# Potato Diet



## MoonRiver

Day 4! Just finished my lunch - french fries cooked in air fryer.

On day 3, I suddenly felt fantastic - good energy, very calm, brain functioning. Best I have felt in months.

Strange story. I have been familiar with potato diet for a couple of years and have done it for 2 or 3 days at a time previously. Since I had my 2 heart procedure in September, I had gained 20 lbs and been unable to lose it. In fact I have been trying to lose and gained 10 more lbs, so now I have to lose 30 lbs just to get back to where I was.

So about 5 or 6 days ago, youtube recommended a video of Dr McDougall, author of the Starch Solution, labeled potato diet. I watched the video and it was the guy from Australia who had done the original 1 year potato diet. He lost over 100 lbs in a year and corrected all his health problems.

I love potatoes, so I decided to give it a try. You eat as much and as often as you want - as long as it is potatoes.

I'm doing it day by day, but immediate goal is 1 week, and then hopefully add 1 month to that for total of 5 weeks. If I can make it that long, then 1 more month. I think in 9 weeks I should be able to lose most of the 30 lbs.


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## GTX63

I am sure you will have your dissenters, but diets are not one size fits all. Do what works for you. I can think of worse ways to lose weight.


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## Cabin Fever

The only "diet" that I would recommend would be one that you plan on doing the rest of your life. Eating potatoes the rest of your life doesn't sound like a good idea.


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## MoonRiver

Cabin Fever said:


> The only "diet" that I would recommend would be one that you plan on doing the rest of your life. Eating potatoes the rest of your life doesn't sound like a good idea.


When everything else fails, you keep trying.

The idea behind it is to simplify food choice, stay on it long enough to reset taste buds, and long enough to break food addiction/habits. Potatoes are the closest thing to a perfect food there is, according to Dr. McDougall.

Once you get to goal weight, there is a plan for adding foods back into diet, but keeping potatoes as the main part of diet. If you start gaining weight, you just go back to all potatoes until you get the weight back off.


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## fffarmergirl

I've been thinking about trying it one of these days. I've lost 50-60 lbs and kept it off in the past 18 months and sometimes I feel like I'd like to try something different for a week or two.


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## gleepish

MoonRiver said:


> Day 4! Just finished my lunch - french fries cooked in air fryer.
> 
> On day 3, I suddenly felt fantastic - good energy, very calm, brain functioning. Best I have felt in months.
> 
> Strange story. I have been familiar with potato diet for a couple of years and have done it for 2 or 3 days at a time previously. Since I had my 2 heart procedure in September, I had gained 20 lbs and been unable to lose it. In fact I have been trying to lose and gained 10 more lbs, so now I have to lose 30 lbs just to get back to where I was.
> 
> So about 5 or 6 days ago, youtube recommended a video of Dr McDougall, author of the Starch Solution, labeled potato diet. I watched the video and it was the guy from Australia who had done the original 1 year potato diet. He lost over 100 lbs in a year and corrected all his health problems.
> 
> I love potatoes, so I decided to give it a try. You eat as much and as often as you want - as long as it is potatoes.
> 
> I'm doing it day by day, but immediate goal is 1 week, and then hopefully add 1 month to that for total of 5 weeks. If I can make it that long, then 1 more month. I think in 9 weeks I should be able to lose most of the 30 lbs.


I have to admit, I'm a little jealous! Potatoes are the one of the big no-no's on a low carb diet and I love me some taters! LOL 

Everyone has their idea of what works and what doesn't. I say if it works for you and it's not causing you any harm, good luck!! (could you pass me some mashed taters...?)


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## mzgarden

Interesting - even if it's for a short time to reset or push your body off a plateau. Sometimes I think it's good to do something unusual and drastic for a short period of time and then reset your normal body rhythms. Good for you.


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## IlliniosGal

I suppose I could do only potatoes for a week or so, but then I would get bored very quickly. I read somewhere that becoming bored with food choices is the biggest reason people fail on restrictive diets.


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## 101pigs

MoonRiver said:


> When everything else fails, you keep trying.
> 
> The idea behind it is to simplify food choice, stay on it long enough to reset taste buds, and long enough to break food addiction/habits. Potatoes are the closest thing to a perfect food there is, according to Dr. McDougall.
> 
> Once you get to goal weight, there is a plan for adding foods back into diet, but keeping potatoes as the main part of diet. If you start gaining weight, you just go back to all potatoes until you get the weight back off.


There is a place where all they eat is Potatos. The people there live longer then amy place in the world.


