life I would not only be happy, I would be extremely well fed.

There are certain items not on there that are undeniably healthy—asparagus, avocados, spinach, brussels sprouts and possibly other popular vegetables that I'm not particularly fond of, but hey, some people I know despise broccoli and cauliflower.

I curiously dislike most cooked fish but love smoked or grilled salmon and love shrimp of all sizes and adore sushi and all makers of sashimi, but admittedly my fish and seafood pantry is somewhat limited.

Beans I leave out mainly because the kind I like are spiced with pork and molasses but otherwise I think I have most food groups covered.

What about you? Could you live the rest of your life only eating the items on this list?

Think about it.

This is a randomly organized list with not much rhyme and only cursory reason. The only rules about excluded items are purely arbitrary and are not identifiable as belonging to any official or unofficially recommended diets.

Salad stuff
Tomatoes
Lettuces (romaine, iceberg, red, leaf etc)
Spinach
Celery
Cucumber
Cabbage
Peppers (green, red, orange, jalapeño, habanero etc.)
Watercress
Broccoli
Carrots
Garlic
Flax seeds
Seasame seeds
Pine nuts

Fruits
Strawberries
Grapes
Apples
Bananas
Pineapple
Oranges
Lemons
Melon

Nuts
Peanuts
Walnuts
Cashews
Almonds
Pine Nuts

Vegetables
Tomatoes
Onions
Garlic
Peppers
Carrots
Green beans
Mushrooms
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Snap peas
Green peas
Corn

Fish & seafood
Salmon
Shrimp
Lobster
Maguro (raw)
Toro (raw)
Unagi (grilled eel)
Ebi (sushi shrimp)

Protein
Eggs
Nuts