can i survive on nothing but tuna?
 

After a little calculating i have determined that in order to attain the 180g protien that my 180 pond body requires daily, i will require aproximately 6 cans of tuna daily. (each can supplying 32.5g) Is it unhealthy to eat nothing but tuna and an occasional ramen?

Not speaking as a nutrionist, but I would think that it is possible and relatively healthy. It would be like you living on an island with nothing to eat except fish. :)

Or avocado.

this is what im thinkin! plus ive been reading a lot about all these low carb diets. I hear atkins really works in losing fat while maintaining muscle mass. While i am not following the diet, i am using the principle, nothing but protien.

where the hell does bread grow anyway.

avacado?

Re: can i survive on nothing but tuna?
 

i've a better idea.

how about nothing but tuna and the occasional vegetable :eek:

:)

You might catch scurvy.

go to www.bodybuilding.com and read their nutrition articles. it will explain in detail that you need more then just protein to lose wieght.

Don't be silly, you will need to eat more than tuna. By the way, eating that much tuna per day would put you at risk for mercury poisoning as well.

Oh by the way, why would you eat Ramen anyway? There is absolutely no nutritional value in it. Eat a balanced meal of protein/carbs/fat on a 40/40/20 ratio and you will be golden. If you find it hard to reach your protein needs than supplement whey protein into your diet like most of us do :).

***nods in agreement***

That much tuna + ramen = way to much sodium in your diet, not to mention a lack thereof of many other essential vitamins and minerals.

yep i just took some nutrion class in college the prof said that he had gotten mercury poisoning once and said it was horrible


6 cans a day would be bad

NO!!!!!!!!!


Way too many bodybuilders get this tuna gorging idea into their head.

FACT: Tuna is laden with mercury.
FACT: Excess consumption of mercury vastly increases chances of a whole host of negative health conditions in the future.

It's recommended not to consume more than 3 cans of tuna week, which is more than enough anyways. Try some variation in your diet...

Yes... variation is the key with everything (especially women :eek: :p)

yes, new studies show that eating large fish (tuna) more than once per month or so is unhealthy and can result in mercury poisoning.

More then once a month? Hehe you have your facts wrong :p. You can eat it once a day and be totally fine :). Don't go scaring people away from tuna because it is an EXCELLENT source of nutrition for muscle gainers as well as dieters.

You could get anemia as well. Tuna isn't real high in iron if I remember right. You'd also need to check on the source of your tuna. It's not uncommon for the canned stuff to have just a little bit of mercury in it. Eventually you would start acting like you had alzheimers and many other ailments would creep up on you because of the mercury. I forget what else my Dr told me when I told him that I was eating a lot of tuna while I was pregnant. He warned that it was not a sufficient source of nutrician alone. Same with Rabbit. Not much nutrician in that meat either.

Googling the three terms tuna fish mercury gave me several insightful links. I heard of the link between mercury and tuna several years ago and cut it out of my diet before I started eating it. I eat the occasional tin/pack/can of sardines and fish sticks. I should probably stop eating fish sticks too, they probably use some sketchy oil cooking that stuff up.

God I hate when the uninformed blow things out of proportion :p. Tuna is excellent for you, keep eating it. Just like anything else, don't go overboard with it.

Are you referring to me? I got my information from my Dr. I've looked it up as well. If you need sources I would be happy to share. You can look them up for yourself too. I didn't say tuna was bad for you. Just a diet (as mentioned to begin with) of nothing BUT tuna would be unhealthy.

I still eat tuna. Nothing is good in excess though.

I, for one, say that it cannot be done because tuna isn't good enough to eat only.
When I first started eating tuna, I loved it. I sometimes ate two 5oz packs a day. I ate so much that it can sometimes be hard to eat one pack.

Your post doesn't tell people to fear the tuna therefore, no, I wasn't talking about you ;).

According to the latest New Scientist, the Atkins diet is great for losing weight initially but over a year most other diets will catch up. I'm not sure why but that's what a major study proved.

Tune is great for protein but eating it too much and not much else is unhealthy. Some yogurt has about 5-6g of protein per cup and it also has a bunch of other vitamins your body needs. I suggest you do some research and vary your diet.

eating a diet of any one thing won't be healthy. that being said, cutting down on carbs/sweets and eating a lot of tuna and vegetables is an excellent diet. i don't have any scientific references to show you, but i'm certain that if there were so much mercury in tuna that you would be harmed by eating a single can a day... the FDA wouldn't let it on the market. All the warnings i've seen regarding the mercury levels are aimed solely at women who are pregnant.

Sure you'll survive, but how long?

What's wrong with veggies, especially green leafies?

Actually, the study I think you're referring to was on farmed salmon from around the globe, and the findings were that, depending on the country/region the salmon comes from, there could be risks associated with high levels of PCBs (that come from bioaccumulative impacts of feed regime). The jury is still out on how this could affect the body, however. The USDA and Canadian Food Inspection Agency dispute that the levels discovered in the lab are dangerous for consumption either once a month, or once every two months.

If you -are- actually referring to a study on tuna, please accept my apology and direct me to the study. I'd be more than curious to see it.

...and pass the tuna. Hold about half the low-fat mayo most people add. :)

trust me, dont do it, you could try eating something else to survive but eating tuna on a regular basis is a bad idea. Reason for this is: tuna is a fish that has a really long lifetime and over this time period it eats other fish. These other fish have small quantities of mercury in them so over time the tuna will have quite a lot of mercury in it. Consuming a large amount of tuna (eating it more than twice a week) WILL MAKE YOU LOOSE YOUR HAIR, NO SHIT! this is all from experience; last august I tried something simmilar: eating tuna for breakfast everyday and I found that my hair started falling out, I quit eating this canned fish and three weeks later I was gaining my locks back. If you want to stick to an easy meal like tuna swich over to canned salmon which only lives one year and doesent have all of that mercury.

I've heard about the mercury content in tuna as well.
I'll still eat it, but not nearly as much.

(only one piece of tuna sushi, and two pieces of tuna sashimi)
:)

A friend of mine tried to do this same thing this past summer and it did not work out well. Granted he did lose a little weight, but I think that was largely due to his daily running. Anyway, his body didn't enjoy the ~100% tuna diet. He never investigated why, but I do know as soon as he started eating normally again he felt much better.