I've been watch jealously as 'Terra" enjoyed a week of potatoes, I will be curious to see what her overall impression of the Potato Diet is now that she's done it. Also, this comment from "anonymous" made me happy to see:
Hubby and I did the PH for 5 days. He had to have a little salt. Fav way to cook was skin on, baked(yukon golds, reds and russets) overnight in the fridge then sliced 1/4", into bowl of 2 tbs EVOO(for 4 lbs spuds) mixed and spread onto cookie sheet. Convection baked @ 475* for 15 min. Crunchy, yum!
Hubs could over eat on these, me not so much., I was only able to eat 1.5# a day.
So he lost 3 lbs, me 2lbs. I was dying for red meat and my bone broth by day 5! Interestingly, I cooked a 1/4# beef patty (our own grass fed) and dug in but could only eat half of the patty! And I am a MEAT eater! Still can only eat 4 oz meat at a time. Or for the day...Have kept eating cooked cooled spuds, really need the gut help!
I'm the one posted above with CD. I had been getting terrible chapped lips and cracks in the corners of my mouth, by day 3 they were cleared up and other skin bumps were gone! Had about 4 oz of a sweet potatoe and my mouth burned and chapped lips and mouth cracks back!
Felt great, had plenty of energy and was never hungry.
Planning to start a regime of 5 days PH 2 days healthy eats.
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| MMMmmmmm |
I wanted to post this today so that if you'd like to join in, you can have the weekend to polish off those leftovers and go out and buy some nice, fresh potatoes to be ready on Monday. I was looking at my potato stockpile that I grew and picked myself last October...they are just starting to get some eyes and feeling a bit soft. A good sign that Spring is right around the corner, these will be my seed for the garden this year, but also a sign that if I want to do a potato diet with my own potatoes, I'd better hurry!
I have a uBiome kit still. On Friday, I will take a sample and send it in. Maybe they will be faster than AmGut, and I will have two 'potato-only' gut bacteria results to look at eventually.
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| RDA of some select nutrients in one pound of potato |
Here's my plan for next week:
- Sunday: bake 5 pounds of potatoes (half of them in tinfoil) and store in the fridge. Also, boil 5 pounds of potatoes and store in the fridge. These will be my stock of ready-cooked spuds to use in meals and as snacks.
- Monday-Friday: Weigh myself each morning and record. Drink a cup or two of coffee with stevia sweetener for breakfast, 1 pound of potato for lunch (re-heated in microwave or cold), and 1-2 pounds of potatoes for dinner.
I plan on weighing out the potatoes before cooking them. So I will be cooking 10 pounds of potatoes, and also have 5 pounds of uncooked on hand to use to make hash-browns and thinly sliced fried potatoes for dinner. My lunches will be very boring because I will be at work with only access to a microwave.
I also plan on cooking the potatoes slightly undercooked, as described below ("stone in the middle"). I'll be eating almost all of the peels, and taking no supplemental fibers during the week.
15 pounds of potatoes cooked as described, and also sneaking some slices raw, should provide nearly 700 grams of RS for the week, or about 140g of RS per day! Plus the other fibers.
I will probably use salt at every meal, vinegar with dinner. No other condiments. I guess the salt and vinegar kind of spoil the "1849 effect" so if anyone wants to try without, that would be too cool. I'll do the last two days with absolutely nothing but potatoes, though, for scientific testing purposes.
The potatoes I will be using are Yukon Golds, but I also have some purple potatoes I will eat a few of fresh. I find they don't hold up well when pre-cooked for some reason.
Here's something fun to read while you get up the courage to try the potato diet: 1849 Ag Journal:
"The vegetables grown for table use are many of them in appearance of the finest kinds. The potatoes grown in England are in general of a superior quality, though I think them inferior to the potatoes grown in Nova Scotia. In Nova Scotia they have not only the advantage of a climate as cool as that of England, but likewise of a virgin soil, which circumstances seem particularly favorable both to the growth and the quality of the potato, and nothing of the kind which I have eaten is equal to a fine Nova Scotia potato. In our old soils, surcharged with manure, the potatoes are always inferior in quality. In Ireland, deemed of all other countries the adopted home of the potato, I was seldom able to find one that was even eatable. This arose, however, not from the quality of the root, but from the mode of cooking—the Irish always desiring, to use their own expression, "to have a stone in the middle;" so that the aim of the cook was only to boil, or rather scald, the outside of the potato, and leave the inside as hard as when it went into the pot. The advantage of this, as gravely stated to me, was, that they were longer in digestion, and therefore gave more support. This may be sound philosophy in Ireland, where the stomachs of the poor find equal difficulty in getting, as they do in keeping what they get. It would be inhuman to treat the extreme destitution of these poor wretches with any levity; but I found this mode of cooking prevailing also at the tables of the rich and noble; and after seeing such an abuse of one of the most useful and nutritious products of the earth, I was half inclined to advise him to try a few granite pebbles, and see whether they would not serve the digestive organs still longer. It was a curiosity to me in London, likewise, to see them selling in the market, by the quart, the small, not half-grown, not quarter-grown potatoes—not even so large as cherries, and many not larger than peas; and these were brought up as luxuries. I should quite as soon think of sitting down to a dish of boiled bullets, or duck shot; and I should suppose with almost equal chance of nourishment."
What else? Anyone in? Any questions?
Update 2/22/15: Here's my vittles for the week:
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| 15 pounds of homegrown potatoes! |
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| Shredded Hashbrowns! |
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| Crispy on the outside...Gooey on the inside! |
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| Dinner, Day 3. 450 deg for 30 minutes. |
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| Dinner Day 4 -- Potato Chip Thin, Fried Potatoes |
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| Day 5...REAL FOOD! Broiled Alaskan Red Salmon w/fresh herbs, Crispy Potatoes met Pindasaus, Morel Mushrooms |
Hi Tim!
ReplyDelete"Anonymous" here aka Sharon. We are in starting Monday!
Ah! thanks for coming out of hiding...nice to meet you.
DeleteGood luck!
Oooh... I'm tempted. Will go re-read your original post properly.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we have something similar to yukon golds over here... hmm... might just try a few of my favourites like nicola, dutch cream, etc.
Any potato will do. I think it's great to get the best quality you can find. It also helps to get smallish potatoes of equal size, maybe tennis ball size or a bit smaller. 150g each or so. Makes it easy to track intake and pace yourself.
DeleteYou do realize the potato diet does not involve unlimited frites met pindasaus en mayonaise, right?
I'm thinking about doing it Wednesday through Friday. Something (my bugs?) is telling me to add raw green onion and garlic, which I think I will do. Hope that is not cheating too much.
ReplyDeleteThat seems a fair addition...if your gut bugs command it.
DeleteI might join you!
ReplyDeleteWe might like you to.
DeleteHi Tim! Peggy here! I just posted this to you over on MDA as PullUpPeggy! I am in (already on Day 3 but hoping to go 7 days PH, one day clean protein/veggies/fat, then 7 more days). You ROCK! Thank you so much! I'm on day 3 now but I've lost 1.6lbs, 0.3% body fat. Stoked.
ReplyDeleteHa! Quite an intro post on MDA,
Deletehttp://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread109763-63.html#post1595638
My weight loss is always kind of funny, too. Sometimes none for first two days, then a big 'whoosh' as they say. Good luck!