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## MoonRiver

Starting day 6 and it has been fairly easy so far. The only problem is I bought a 10 lb bag of giant baking potatoes at Walmart and they are terrible. I don't know if it is just the skin or the whole potato so will try peeling one and see if it tastes better. If not, they get thrown out.


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## geo in mi

The original potato diet:

https://www.dochara.com/the-irish/food-history/food-in-ireland-1600-1835/

Seems like a lot of potatoes per person

geo


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## MoonRiver

The guy from Australia who did the 1 year potato diet makes an interesting point. When he was creating his diet, he looked at AA and similar drug programs. At their core, they are a single, binary choice - drink vs don't drink, take a drug vs don't take a drug.

We have to eat, so that is a given, but he decided that his choice would be eat potatoes vs don't eat. By eliminating all other foods, he took the decision out of it. It's not "I'm hungry, do I want a potato or a salad or rice and beans or corn and lentil soup etc". It's just "I'm hungry, how will I fix my potatoes".

Many people who have successfully done the diet say it is liberating not having to make the choice of what to eat. Plus, (imo) it makes it less likely to let cheats creep into the diet.

I felt great until yesterday afternoon when I became very tired. I guess this is my body reacting. I know people on the diet all seem to go through certain periods where it can be hard to stay on plan. Maybe I need to buy the book. I will check youtube first.

ETA: I did find that others are going through a detox phase, so that's probably part of it. Also some say that needed to eat every few hours or they crashed. And some said they needed more sleep. So I think what I am experiencing is normal. After a couple of weeks, it is supposed to get better.


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## Cabin Fever

I assume in the potato diet you are not allowed to stuff your baked potato with butter, sour cream, and cheese?


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## Terri

Just FYI, as a diabetic, I find that I get tired when my blood sugar either is bouncing around or too high.

For me, the cure was to eat small amounts every couple of hours. Because I had a small (but steady) amount of food trickling into my system I found that my blood sugar stayed at the desired level and no longer bounced around. I felt a lot less tired when I did this. 

Your mileage may vary. You could, if you chose to, try eating every other hour or so just to see if it helps


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## MoonRiver

Cabin Fever said:


> I assume in the potato diet you are not allowed to stuff your baked potato with butter, sour cream, and cheese?


There are different variations from plain potato with nothing on it to spices allowed and some allow ketchup and salsa. I sometimes use a low saturated fat spread that is based on flax oil and has a good omega-3 to omega-6 ratio or ketchup on fries.


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## MoonRiver

Terri said:


> Just FYI, as a diabetic, I find that I get tired when my blood sugar either is bouncing around or too high.
> 
> For me, the cure was to eat small amounts every couple of hours. Because I had a small (but steady) amount of food trickling into my system I found that my blood sugar stayed at the desired level and no longer bounced around. I felt a lot less tired when I did this.
> 
> Your mileage may vary. You could, if you chose to, try eating every other hour or so just to see if it helps


I'm going to get my glucose meter out and start testing. My heart rate and bp have been very good all week.

I woke up at 3 am and felt bad. I got on computer for a while and didn't think I could get back to sleep. I was getting ready to get up and get a shower and dozed off for 3 hours. Felt fine when I woke up. Hopefully whatever it was is over with.


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## MichaelZ

Potatoes are a very complete food. Kept many people alive in prison camps - see https://www.mofga.org/Publications/The-Maine-Organic-Farmer-Gardener/Fall-2010/Potatoes .
Air fries sound great! I miss french fries on my current diet due to the hydrogenated oil used.


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## HermitJohn

I would imagine like everything the devil is in the details. Didnt potatoes originate in Andes in South America? Think some the mountain people lived on them. The trick is these were not your domesticated swollen up super starchy spuds. These were more like the little waxy fingerling potatoes.

Heck anybody that has planted grocery store potatoes in their garden, suspect you notice how much higher quality the resulting potato is, lot firmer, keeps much better, etc. I suspect the commercially grown potatoes are heavily fertilized, etc.


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## Cabin Fever

MichaelZ said:


> Potatoes are a very complete food. Kept many people alive in prison camps - see https://www.mofga.org/Publications/The-Maine-Organic-Farmer-Gardener/Fall-2010/Potatoes .
> Air fries sound great! I miss french fries on my current diet due to the hydrogenated oil used.


I don't miss (deep fried) French fries at all. What we do to make "French fries" is cut potatoes in wedges. Then, spritz lightly with olive oil, sprinkle lightly with sea salt and toss in a bowl. Bake on parchment paper covered cookie sheets at 400 to 425 until browned.


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## MichaelZ

I was just thinking about making something like these wedges in my oven after looking into air fryers. Definitely in the works soon at our house!


