David Bowie's 2-Food Diet In The 1970s Matched 'The Thin White Duke'

Few artists in our lifetimes have been as important and iconic as David Bowie. The prolific songwriter, musician, actor, and fashion maverick left a legacy like no other. During the early years of his career, Bowie embraced various personas including Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, and finally, the Thin White Duke. It was during this era, from 1975 to 1976, which he later admitted was one of his darkest, that Bowie followed a strict diet of "cocaine, coffee, Marlboros, red and green peppers, and whole milk from the carton," according to biographer Marc Spitz. 

Allegedly, this lasted for a whole year while Bowie lived in Los Angeles, working on his masterpiece "Station to Station." This destructive lifestyle led him to lose a massive amount of weight — which eventually dropped below 100 pounds — and affected his physical and mental health, matching the description of his latest assumed character. He later confessed that he remembered almost nothing of this period which, ironically, led to one of his most acclaimed albums. 

While this intense diet is widely documented in the 1975 BBC documentary "Cracked Actor" and David Buckley's book "Strange Fascination: David Bowie, The Definitive Story," it is unclear why he chose milk and bell peppers as his only sustenance. Perhaps he believed they had enough nutrients for him to survive, as his excessive use of cocaine left him with no appetite. It's also said that milk would soothe his stomach and help with the side effects of cocaine use, such as a runny nose.

Bell peppers do provide a lot of nutritional benefits like antioxidants for heart health and fiber for digestion support. They also boast a large quantity of vitamin C, even more than oranges, which can prevent scurvy and strengthen the immune system. Meanwhile, whole milk provides fat, protein, and calcium, but it lacks other necessary minerals such as magnesium, which is necessary to provide the body with energy. A lack of magnesium also leaves the body unable to relax, resulting in muscle cramps and heart problems. 

Bowie could have boosted his magnesium intake with a handful of seeds, but add an ungodly amount of cocaine, and it's no wonder that he hardly ever slept, sometimes staying up for three or four days at a time. According to Petronella Ravenshear, nutritionist at Chelsea Nutrition, Bowie's diet was also low in B12, "which is vital for the nervous system, digestion, and sleep." The combination of extreme malnutrition and prolonged sleep deprivation soon led to paranoia and hallucinations, leaving Bowie mentally fragile, emotionless, and distant. 

Thankfully, at the end of 1976, Bowie chose to leave L.A. and his life of excess, including his milk and bell pepper fixation and the mountains of white powder. He moved to Berlin to start over and write his "Berlin trilogy" of albums. Once again, he enjoyed some of his favorite foods – shepherd's pie and croque monsieur – and lived long enough to share more of his incredible genius with the world.