Thanks! I updated it even more with some metrics. I am fascinated by this hack. It's amazing what you've done here. Can't thank you enough!
DeleteGet prepared! The biggest reason for failure is lack of potatoes. Sounds like a joke, but people end up going through their stash faster than expected or get the munchies and don't have any cooked spuds on hand.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I love about the potato diet, something magical happens in your brain...when you know that potatoes are OK and everything else is off-limits, it means you have to consciously give yourself permission to eat anything else.
Remember, people regularly fast for longer than we are doing potatoes. This is in no way harmful to an otherwise healthy person.
Hi Tim,how would this affect diabetics or 'prediabetics'
ReplyDeleteAs for diabetics, as in, T1D on insulin...no idea. They are always their own best advocate and not prone to doing high-carb diet hacks as their life is at stake.
ReplyDeleteRegarding prediabetes, I think most will be amazed at what happens, and hopefully they will confirm it with periodic FBG and PP readings. Again, most people in this situation are careful about how they eat and will exercise caution.
In my personal experience, I never get as low of FBG readings as when I'm on a week of potatoes. It's unreal, really. I'm not considered prediabetic, but was once, even when I first did the potato diet. What I saw was pp BG spikes up around 180, returning to baseline in under 2 hours. The next morning, my normal FBG of 120 was 80. The next day's meals only caused a pp spike of 160. And my FBG on day three was 70.
If you can access this 1903 journal, you will see this has been long-noted: Potatoes in the Diet of Diabetics
In part:
""Mosse says that potatoes are generally held to be injurious in diabetes, and are usually placed in the list of forbidden articles. He believes, on the contrary, that they are not only permissible, but even useful. Potatoes may, with advantage to the patient, be given in substitution for wheat bread in the proportion of 2.5 to 3 of the former (weighed raw) to one of the latter. In his dietetic experiments he allowed his diabetic patients to have the enormous amount of 1 to 1.5 kilogrammes of potatoes (weighed raw) daily. In some instances the amount was increased up to 3 kilogrammes, or about six pounds.
Wheat bread contains from -47 to 55 per cent, of starch, whereas fresh potatoes contain from 16 to 24 per cent., or an average of 20. The potatoes may be given in various ways, but in all his cases Mosse had them baked.
In his experiments usually from 1 to 1.5 kilos of potatoes were substituted for about 350 to 500 grammes of bread. After the potatoes were substituted there was always a definite drop in the curves representing the urine and sugar excretion. In none of his cases did the sugar entirely disappear. Mosse states [that there was also a marked amelioration in the patient's symptoms. The thirst became less, nem-algias disappeared, and the strength increased. He found that after potatoes had been substituted for bread for several days, and then the patient placed on the original amount of bread, the excretion of sugar never reached the limit attained previous to the potato regime. The writer consequentlv holds that a potato diet has a similar beneficial efifect to the " hunger-day " of Naunyn.
Good results have followed the use of the potato regime in not only the mild, but also the severe forms of diabetes. Mosse claims that traumatic wounds and those following surgical operations heal much more rapidly on a potato diet, and cites cases attempting to demonstrate this view.
Mosse advances two hypotheses to explain the beneficial effect of the potato diet. The first is that the potato produces a sugar more easily warehoused than that produced from bread; and second, that it introduces a substance into the organism which favours the glycolytic function of the body. The thirst is attributed to a greater amount of water contained in the potatoes, increased glycolysis is believed by the writer to be due to the much greater quantity of potash introduced into the system as a result of the potato diet.
From the series of charts published it seems quite certain that potatoes are better tolerated by diabetics than wheat bread. " Irish Journal of Medical Science, 1903
My current 'first day post-taters' reporting goes thus: After 4 tater days, started eating regular food again last night at dinner (whole-foods 'meal shake', beet-based brownies mmm). Today I woke up super sore and achy - biiig detox-feeling reaction. wow, something got released during/after the potatoes! I have intense brain fog today and just feel really weird :P
ReplyDeleteBut! My appetite is really cool right now :D I want healthy things, I'm cruising right on by non-healthy things...I feel like I have this objectivity I usually struggle for even a glimpse of. "Yes, that sugar-y pastry would taste sugary...but it's bland and nutritionally uninteresting. no thanks." "Yes, that healthy choice would have nutrients, but it's not what my body is telling me it needs. no thanks."
What's disconcerting about this, is a further extension of my earlier observation that I comfort eat more than I realized. I keep having this impulse to eat for comfort, but unbidden this "hmm, that would actually feel ick if I ate it" thought floats up and I go...well SHIT! What comfort-food *can* I have? lololol
Oh my :P The trials of slightly increased health :D
(as a TMI observation - that much butyrate production? basically equaled poop+butter. The first time I've seen literal evidence of butyrate production by the gut bugs - kinda cool!)
Deletemaaannnn - I *knew* talking about butter would be taking things too far!
DeleteMy husband and I have agreed to do it, but on a day by day basis. My thyroid function is particularly sensitive to diet and I have other health issues so we'll see how we go. My husband's barrel of a tummy is of major concern to me and he is just now concerned enough to be prepared to do it. His big thing is to give up is one glass of red wine in the evening, not to mention his tendency to get the munchies after tea.
ReplyDeleteWill pick up another 4kg of potatoes today so I can cook them tonight.
Hooray! The gang's all here!
DeleteThose after-dinner munchies are hard to get over! They still sneak up on me from time to time, also.
Harriet - I'm thinking I'm going to do the "1 protein meal + 1 potato meal, 5 hour separation" variation. I feel like 100% potatoes was pretty tough on the adrenals for me personally, and I'm hoping to avoid the brain-fog and minimize adrenal stress with the +protein variation.
DeleteMight be an option that would help you?
Terra, I was hoping the potato diet might address the brain-fog and adrenal stress, not make it worse. I'll play it on a day by day and if the adrenal stress becomes too bad i'll add an egg or something equivalent. I was wondering if the Potato diet would starve the strep infection I have in my lower gut of protein and change things for the better. We'll see.
DeleteEvery body is going to respond to a stressor differently - don't count on mine as typical, it seldom is :P I'll be curious to see how people do this week!
DeleteAfter last night I decided it isn't for me - too many symptoms to manage in the middle of the night as I'm one of those with health issues. I thought it might be a bit much, though worth a punt as it might have worked for me. However I did come down some 300g and my husband 400g. I'll not tell him I'm eating other foods and may have just the potatoes at lunch as that is the only meal we eat together. But what was interesting is that while I craved more variety of foods I didn't crave sugary ones. So while he is on a strict potato diet I'll be on a strict mixed fruit, veg, low-medium protein with no sugars or gluten or flour substitutes, i.e. paleo plus RS with NO extras.
DeleteOK, Harriet - You are excused. But only cause I like ya! My lunch today was about 1.5 of the big yellow potatoes that I baked last night, eaten cold. It was a very satisfying lunch for me. As nice change from my normal can of sardines, lol.
DeleteDinner will probably be some shredded hashbrowns fried in a tiny bit of coconut oil or butter.
It's funny, because lately I have been getting in the habit of eating peanuts all day long. A little bit ago I walked past the giant bag of peanuts we keep at work and started to go in for a handful, but said, "Nope, just potatoes!"
