The show ALONE is history channel propaganda...They say you can only survive with meat.

Alan in Season 1 ate a lot of kelp. He also mentioned collecting Hemlock bark at one point (edible cambium layer).



I saw seasons 1,6,7 and I thought the same thing.

There was a guy in Season 6 boiling Reindeer moss and saying there's tons of it, but we never got to see how far that resource went for him. Lichenin is a prebiotic (like inulin or cellodextrin) but it will give you energy/calories.

Roland in S7 found a huge area of Fireweed and said, "I'll pick 100 lb of fireweed root if I have to. That's my backup plan."
But we never got see anything more on that.

According to Red-It, contestants have stated on AMAs and YouTube that 95% of their footage including foraging and food successess gets ignored & left out of the final edit. I think History channel wants to maintain a starvation drama, etc, and it's not really meant to be educational.

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In theory (at least), you could always ferment leaves/twig shavings the same way rabbits/horses/non-ruminant herbivores do (but at thermophilic temperatures to be safe).

Once again I'm not saying meat should be avoided. I think if they added mushrooms and berries in heavy quantities...in addition to meat would be a better strategy. But that's not promoted on the show.

What's the risk vs reward? How many calories will you get vs. calories expended?

You are already looking for meat right? It doesn't hurt to add some fireweed, mushrooms, and some dandelion greens to your meat stew. Then you grab some berries for dessert and hopefully put some back for winter.

Yeah, it doesn't hurt if you have some extra time. But now we've come around full circle to an omnivorous diet.

Do you really think people ate meat every single day before just in time delivery? Absolutely impossible. The daily meat diet is not how we lived for thousands of years.

^^^THIS^^^

There are some edible mushrooms there on occasion, and sea-weed, and a few berries---but nobody makes it past 2-3 weeks if they don't get some form of meat. The ones (3) who manage to kill a large game animal (Moose, muskox, deer) have won their competition. The hunting is all bow/arrow; the fishing is with hook and line, or occasionally with a small net.
Nobody gets to buy carbs at the local grocery---because there isn't one in a hundred miles or so. Nobody gets to harvest a garden they found in the wilderness.

OP actually needs to watch several years of episodes before making such comments.

I have watched several years and you still don't get the point. You can eat meat and lots of other things too. That's all I'm saying. They act like it's only meat or your face dead.

More believable than people eating a vegan diet outside of extremely specifics biomes or before Whole Foods existed.

The races that lived in the tropics didn't have to survive on meat alone. The races that evolved in the temperate zones had to be good hunters to survive--until they developed herding of animals and farming, they would not survive winter except on meat killed or scavenged.

Exactly. We evolved as omnivores for good reason. We are highly adaptable creatures. However, one thing is for sure, we need fat, whether from plants or animals.



"Omnivores are defined as generalized feeders. They are neither carnivores nor herbivores. They have specializations adapted for acquiring, consuming, and processing food consisting of both animal protein and vegetation. McArdle further defines omnivores as essentially *opportunistic* feeders; they survive by eating what is available. They have more generalized anatomical and physiological traits. Human dentition (teeth) is one such trait. It indicates that the human diet is, by nature, omnivorous and not herbivore as the diet would include meat. Nevertheless, humans are not required to consume animal protein. It’s a matter of choice."

The show does NOT say you can only survive on meat. They actually talk about a type of starvation that can happen when you ONLY eat protein and meat. So...yeah, OP...not even close.

They always show people foraging on that show...until winter comes and they can't forage any more. They have guys drying mushrooms in the season I am watching so I'm not sure where you are getting this.

is an apple alive when you eat it?

FANTASTIC FOR JUAN PABLO!!!!

... and he did it with FASTING....

Gatherers of eggs.

Why would you think it's not true???

How could 8 billion people on earth not discover if it was safe to eat random shit in the forest?

Surviving on a tropical island without meat would be easy.

Don't forget that ALONE is always taped going into brutal winters, every single season.

Spoiler!

I haven't seen it yet, wont till morning, but figured he'd win as soon as he mentioned fasting.