The salad has kale, pasta, tomatoes, garlic oil dressing, and cheese.
This seems pretty nutrient rich, why could I not live off just this?
you could for sure live off of it if you ate enough calories worth, it just wouldn’t be optimal. I lived off of only watermelon and zuchinni for a long time (eating disorder things). I wasn’t healthy and was pretty underweight and deficient in many things
Because there is no such thing as a single nutritionally complete and balanced dish. Your body needs other nutrients and needs variety in those nutrients. You won’t die, but it won’t be healthy.
And no, it isn’t nutrient rich nor terribly healthy. Cheese is basically a block of saturated fat, oil is… oil, and pasta (I assume white) has been stripped of much of its nutrition. Just because it has some kale doesn’t mean you can live off of it from now on.
Sometimes I feel the same way about a Mediterranean diet! I think eventually you’ll want to mix it up because eating the rainbow is very beneficial to diversifying your gut microbiome as well as providing an even more nutrient rich diet!
I think this is a good start, but I think you could add some fiber in there like hummus/ chickpeas, black beans or broccoli. We all need more protein and fiber
I wouldn’t do it forever; but you’re fine to go until you start to feel noticeably worse. If you never do, I’d say you could go a few years before worrying about correcting things.
First I should say I advocate low carb, so at around 120g of carb a day I think the pasta starts to look like a minus, and the milk starts looking worse.
The oxalates in kale can give some people kidney stones. You’re got cheese in there with it, though, which will help block them, along with the milk. And if oxalate kidney stones don’t run in your family it isn’t a big deal.
I am not crazy about milk; I’d recommend kefir first. Milk’s not what it used to be, now that it is pasteurized; but raw is maybe not safe. And kale has a pretty aggressive mouthfeel; it’s maybe too healthy - cut yourself a break.
I’d like it more if the cheese was a cave cheese like feta or bleu. And some nuts or fish would do a world of good. Especially if you’re selective; rotate the nuts, for example. Get the odd micronutrient or two.
Some other ideas: I like the non-fortified nutritional yeast brand. It is pretty great on salads sometimes, or at least certain salads. It has B vitamins and iron. I like stevia-sweetened apple cider and olive oil vinaigrette. I sneak in ground flax sometimes. Some herbs like oregano and thyme might be smart. Eggs.
But even by itself, unaltered, it looks like a pretty interesting experiment. Might be perfect.