No wondering about how many calories was in a handful of nuts, no thinking about what I could cut out later if I did eat them, no guilt from eating an off-limits food. I'm fully in "potato mode" and loving it!
What is it about peanuts?
DeleteWhy is it I can have delicious almonds that I have roasted with garlic and rosemary on hand and not touch them for days and then just take a few, but if I open a can of peanuts, they call to me until they are gone.
Might it be the legume factor? I had an unopened can of peanuts in the house for a long time. No problem....never even thought a out them. But I was eating legumes on a regular basis. Then I cut out the legumes for the last month and suddenly I found myself scarfing down half the can, totally out of control.
I'll keep on reporting in on my strand of this. After day 2 hubby has lost more weight. I had to add a little protein to each meal for general health reasons and despite this managed to lose another 300 grams. Poor hubby. His mobile phone reset itself overnight and when he was woken by his 5 am alarm he dragged himself up, did his ablutions, dressed, went out to the kitchen, saw it was 2 am and thought the clock had stopped. Cooked up his morning spuds, ate them, made his fancy coffee and looked up at the office clock - just 2.30 am. It was then it dawned on him that his mobile phone had reset to EST, rather than WST. Oops, that might explain his worse than usual fatigue level that he had been attributing to the potato diet. BAck to bed for a couple more hours of sleep. But much to my surprise he is sticking with it.
DeleteBeginning of day 4 Hubby has lost 2 kg - 4.4lbs and I've lost 1.2 kg or 2.6 lbs. I've never lost more than 1 kg in a week no matter what diet and its still only 3 days. Hubby is on only potatoes and I have had to add some protein to each meal, but the meals are still largely potatoes.
DeleteI know the feeling! When I first did this, I could not lose three pounds to save my life. And if I did manage, by fasting or starvation, it would come right back on instantly. I think that is the miracle of 'water weight' at play.
DeleteThe weight set-point is a real thing! It's hard to adjust it. I think the potato diet comes closest to any real weight set-point adjustment I've ever seen.
Hi Tim. Long term lurker here; love your work. I just watched the video linked to in your potato diet tab and read about the diet. If Polyphenols (especially Chlorogenic Acid) are important elements of the potato diet's benefits then you might find this link that I found to a powerpoint presentation interesting for its comparison of different potato varieties to blueberries and pomegranates. Very interesting. Carl
ReplyDeletehttp://omicsgroup.com/conferences/ACS/conference/speaker_ppt/12009-Speaker-ppt.ppt
ReplyDeleteCool! Look at the purrple, red, and yellow in my pile! (see pic in update above)
DeleteSo....will unseasoned potatoes be so unappetizing I won't eat? Then will I get truly hungry and will eat them anyways?
ReplyDeleteErrrm, kinda like that, I guess. Give it a try!
DeleteTim, I tried this a few years ago after the potato commissioner of Washington state did it. There are people who LOVE potatoes. But what happens when a person is not a potato lover? I lasted a few days and then just could not look at another plain potato without getting nauseated. Roasted better than boiled but still.... Maybe if I was starved and there was nothing else to eat and I didn't eat anything for 3 days.... they'd be delicious. Like the Doctor Zhivago movie on the train. There were actually two potato eating on the train scenes in that movie. One was roasted potato and the other boiled potato. I can't find the roasted potato scene which looked much more appetizing than the boiled one.
ReplyDeleteI feel like party pooper but plain potatoes are just not palatable for me.
Best of luck to everyone who is going to do it.
Are you going so purist that you won't put milk or cream in your coffee? Or do liquids like that not count?
Gabriella, I suspect you are right and that I won't last three days due to my preference for a mixed diet, but I'm trying it anyway. One meal at a time. One meal down, 8 to go. Much to my surprise my husband is trying it too as his barrel tummy definitely needs to be slimmed.
DeleteYou could fantasize that you are on a train to Siberia. ;) It would be easier for me though. Temperature is going down to minus 24C, windchill minus 40C.
Delete(Shh, not trying to drive anyone crazy but I ate potato halves laid on a couple of thick slices of real smoked bacon...a few drips of olive oil and salt....450F in the oven. Now that's potato!) Actually since you can legally eat the potato with some fat, bacon drippings work well. .If you just cut potatoes in half, put them on top of a pat of butter, sprinkle a little olive oil and salt on top, bake at 450F they'll get toasty on the bottoms, the skin is crunchy and the insides are nice ...running and hiding now. ;)
c'mon Gabs! You aren't c-h-i-c-k-e-n are you? Bawk, bawk, bawk. 2 days.
DeleteChickens and potatoes...hm.
DeleteI'll make potatoes my 80% but not 100%. That's already a 99% increase in my usual potato consumption. Everything is relative. We need to compromise here. I'll let you know how it goes. Probably at that rate, it would be relatively easy to 'go potato' for a lot longer than a week.
I like your souring the potato idea. That'll lower the glycemic index big time. Good idea.
Tim, what is your take on this article? http://drbganimalpharm.blogspot.com/2014/08/sorry-resistant-starch-is-unlikely-to.html
ReplyDeleteThe title is correct: "Resistant Starch is Unlikely to Miraculously Cause Weight Loss and Body Fat Loss".
DeletePlease forgive my ignorance. I can't tell if you're joking? Not that I think the potato hack (or anything else) is going to cause miraculous fat loss, but I feel like the author of the article above negates the benefits of RS I've read here and on MDA. It's a little more technical for me to digest 100%. It was this part that had me take pause:
Delete"I have not seen RS miraculously induce fat loss in obese human animals. I can list the people who are still 'challenged' (like I was for a while!). Unfortunately there are few anecdotes, human RCTs, human cases or internet stories that back up instant weight loss with RS -- yes -- because I've looked. RS is just a fiber. Digestible complex carbs are fiber too -- 10% escape into the colon and feed the microbiota quite well. If the diet is 150-200 grams carbs, then 15 to 20 grams will be pure fuel for the colon flora. Nice, eh? That's half of our 'fiber quotient'.
If you want to lose weight and break body fat plateaus, the fuel and fibers for the flora that have evidence of successful human trials and RCT outcomes are:
--arabinoxylan (psyllium, whole GF grains)
--pulses (legumes = rich in phytochemicals, RS3, fibre, protein, minerals and vitamins)
--oat bran
--beta glucan (carrots, celery, radish, oats, mushrooms)
--glucomannan, konjac, etc.
RS has none ...and coprophagic rodent studies don't count. So much promise, no teeth."
So, do this apply to Potato Starch as a supplement but not the potato hacking diet? Any insight or thoughts if you have the time is much, much appreciated. Thanks!
Peggy - The Potato Diet is just a fun way to try at an old, old diet. People have subsisted on just potatoes for centuries. It generally results in fast weight loss, similar to taking HCG, with very low calories, but not unbearable hunger. RS only plays a minor part in the overall potato diet, more than likely.
DeleteThe blog post you linked was in response to a Chris Kresser blog, How Resistant Starch Will Help to Make You Healthier and Thinner.
The Animal Pharm blog author wanted simply to refute the Kresser blog title. In my opinion, RS will make you healthier, and could lead to helping overweight people lose weight, but it is not a magic bullet for become thin. If that makes sense.
