Feeding the entire planet jerky for a year would require 15 times the current number of live cows on Earth. This is partly because jerky is a very dense preparation of beef. Theoretically, you could survive for a long period of time with dried meat alone. Yes, beer can (in reasonable quantities) hydrate you almost as quickly as water.
In addition, the beer brewing process makes the water safe to drink. When the Pilgrims arrived in the United States, they built a brewery before building a church. They may or may not have eaten jerky. Now, the simple answer is that yes, you can survive only on beef or any other meat.
There is plenty of evidence that Inuit traditionally spent most of the year surviving on whale meat and some fish with virtually no trace of plants on their plates. As a nutritionist, I wouldn't call jerky a healthy food. This is due to its high sodium content and its classification as processed red meat. However, if jerky is on your personal list of foods you can't live without, consider it an occasional treat.
When you eat it, balance its high sodium content with a large amount of plant-based whole foods that are naturally low in sodium; and consider chopping mushrooms or other plant varieties more often. Eating too much jerky can cause a number of side effects, including rapid weight gain and an increased risk of heart disease. Nutritional information for jerky may vary by brand, but according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) database, a 1-ounce serving provides 116 calories, 9 grams of protein, 7 grams of fat and 3 grams of carbohydrates.
These key minerals, as well as the fact that it is a practical and non-perishable source of protein, are some of the benefits of jerky. When evaluating any packaged food, including jerky, the first and most important thing to consider is the list of ingredients. According to the USDA's FoodData Central, you'll get 1,785 milligrams of sodium from an ounce of jerky. Choosing jerky instead of vegetables or fruits, for example, means you're losing vitamin C, vitamin A, and dietary fiber.
If you eat too much jerky, you're probably not getting enough other foods with the nutrients your body needs to function properly. You need to consume about 3,500 extra calories to gain a pound of fat, so it will take about 30 ounces of jerky to gain a pound, as long as you don't reduce the calories in the jerky you eat or decrease the calories in your other foods and you don't increase the amount of physical activity in which you participate. This means that you could have an increase in blood pressure from eating too much jerky because of all the sodium you'll consume. According to USDA's FoodData Central, one ounce of jerky contains 3.12 grams of carbohydrates, of which 2.55 grams are sugars and 0.5 grams consist of dietary fiber.
Getting protein from jerky instead of sources like canned tuna or smoked salmon means you miss out on the opportunity to consume long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. Eating too much jerky could result in excessive sodium consumption and this could cause the health problems mentioned above. However, it also contains some unhealthy nutrients, and too much dried meat in the diet can be harmful to health in a variety of ways.