The only food that provides all the nutrients that humans need is breast milk, Hattner said. Breast milk is a complete food. We may add some solid foods to a baby's diet during the first year of life to provide more iron and other nutrients, but there's a little bit of everything in breast milk. No nutritionist would accept a diet based exclusively on potatoes.
Nor would they recommend a single coconut, kale, seaweed, or yogurt. There's a reason why the United States dietary guidelines recommend eating a variety of vegetables, grains, proteins, fruits and oils. Eat any of these fruits on their own and you'll soon have the same nutritional deficiencies as you would with a potato. Variety is important and, in this case, it's vital.
So don't just eat a baked potato, but also fill it up with other healthy things. Like berries, most beans are highly nutritious. Black (turtle), red (kidney), pinto and soy top the lists of so-called superfoods by many nutritionists. This is probably the best source of calcium and iron on the island.
Beans are also a versatile island food, since once dried they can be preserved for a long time. And if you're alone on the island, why worry about flatulence? While most leafy greens will be good for you, kale is particularly rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber. You can boil the stalks to get a simple vegetable broth. Kale was obtained from wild cabbage and its close cousins include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, collards, kohlrabi, kohlrabi, mustard and rapini.
Like berries, cantaloupe is tasty and nutritious. Although it's a little high in sugar, it's too good a source of vitamins A and C and potassium to pass up. Their lack of fat and lower glycemic load index make melons a slightly better choice than bananas. Choose if they are available for collection.
Few foods match berries in flavor, vitamin content and antioxidant power. Add to this list the kiwi, which was once called Chinese gooseberry, but which was changed for marketing reasons. Kiwis have more vitamin C than oranges and almost as much potassium as a banana. Watch out for poisonous berries, such as holly, frankberry, and bamboo berry.
Even the laziest of us can harvest what is washed ashore. Seaweed, alaria and lavender (kombu, wakame and nori in Japanese cuisine) are among the most common. Algae are loaded with vitamins and minerals. Once dry, it will also last for months.
Seaweed is a regular part of the Asian diet, and most Japanese households have four or five types available. Even if you avoid sushi, you've eaten seaweed in ice cream. Irish moss (carrageenan) is a thickening agent. It's not a good idea to eat the same food every day, although in a severe SHTF situation you're probably only dependent on one or two types of food to survive.
If you've eaten so much of some food that you actually got sick and couldn't eat it again, here's what could happen if you depended on just one food to survive.