@Peggy
DeleteGrace Liu's writing is difficult to digest not only because it looks a bit technical. You would have to read more than the headlines to see that the author mostly presents her personal views and conjectures as waterproof, scientific facts.
Poor Tim, and the never-ending supply of questions "why does Grace writes this or that about potatoes or RS?"...
@Tim, thank you, again, so much for taking the time to respond and clarify. I did read the whole article but am kinda doing an immersion education on this whole hack. For the record, I'm on day 5 of the potato diet. I was 24.7% body fat beginning. This morning I came in at 23%. That's insane! The first couple days were 0.1% here and there then this morning... WHAM! 0.7% body fat loss. THANK YOU!
DeleteWoops, meant that I'm on Day 6 with 0.7% body fat loss.
DeleteI think if a person is trying to lose considerable weight, it's easy to cycle the potato diet in and out to speed things up. Then use it occasionally to keep in the weight range you desire.
DeleteI was thinking today, people always talk about going into 'starvation mode' when they eat too little, what if some of that was signalling from gut microbes? On the potato diet, they'd be very happy even though the rest of your body is in a huge calorie deficit.
Who do we really need to keep happy? Us or them? So much of the food we eat is simply to satisfy our sweet-tooth. The potato diet is like a birthday party for your gut bugs!
TIm, you're a genius!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to recommend the potato diet to my wife for Lent. She hadn't quite settled on anything and, lacking any other good ideas, sort of decided to get back on 'teh RUMPS' in lieu of bfast & lunch. The potato diet sounds a lot more interesting. And it would work to use Sunday as an off day, so it's not quite as extreme as 40 days of potatoes. You gotta mentally prep for something like that.
For my part, first a little background… when I was working out of town last fall I got into the habit of an apple topped w/ peanut butter as 1/2 my lunch everyday. (Yogurt & granola being the other half.) I kept at those lunches even though I'm back home now. The deal is, I have had a problem with nose bleeds my whole life, and they've flared up of late. Thinking about it over this weekend, I wondered if all that O6 in the p.b. is the cause. I've decided to lay off p.b. for a week or two and see what happens. The problem was I couldn't think of what I would replace the pb & apples with. It's hard to beat the convenience of a quartered apple topped with peanut butter. Apple sans pb wouldn't work for me. The juice is too sweet and without any protein or fat they aren't filling and leave me more hungry. A baked & cooled potato sounds like just the ticket!
Hey, Allan! Glad to be of service.
DeleteThe nutrition of the all-potato diet is interesting when you look at macronutrients:
1kg of potatoes, which is about what most people eat per day, has the following:
Calories - 770
Protein - 20g
Carbs - 170g
Fat - 1g
Fiber - 22g
RS - ~100g (with a variety of cooking methods)
Also of note, the protein is very good, it has an 'amino acid profile' (a measure of the protein) the same as any red meat. ie. a 'complete protein'.
So, it's kind of funny, you could call the Potato Diet "Low Carb" when compared to SAD.
That is interesting. Add in 2T (30g) of fat and the total calories are right around 1000/dy.
Delete@Allan
DeleteThanks for bringing the idea of Lent. Mainstream or any other religions aside - this experience of benefits of spring fasting, of some self-denial must be very ancient.
It could be the best time of the year to try the potato diet NOW (for those on the Northern hemisphere, of course).
I have read the MDA thread on the potato hack some time ago, funny how many people immediately start "negotiating" and try to tweak this simple prescription: eat nothing but potatoes for 4-5 days... some commenters over here the same. Why do you think you and your gut bugs need continuous supply of balanced nutrients? No, you don't. The gut flora neither. Shock them from time to time, let them starve, let some of them die, reset your mutual metabolism a bit.
Why are so many people afraid?
Good one Gemma, I feel the same way.
DeleteGemma, it's not fear. Just a general non-love of potatoes to begin with. This reminds me of the natto eating experiment whereby a claim is made that if you eat natto every day for 30 days eventually you'll get to like it. Um, that did not work. I figured out how to get it down the hatch without too much exposure to the slime of it, but still, never got to really like it.
DeleteI went many many years without eating a single potato because I don't like them. But I'm willing to eat them as a large proportion of the diet for a period of time, possibly for a long time so long as I can 'mask' their nonflavour. I wouldn't think that pouring a little bit of paprika/onion/oil combo on a potato would be a crime. Or a few bacon bits. Or some cooked spinach. Or lots of chopped parsley. Just anything to make the damn things palatable. (It's no even as though there are other sources of carbohydrate that I normally eat. My meals are usually lots of cooked and raw vegetables and fish/meat/seafood. So it's not even as if pasta or rice or whatever is a prefered source of carbs. Eating potatoes is a total lifestyle change.)
"anything to make the damn things palatable"
DeleteGab, no stress! It is not a crime :-)
Gemma, you had the effect of changing my mind about going on the Potato diet. Actually, my wife started it when she asked the simple question of "why?" I dunno. It would be fun? But I don't see doing it without onions, garlic, and hot sauce. Then I get back to why I am doing it. What is my goal? I think I'm just going to keep on keeping on.
DeleteJust to clarify, I actually don't like potatoes much at all either, so Gabriella, I'm with you there. I would require bacon.
DeleteI meant to say I agree with Gemma there seems to be a lot of worry for some people about "daily requirements" of micronutrients.
When my kids were young and I was pretty paranoid about their nutrition someone taught me that as long as their food choices balanced out over a week or so, we were doing fine. "They want to eat nothing but apples all day? Let them!" I just wish more adults could relax into eating that way. I feel bad for people who find food so stressful.
wildcucumber, I agree with the 'weekly' nutrient assessment. There's way to much emphasis on a daily balanced diet and it's b.s. It makes for neurosis.
DeleteYesterday was a potato day with fish. Today for breakfast it was a potato with an egg. I was actually feeling really good at work. Mentally focused. So there's a potato in the small oven now. 1 potato kept me going for 11 hours so far.
I do hope though that I don't grow breasts like that woman on the video. Potato tits or what? LOL! (yeah I know, it's silicone.)
Yes, the potato diet will give every lady washboard abs and big boobs! I'm sorry, but she just does not look healthy to me.
Deleteit seems to me it's easy to get sucked in worrying about micronutrients (and taking supplements) when you read about other people fixing their problems by eating or taking XYZ.
DeleteOr, you read a study about a correlation between some deficiency and OCD or anxiety or depression.
Michelle
@Wilbur
Delete"Gemma, you had the effect of changing my mind"
Oh, now I am a bit confused. Shall I better shut up, or should I rather shout louder???
:-)
This is my first post and day two of the potato diet. The first day was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I did add a little fat (olive oil) and salt to my potatoes. I'm one of those people that would normally eat every few hours since I get headaches if I don't. Yes, I know Tim cautioned those of us that experience that to not do this but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I normally follow a really clean diet. No processed foods except for an occasional Cliff or Larabar. I've been experimenting with fibers for a few weeks now. I started with PS and tried a couple of the more common ones but I didn't get along with them. I've learned so much by reading this blog! Thank you Tim for being so generous with all that you share! I'm the Kim that emailed with you when you were in Mexico/just returning. It's been so helpful for me to read about so many different individual experiences. Thank you to all for all that you share! I'll report back on how I many days I do potatoes and how I do.