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## Terri

I do pretty much the same thing with spuds: I cut them into wedges, put them in a mixing bowl with a drizzle of oil and stir until the wedges are coated. Then I spread them out, sprinkle them with salt and bake them in a hot oven for 20-30 minutes until they are browned. Yum!


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## dyrne

I stole this from test kitchen but I boil w half a teaspoon of baking soda, drain, agitate in a bowl (stir or shake) to build up a bit of broken mash potato all over the wedges then bake. Like for fancier family events.

But what I usually do is just buy the baby potatoes that are about 1 inch in size or smaller unpeeled and toss them on the charcoal grill. They are amazingly good for almost no effort. Seriously they're amazing even with just salt.


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## MoonRiver

I bought a big bag of frozen french fries yesterday. Today I weigh 2 lbs more than yesterday. Darn sodium.


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## Cabin Fever

Frozen french fries contain a lot of bad oils.


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## HermitJohn

Cabin Fever said:


> Frozen french fries contain a lot of bad oils.


They have to get rid of that used motor oil somewhere....


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## geo in mi

There is a world of difference between freshly dug vs. stored potatoes. That's why I love to grow them. I don't have storage facilities for mine, so by January I'm eating potatoes from the store. I always crave my own potatoes long about July when the N'orlands are ready. By December and January, my own start to taste like grocery store potatoes, too. And, the potatoes you dig up will taste different from the ones I do. To me, they take on the flavor of the soil where they are grown--fresh and earthy, but sort of different. Sort of like walking into someone's home and it smells, while you don't notice the smell of your own home.....

Most people don't really taste the potato flavor because they are covered with salt, or butter and sour cream

geo


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## Bearfootfarm

101pigs said:


> The people there live longer then amy place in the world.


Or maybe it just *seems* longer. 
I might could handle "all potatoes" if they are converted into Vodka first.


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## newfieannie

oh so could i but i heard so much about potatoes here in the last little while that i had to fry some up before i went to bed last night. i hadn't had fried potatoes in 20 years . along about 2am i was sure i wasn't long for this world. ~Georgia


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## Bearfootfarm

Terri said:


> I do pretty much the same thing with spuds: I cut them into wedges, put them in a mixing bowl with a drizzle of oil and stir until the wedges are coated. Then I spread them out, sprinkle them with salt and bake them in a hot oven for 20-30 minutes *until they are browned*. Yum!


It's a great way to do Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts too.


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## Terri

MoonRiver, I did a little more digging about the potato diet: http://theconversation.com/can-you-survive-eating-nothing-but-potatoes-54262

The article says "Eating around 3kg of potatoes a day will provide just over 2000kcal, a reasonable amount for a man of his size aiming to lose weight. But while potatoes are an excellent source of carbohydrates and fibre, he may struggle to get enough protein. A 120kg man may need up to 90g of protein, but this diet will provide only 60g."

Apparently, you would need to eat roughly 9 pounds of potatos a day to get enough protein, which would not help your weight loss journey.

That would explain why the poor Irishmen (before the potato famine) who lived mostly on potatos would drink milk every day: it raised the protein content of their diet. You might want to add a little more protein to your diet as well!


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## MoonRiver

Terri said:


> MoonRiver, I did a little more digging about the potato diet: http://theconversation.com/can-you-survive-eating-nothing-but-potatoes-54262
> 
> The article says "Eating around 3kg of potatoes a day will provide just over 2000kcal, a reasonable amount for a man of his size aiming to lose weight. But while potatoes are an excellent source of carbohydrates and fibre, he may struggle to get enough protein. A 120kg man may need up to 90g of protein, but this diet will provide only 60g."
> 
> Apparently, you would need to eat roughly 9 pounds of potatos a day to get enough protein, which would not help your weight loss journey.


That has been debunked over and over again and proven through blood tests to not be the case. We need much less protein than some experts who rely only on the textbook say we need.


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## Cabin Fever

Nutrients in eight large (3-1/2" to 4-1/4") potatoes:


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## Terri

MoonRiver said:


> That has been debunked over and over again and proven through blood tests to not be the case. We need much less protein than some experts who rely only on the textbook say we need.


I am glad to hear it!


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## MoonRiver

Terri said:


> I am glad to hear it!


Didn't mean to be short.


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## Terri

MoonRiver you were not a BIT short! 

And I am honestly glad that you have done the research: while nutrition is a sometimes hobby of mine I am well aware that there are things that I do not know.


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## MoonRiver

Cabin Fever said:


> Frozen french fries contain a lot of bad oils.