ReplyDeletePS I always wonder where some of you are located. I'm based in Dallas, TX.
Hi, Kim - Nice you stopped by! The potato diet is just for fun, and everyone will respond differently. I must admit that a tiny bit of oil makes it easier to cook potatoes in a pan, I've made a mess of several frying pans trying to cook without any oil!
DeleteLet us know how long you last on potatoes and how you did!
I'm in, too!
ReplyDeleteHi, Tim - Thanks for your fast email response, do you really answer every email that fast? I have such a hard time commenting on blogs, I will try to get a Google Account as you suggested.
my background -
43yo male, ned to loose about 25 pounds. Been stalled at 195 for 6 months and can't break 190 for anything. Just looking for a way to break this damn plateau!
I started out at 250 last year and slowly worked my way down to 190's. Mostly low carb and then PHD (thanks to Tim's recommendation).
So, here we go! All-potato! Just like the old days. No spices or anything. I just want to try it. I think I have enough potatoes on hand to make it until Friday or Saturday but I can get more mid-week if need be.
Jerry M.
Hey, Jerry - Thanks, much better to talk about this here where everyone can see. As I said, I first used the potato diet to break a long stall, in fact did it for two straight weeks and was just amazed watching the scale drop every day after months of losing and gaining the same 3 pounds. I ended up 10 pounds down for the 2 weeks, it was absolutely amazing.
DeleteThat little experiment also made me think really hard about the lengths people go through to lose those 'last 10' and how it seems to become impossible through starvation, carb restriction, or fat restriction. It also made me become much more brave in trying things long-term that may lead to some weight gain because I know "one weird little trick" now to get rid of any excess weight in a hurry.
Bodybuilders have done this similar thing for years. Eat as much as you like to get muscled-up, expecting some fat to come with the new muscles, and then blast it off in a couple weeks. I think most people make a mistake trying to lose fat over long periods of years with continual food restriction.
I feel way happier going through phases of exercising really hard and eating really good, then cutting back on both a bit to keep in the weight range I like. I know that plateau feeling all too well!
Good luck!
http://www.globalresearch.ca/officials-declare-eating-healthy-a-mental-disorder/5431992
ReplyDeleteWhile I have actually met someone who may *qualify* under a truly clinical definition of pathology in this department...she was literally the only person I've known whose intense scrutiny and care in eating was inspired by a truly 'eating disorder' frame of mind.
DeleteHaving lived my entire adult life embedded in a long list of different 'alternative' health-styled communities, I've seen every version of 'defined diet' I've ever heard of or imagined - and most of the people eating them were merely careful and well informed (and willing to eat outside that diet for fun, if it wouldn't overly affect them). Either ethics (mistreatment of animals, destruction of farm land) or illness (allergies/intolerances that would make them very ill on a SAD diet) guided their choices - totally different than "diseased thinking."
Arrgh. Shit like this drives me crazy, because obsessive behaviours or distorted body image can be attached to ANY kind of eating - and those have nothing to do with the diet choices involved. And yet those diet choices end up smeared with this reputation of 'diseased behaviour.'
I haven't read the article yet but I confess - the couple years of diet restriction I went through for health reasons started to turn into disordered eating.
DeleteNow I'd rather die of too much pastry than too little.
@wildcucumber - I'm glad you noticed the signs and got healthier! ROFL at 'die of too much pastry than to little' - I hear that :P In a way, I'm glad the food allergies keep me walking the line - I enjoy my indiscretions, don't take them too seriously, and mostly eat well or my body yells at me a lot :P
DeleteYou know that eating starch is a mental disorder, too, called Amylophagia.
DeleteWikipedia says:
"Amylophagia is a condition involving the compulsive consumption of excessive amounts of purified starch. It is a form of pica and is often observed in pregnant women."
I say send all these crazy, starch-eating pregnant women straight to the looney-bin!
That's fascinating. The one time I really did enjoy my potatoes was when nursing and ravenous. I used to grate one right into the hot pan - sizzle, flip, sizzle - so hungry! must eat now!! I was always vaguely worried because the potatoes weren't completely cooked through but ate them anyway because hungry!! Now I know I was doing a good thing. Sweet! Nursing women may be even crazier than pregnant.
DeleteOK, lunch of Day 2...3 cold baked potatoes. I really enjoy the parts that were almost blackened in the oven. Gives a deeper flavor. Eating these with no salt or anything, just munching them as if they were apples. Quite satisfying.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of scales and weighing, but I thought I'd track some markers this week.
My FBG is normally around 90. This morning was 88.
My weight was 185 yesterday morning, 183 today.
That was quite a drop, usually I will lose 3-5 pounds in 5 days doing the potato diet. But like I said, not a big fan of scales! I think there are just too many factors that go into weight and normal fluctuations can be very misleading.
Also measuring body fat...the home scales with a BF% mode are generally not all that accurate. Best to just go by how your pants fit and how you look in the mirror!
This experiment wouldn't be any hardship at all. All my life I liked cold potatoes straight out of the fridge better than hot at diner time, much to the frustration of my mother. 1 kg of potatoes a day might even be too much, but I will give it a try for 3 days (to start with). I'm a T2 diabetic with raised blood sugars that don't seem to want to come down. Who knows, this might be just the kick up the bum my body needs.
ReplyDeleteJo TB
PS: I'm in Holland, land of the potatoes. (Vincent van Gogh's potato eaters)
ReplyDeleteJo TB
Hartstikke leuk!
DeleteGive it a try. Even with 1kg of aardappels per day, it's probably less carbs than most diabetics are eating.
I love that term aardappels. Translates to "Earth apples," right?
Yep, earth translates to aarde. As you stated 770 calories for 1 kg is definitely less than most diabetics eat.
DeleteJo
pommes de terre
DeleteDay 2 for me, too. No weight lost on the scale. I seemed to have had to urinate quite frequently, I even had to get up in the middle of the night, a very rare thing for me. Is that common?
ReplyDeleteYesterday I had 5 baked potatoes, the first two were hot from the oven and the last 3 were cooled a bit. I cooked 15, but will need to make more, I see.
Today wasn't even really hungry for lunch but I ate one of the cold potatoes anyway and now thinking about dinner. I will probably make some fried potatoes.
Jerry
Hey, Bud - I've heard people mention the peeing thing. Maybe just the body getting rid of some inflammation? Weight loss is funny, sometimes it's the scales fault, digital scales are the worst.
DeleteI used to fast for 40 hours once a week when I was trying to lose weight. I just didn't eat on Thursday. I'd eat dinner Wednesday, then nothing until lunch on Friday. I would lose 7 or 8 pounds every time. By Saturday morning, i was right back where I started. It never seemed to lead to any long-term weight loss. Supposedly fasting like that is good for you, but I haven't done it in a couple years now.
Usually with the potato diet, I will lose 3-5 pounds during the week, then another 1-2 the next week eating normally. So strange.
Isn't a potato diet a kind of cheat in the sense that you can have a lot of stored fat-soluble vitamins, that this diet won't provide, so you won't see a possible deficiency for a few months?
ReplyDeleteI think this diet actually disproves a lot of myths and is perfectly healthy, even if you did it long term, not just the 5 days or so we are doing here.
DeleteThat said, I would think after 2 weeks you'd want some meat thrown in!
Day 2 for me. Breakfast and lunch yesterday were good, though by dinner I could barely eat. It was as though I could feel the body was a little bit hungry but couldn't get motivation to actually eat, no saliva or something. Breakfast this morning was fine, so will see how the rest of the day goes. I don't want to lose weight as I'm on the thin side, but I am curious to see if it re-sets anything. Might only do it for three days though if lack of appetite is a problem.
ReplyDeleteGot three varieties of potatoes, have always wondered what the exact difference in taste is between some of them -- am starting to develop my potato palate!
2-3 days is a good plan for the first time. It will let you know if there's anything in it for you. Try to be as true to the diet as you can. I am always freaked out a bit when I eat something else for the first time after several days of just potatoes. You'll see. Taste buds go crazy.
DeleteI really am becoming a fan of roasted potatoes, just cut in half and bake, uncovered, about an hour at 400 deg.
My parents used to cut potatoes in half and bake them. They called them "half baked potatoes." Ha, ha.
DeleteI don't know about half baked potatoes, but I did learn a trick about baked ones. The hotter the better. In the oven, I cook them at the max temp of 500F. On the Big Green Egg, about 700F. I cook them to an internal temp of 195F and then let them rest. About 35 minutes in the oven, about 20-25 on the BGE. Crispy skin, moist inside. As a bonus, on the BGE I cook them next to whole chickens that splatter chicken fat all over the potato skin. Almost fried...
I've even put uncovered potatoes in the coals of a fire. The skin burns and becomes inedible, but the insides were terrific. I'll never forget the look on my wife's face when I brought in blackened lumps from the grill...
Wilbur, my friend taught me those 'half baked potatoes' but we had no name for them. She's from Indiana. Must be an American recipe (pat of butter underneath, a bit of olive oil on top with salt. 450F. They bake very well like this. But for some reason if you cut potato wedges in the same way they don't get soft. Maybe the skin of the potato keeps the heat in or something.
DeleteYum! Wilbur, they sound great. I roasted some potatoes last night but not at those kinds of temp, so might stick them back in before dinner tonight on a high heat and let them crisp up more.
DeleteTim I have still been drinking teas, so the tastebuds aren't totally deprived. Hard to totally give up the salt too. I seem to need the minerals, or so I tell myself... And amazing how often I kept wanting to open cupboard and nibble at my stash of dried cranberries yesterday.
testing
DeleteAndrea - I am amazed at how much food surrounds me at all times and how often I give into those temptations mindlessly. At least on the potato diet, you have to make a conscious decision to put anything else in your mouth.
DeleteBack when I first started eating right, I never snacked outside of meals. This past year, I've gotten back into lots of bad habits...peanuts at work, chocolate, fruit, and nuts at home. Sneaking that leftover chicken leg, a bag of beef jerky, ohhh, and a 'gluten-free' brownie!
This potato diet is kind of like a journey into the mind of your gut.
Day 2 almost over! Monday hubby had 2# and I ate 1.5#. I lost .5# ya! Hub left at 4 am no weight, was sick all day :( Flu! Only H2O for him, I was sympathatic to his woes and only ate 2 small yukons warmed up. See what the scale says in the morning. I feel good and lots of energy, just not hungry, lets hope I'm defatting ;)
ReplyDeleteSharon
Don't let that flu bug get the best of you! Good luck!
DeleteHuman Food Project doing a little volunteer study to see how increasing fiber will change stool PH. Not scientific, but might be able to tie it into am experiment like this potato diet. Here's the link to register for the study.
ReplyDeleteFrom their Facebook post :
We need your help with a little crowd sourced data.
In short, looking for 100+ people to keep track of their stool pH for a week. Here's the kicker - we need you to 1) measure your stool pH (with little strips that can purchased at your local drugstore) while eating your regular diet for 2 days then 2) we need you then up your fiber intake to 50-100g/day for 3-4 days then 3) drop off the fiber back to your regular intake. During all of this we need you to use on online food diary to track your macronutrient intake. It's all a bit of work but would be fascinating to see the potential swings in stool pH - we suspect your stool pH to become more acidic during the "pulse" of fiber. This is all interesting as we "suspect" your distal colon microbiota to shift as pH moves around (though we are not asking anyone to take stool samples for microbial analysis - just simple dipping of pH strips in your stool. Anyway, if you think you are interested and want to play along, give us your email here: http://eepurl.com/bfhbj1 -- we will provide more detailed info in a week. We will ask you to provide your info anomalously and will share the results with everyone else. While this is not a rigorous scientific study - due to do the 1) self collection and 2) store-bought pH strips - it will, however, be interesting if we can get 100+ ppl to play along to explore in "general' patterns that might emerge - albeit coarse-grained.
B.
Cool. I just signed up. I think they will discover their plan will not work very well. The litmus paper they want people to use is not sensitive enough to detect slight changes in pH and also the 50-100g of fiber the people will be introducing for 3-4 days, aside from the fact they will probably be using "high fiber" healthy whole grain bread and pasta, will not be fully utilized by their gut bacteria if they have not adapted to fermenting fibers.
DeleteBut, it will be fun to see and hear their results. They are touching on something very important, fecal pH. But how to measure and what is "right" for everyone?
Morning of Day 3. Dinner last night was cut up, pre-boiled, chilled potatoes reheated in a bit of olive oil (1tsp). Got busy and only ate half of what I had prepared. Went to bed not hungry at all. Woke up feeling great, slept like a rock.
ReplyDeleteFBG - 90
Weight - 181
Can't see the point really. Not using your bile juices to digest fat that you have been increases the risk of gall stones and you also are probably using up muscle to cover protein needs. I think I would go along with PHD and Mark Sisson and keep a minimum level of protein (with accompanying fat) and carbs, with a reduced fat intake but not below a few hundred calories.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your deep thoughts!
DeleteSorry no update yesterday. I really can't believe that I am losing so much weight. I have been completely stuck at 195 for months. I have been wanting to see a 1 and an 8 on my scale so bad you can't believe.
ReplyDeleteAfter my first full potato day I didn't lose any weight. Nada. Zilch. Then day 2 I was at 192, 3 lbs down. This morning at 189!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WTF? Is this real life?
I starved myself for a month and never hit 191. How long can I keep this up? I really want to see a 1 and a 7 on my scale now!!!!!!!!!!
The charts say my BMI is best between 160 and 175. But I have not been 175 since high school days.
Is it possibe?
Even if this is all just fake water weight, I am the happiest dieter alive right now.
This is a miracle.
Jerry M.
@the happiest Jerry
DeleteDo you eat all your potatoes thoroughly cooked/baked, or do you also eat a slice or two raw?
I think there's something magical about absence of hunger/ high satiety in combination with (natural, not forced) calorie reduction.
Deletehaha, Jerry - I told you! It's always best to do it the hard way first. I am the same as you with that stupid scale. It's crazy watching it drop like that. I'm down 4 pounds on morning of day 4.
DeleteThe first time I did this, I did it for 14 days, got down to my lowest adult weight, and that was after being 'stuck' at like 180 forever. I think I hit 169, and was also very excited seeing the 1 and the 6. In fact, it was even more exciting than when I first dropped below 200 a year prior to that.