They tasted so much better than mine, but I threw the rest of the bag out this morning.


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## Terri

You might try a different cooking oil. I never did like olive oil, but I think that canola oil produces a very good oven-fry


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## MoonRiver

I did great for almost 6 days and then crashed for 2 days. I was extremely tired and a 1 hour nap turned into 4. I stuck with it until yesterday when I needed to have more energy to get stuff done. I ate a lot of "non-potatoes" and started feeling much better. Was able to work outside for about 5 hours.

Maybe it was just detox and I should have stuck it out, but I have so much I need to get done I couldn't keep dragging around. I felt really good for the first 5 1/2 days, so I hope I can figure out why I went from feeling great to feeling so bad. Trying to find the right foods that give me enough energy without making me gain weight is really tough.


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## GTX63

We hit walls in almost everything we do. Diets are no different.


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## Cabin Fever

Part of your reaction may be due to the fact that potatoes contain very, very little to no Vitamin A, D, E, K, and B12, as well as, important fats like Omega-3 and Omega-6.


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## MoonRiver

Cabin Fever said:


> Part of your reaction may be due to the fact that potatoes contain very, very little to no Vitamin A, D, E, K, and B12, as well as, important fats like Omega-3 and Omega-6.


I take D,K, and B12. I shouldn't have a vitamin deficiency in that short a time. The spread I use has omega-3 and 6. Plus it was only about a week when I started feeling so tired. For the 1st few days, my brain was working better than it has in years and I felt a calmness.

It's frustrating because of all the weight I have gained since September. I found out how to feel bad and lose weight or feel good and gain weight, but not feel good and lose weight.


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## Terri

MoonRiver said:


> I did great for almost 6 days and then crashed for 2 days. I was extremely tired and a 1 hour nap turned into 4. I stuck with it until yesterday when I needed to have more energy to get stuff done. I ate a lot of "non-potatoes" and started feeling much better. Was able to work outside for about 5 hours.


Your body is talking to you. You would be wise to listen. If I were you I would look at the nutrients in the "non-potatos", as there is something in there that did your body a LOT of good

The end goal is to both feel good and lose weight, of course! So, look up the nutrients in the foods that made you feel good, because not everybody is the same. Personally I burn through the D vitamins,faster than most do, and I need a good amount of protein as well. Somebody else might burn through iron, or vit C or???????

We are not identical in our nutritional needs


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## Explosive

Cabin Fever said:


> The only "diet" that I would recommend would be one that you plan on doing the rest of your life. Eating potatoes the rest of your life doesn't sound like a good idea.


Eating potatoes for the rest of your life is a great idea, you can make them taste of anything you want. I will be eating them with every meal


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## Cabin Fever




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## GTX63

Mods should check that IP and confirm americanstand hasn't posted under another name.


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## Terri

A big THANK YOU to Yvonne's Hubby for cleaning the thread during the wee hours of the morning!


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## Cabin Fever

Terri said:


> A big THANK YOU to Yvonne's Hubby for cleaning the thread during the wee hours of the morning!


Not sure what we missed overnight, but it looks like the thread should be cleaned out again.


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## Explosive

IlliniosGal said:


> I suppose I could do only potatoes for a week or so, but then I would get bored very quickly. I read somewhere that becoming bored with food choices is the biggest reason people fail on restrictive diets.


I mainly smother my spuds with hot chili Thai sauce and soy sauce if I have no vindaloo. My spuds are always very tasty.


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## emdeengee

Potatoes are a wonderful food. Lots of vitamins and minerals. They are part of the wonder food group that the Indigenous peoples of the Americas developed - beans, squash, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers - and kept their civilizations healthy for thousands of years.

I would not make any food the main or only food in my food plan but I would also not exclude those known to be healthy because of current fads. No one could sustain a one food weight loss diet forever. 

A lot of the bad reputation that potatoes have has nothing to do with the actual potato but in the way it is prepared and what is added to it.


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## Alexx05

A potato diet looks an interesting thing. But, how long will you take that up. Potatoes also creates a kind of discomfort in the body. A moderate amount of this vegetable is acceptable but, more than that isn't as good. Also, as you said you have had some heart procedures some time back. SO it is better you continue with this diet after consulting your doctor.


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## MichaelZ

To make a diet effective, you should combine with some sort of exercise plan. Since you are buying a lot of potatoes for this diet, try this plan: 

*Potato Exercise Plan*
Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side.
With a 5-lb potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.
Each day you’ll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato bags.
Then try 50-lb potato bags and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb potato bag in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. 
After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each bag.


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