Well, take it from someone who's been there. Now you see what it takes to melt your fat away, but use it wisely. Use the time to reflect about eating a healthy diet and the things that may be sabotaging your weight. Focus on maintenance and eating really healthy foods: bone broths, fibers, diverse fruits and veggies, etc...
So, looks like you want to lose another 10 pounds. Try this: Keep on the potato diet until Saturday, have a weekend full of good food, but not too much, then do it again next week. Repeat until you see a 1 and a 7. Then forget about potatoes for 6 months, just try to maintain your weight and if you aren't exercising, start.
Thanks for the comment!
Tim
Dang! I am sooo jealous! I gained .5# this morning! What?? and I only ate 1# of spuds, just wasn't hungry.
DeleteHubby only had 24 hour bug but he's sticking to bone broth and apple sauce today. He lost another 1#.
I've stayed healthy so far : ) rather gain than be sick...
So it makes me wonder more about how messed up this CD'd body is???
But I feel good, so sometimes that just has to be enough, until tomorrow morning...I may use the scale for taget practice.
Question for the group: What is the best type of home scale and BMI? Have a new digital scale now, but was cheap. Not really into watching scales, more how the wranglers fit. But, feel the need to keep track at this point.
Oh, I dont eat until 10:30 or 12, depending on whats going on at the Ranch. Dinner aroun 5 or 6. That's it. Eating a piece of raw per day and eating rewarmed baked yukons, tiny bit of Himalayan salt, 1 tsp or less butter per #. I do enjoy the simplicity of this diet. Not craving anything else and not worried about "whats for dinner". Of course this weekend "Beef, it's whats for Dinner"! HA HA
Thanks !
Sharon
@Gemma - most of my potatoes were baked and then kept in the refrigerator. I also cooked quite a few right before I ate them. No raw ones. I was eating about 2-3 lbs a day.
DeleteHappy Jerry!
Jin - I've been playing with this potato diet for nearly 3 years now. Some people hate it, some people love it. People who have used HCG tell me that the potato diet is actually easier. With HCG, a natural hormone produced during pregnancy, you can eat 600 calories a day, not be very hungry, and keep losing weight as it "bypasses the starvation mechanism." The HCG diet has gotten lots of bad reviews as unhealthy with lots of side effects, not to mention having to go to a doctor and get the injections.
ReplyDeleteI hate to see the potato diet abused to the point where someone would get sick or malnourished, but 5 days at a time? No problem.
Sharon - Good job on avoiding the flu bug! I know what you mean about scales. I finally bought a really good one a few years ago and even calibrated it with a 100 pound weight. The one I had before was a digital type that had a mind of it's own. You could step off and right back on and gain (or lose) 2 pounds, and shifting your weight slightly made a big difference. Crazy. Scales are OK, as long as you don't obsess on the exact weight, they are good for seeing trends and periodic checks.
Give the spuds another day and then decide if it's for you or not. Like I said, lots of people hate it and say they can't lose with it. Mostly women, for what it's worth.
I know people who are seeing this for the first time are thinking it's bogus and losing 3-4 pounds in a couple days means nothing, and mostly I'd agree with that, if I hadn't seen first hand, repeatedly, that the weight stays off and you can do it over and over until you are the weight you want to be.
Try doing that by eating WeightWatcher meals.
I was dreading putting on my just washed jeans (a couple of times a year is okay to wash them, yes?). They fit and I wasn't suffocating. But with these 'firm in the middle' potatoes, I know my blood glucose is low. I've had to add some tuna today. I was getting the shakes four hours after eating two potatoes lightly browned in a bit of bacon grease. Otherwise everything I add is negligible like lots of chopped dill, capers, parsley, fermented cucumber, raw cucumber, shallots, mushrooms.... a bit of very fermented yoghurt for moisture. Not everything all at once, but several items so there's flavour. I am kind of getting used to the potatoes though. I didn't feel like gagging when I looked at them this morning. I guess the hunger response has firmly kicked in and the brain says 'it's food. EAT!' ....bought another 10 pound bag of spuds yesterday on the way home. Make sure I don't run out of them and end up starving to death like a prisoner in the Siberian gulag. ;) It's going to be minus 30C chill factor and minus 24C overnight.
ReplyDeleteThis is somewhat potato related. I've been consuming PS (& some banana flour) for a long time now - maybe a year. I just dump it into this mash I eat for dinner with kombucha squash, wild salmon, sweet potato - it's definitely a little carb heavy. But that's okay, right? Anyway, today I was looking around online and came across Dr. BG's post on the possible problems with PS daily long term; she said PS doesn't feed certain beneficial bugs, and could overfeed others. Now I'm upset. I like simple, and really was happy with my routine. Can you talk about this in a future post, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, you guys all seem to be having a blast with potatoes, so keep enjoying!
Debbie
No harm will come from PS daily long term. Your routine is fine. To ensure it is as healthy for you as possible, also try to eat a good variety of fruits and veggies daily.
DeleteThanks. I don't each much fruit. But I eat plenty of vegetables - although I wouldn't say a variety. I will try to be more imaginative.
DeleteTim, that baking sheet full of spuds... you ate all those for supper?
ReplyDeleteYup! Jackie had 4 or 5 of them though. It was about 2 pounds starting out. Dipped them in a bit of ketchup, too!
DeleteAfter 4 days we have called it a halt for this week and will see if we can maintain our weight over the next 3 days. Unlike other diets which are dependent on water in our system this one was different - no extra peeing and less need for water intake. I didn't lose anything yesterday but didn't put anything on either which is uncommon after my karate lesson. usually after karate I'm between 100 and 500g heavier the next morning. Hubby lost 2.5kg or 5.5 lbs. He is very pleased and his barrel tummy is noticeably smaller. Also he had little resistance to the blandness of this diet. It was simple with huge effects for the effort. Now to see what happens with today's food intake.
ReplyDeleteThanks for playing! Hope he continues his downward trend. It was a good experiment, no?
DeleteI'll leave you with a thought from 1849:
"Our word for it, the experiment will prove a good one; and the prescription costs no money, but, what is incomparably better, an amount of self-denial which is possessed only by a few. And making this experiment for one week will greatly increase the self-denial and perseverance of those who go through with it."
I love that!
Tim
Harriet, I've been adding lots of zero stuff to the potatoes like dill, fermented cucumber, cucumber etc. etc. It's easier this way. Plus the potatoes are firm in the centre so blood glucose appears to stay blunted.
DeleteI'm not the type that jumps into swimming pools, so even witht this I did it gradually. I've decided to replace all other carb sources with potatoes for the time being. Also eating less animal protein and fat. I think this is being beneficial. The calorie totals are lower than my normal diet by probably about 500 kcal per day and I have no lack of energy. Nothing weird going on at all.
Gabriella, I'm doing something similar. Meat and fat down, some salad veg, some herbs. More potatoes. I do have some weird stuff going on but I've always had weird neurological stuff but this potato experiment has confirmed that its diet/gut related. Basically day time energy has been good, emotional health excellent, sense of personal calm is great. Sleep is sometimes weird but manageable and mostly sufficient. Memory, focus and function could be improved but my last blip was from before the change in diet so I can't use that as an explanation.
DeleteHi all! I am on day 4 of the potato diet and am having a terrible time with fluid retention. Has anyone else seen this? I have been afraid to weigh but I bet I am up over 5 pounds. No trouble breathing, just tons of fluid in my legs and just feel generally puffy. Mentally I feel fabulous. Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteThat is not a common complaint. Two thoughts spring to mind, but with little to go on:
Delete1. You are nearing time of month, if female. (please don't crucify me for saying that!)
2. You used lots of salt
I'm curious, though, as negative reports are as valuable as positive: Did you eat just plain potatoes, or add some 'other stuff'? How many potatoes (approx) did you eat daily? What was your health and weight like prior to beginning? Are you male or female?
People regularly fast for 3-5 days with no problems, it's considered healthy to do so. I have never fasted that long, but I've gone 2 days many times and liked the feeling after the first 18 hours or so. Hunger is such a strange thing.
The potato diet, with about 2-3 pounds of potato a day, is much like a fast, but with 150-200g of carbs to refill glycogen stores and 20-30g of protein to prevent muscle wasting, plus about 16oz of water to prevent the inevitable dehydration seen when fasting.
I'll be curious to here what happens to you over the next 4-5 days, please report back. Lots of people say the post-potato diet 'magic' is more powerful than the diet itself...and I can attest to that.
Yes I used lots of salt :D How else is one supposed to get the little darlings down? Salt and vinegar.
DeleteEither boiled or baked them, less than 1 tsp butter each for lubrication. Half eaten cold from fridge, half warmed slightly in microwave.
Irregular hormones so who knows.
Eating probably 3 pounds potatoes a day.
I had previously been on very low carb diet for 2 years with a couple of weeks of naughty carbs (to me) before I started the diet.
Was doing some hot and heavy fiber/RS drinks right up until I started the potato diet also, stopped that for now.
Like I said, I feel great mentally and physically. I am going to persist and see if the fluid doesn't resolve - I feel so good I think I can do this for 2 weeks easy. I have not been thirsty or drinking a ton of water. I do get hungry though. I am eating probably 4 times a day. No exercise, working so many hours (excuses).
I love the mindlessness of just eating potatoes. I hope that the potato magic lets me do the ice cream diet next :D
The mindlessness is such a draw for me, too. Anything else you want to pick up and eat is just automatically wrong. Too easy.
DeleteThanks for not yelling at me about the 'time of month' comment, I should not have said that, but I have seen it all too often. Some women just fluctuate quite widely and it may catch them by surprise. Didn't mean to sound sexist or 'male.'
When you work out the details of that ice cream diet, please share them with me! I'm all over that!
Cheers!
Ok wont shoot the scale ! Down 1.5# today ! Ya!
ReplyDeleteSharon
Oh, sure...today the scale is your friend!
DeleteYesterday was my first day on the potatoe diet, easy peasy. I bought 2 bags of potatoes 2 kgs each (one with a red skin and the other a yellow skin). Divided them into 4 portions (half/half) of 1 kg each. And I bought 1 kg of small early potatoes (Tim: in Dutch krieltjes) and divided them into 3 portions of 300 grams each. So I had 1 kg of normal potatoes and 300 grams of the small ones to eat each day. I boiled all the potatoes in their skin al dente. Ate the big ones for breakfast and lunch, and had the little ones fried the dutch way for dinner. It was too much for me, so I have several potatoes left in the fridge.
ReplyDeleteI slept like a log last night, and to my surprise my basal sugar levels had dropped from 10.3 mmol/l to 8.2 mmol/l. Had a good bowel movement as well, hip hip hooray because I am more often constipated.
Today was day 2, same problem I couldn't finish the potatoes (I think I ate about 1 kg total. So will se what tomorrow brings.
Hopefully those little critters are in heaven with all that resistant starch they are getting.
Jo tB
Mooi! The fasting blood glucose always shocks me, too. I have been telling people who have trouble with high FBG to try and you'd think I am asking them to eat a bag of sugar.
DeletePotatoes are GOOD FOOD!
I'm contemplating the end of my potato week. I only have a few potatoes left of the 15 pounds I set aside for this. I have lost a full 6 pounds in 4 days and I'm feeling great. I have a large slab of salmon out, so maybe lunch will be the remaining potatoes and a piece of salmon. Funny, I'm not even hungry or craving anything right now.
Last winter I did a mini potato diet the first week of each month, 3-4 days, and was able to maintain my weight perfectly all winter. This year I did not do that and gained about 5 pounds.
I really think that I will do the monthly thing next winter, starting as soon as I harvest my potatoes. Winters are tough for me, cold/dark and get stuck inside. The biggest problem is losing that winter weight in the spring, most people don't even try and let in pile on year after year.
Thanks for the note, Jo tB...Not long until Keukenhof is in color!
Jo tB, if you add vinegar, your blood sugar should go further down. I'm not 100% potato, but al dente potato with black eye peas marinated in vinegar and a bit of oil (plus the other usual suspects for salad) my blood glucose was 4.8 (5 hours after breakfast). The highest it got after eating was 6.4. The vinegar has an effect along with the resistant starch. Now 1.45 hr after eating it's 5.1.
DeleteThe only really strange thing that happened was after I'd eaten 2/3 of my meal, the blood sugar went down to 3.6 and 15 minutes after the meal it went from 5.7 to 4.8 then up to 6.4, 5.9 and now 5.1. I was measuring every 15 minutes.
This is super excellent glycemic control. I'll try plain al dente cooked and cooled potatoes on their own tomorrow.
I just picked up a box of strips today so will do glucose curves all day tomorrow. Usually I'll do readings before eating, during the meal, then every 15 minutes for an hour, then every 30 minutes until 3 hours and once per hour until next meal. Lots of stabbings. Ouch.
@Gabriella
DeleteI can't recall you using the expression "super excellent" in recent time :-)
Your potatoes: peeled/unpeeled?
Shall we change the name to "The Super-Excellent Potato Diet!" ?
DeleteSo, consensus..."potatoes" not equal to "evil bags of sugar"
t shirt: Go Potato! I 'heart' Potatoes.
DeleteGemma: peeled and not peeled. The ones I ate today I peeled last night after they were cooked. When they are hot, the peel slips off easily.
I think potato is going to be permanent. Once the potato is well established, I'll check in with the 'second meal effect'. Will one meal heavy in potatoes per day keep blood sugar steady?
I can't see how this can be bad for adrenals. In fact, if anything, it should be good for them. Cortisol levels ought to normalize if blood glucose levels are steady and sleep is good. And thyroid hormone function as well. Actually, all hormones.
Gabrielle, thanks for the tip. I haven't tried the vinegar bit yet, will definitely give it a go. I haven't been testing more than necessary. I just wanted to try the experiment for 3 days to start with. If I don't have negatieve effects long term, I will regularly use the potatoe dieet. My blood sugars have always been erratic, and the last year or so they have been higher than I would like. It could be a candida gone pathogenic or a SIBO. A year ago I tried the resistant starch experiment with plantain flour. The first week I had fantastic blood sugars, but after that evertthing was back where they were before (higher than I would have liked). With the next round of potatoes I will do some more measuring after the meals to see what effect it will have on my postprandial blood sugars.
DeleteI will try and make some oven fries next time. In Holland we eat our fries with mayonaise, but in the UK they eat their chips with vinegar, and in the US with ketchup. Isn't it great, those different cultures.
Jo tB
I notice you left out "pindasaus"...the best french fry condiment EVER!
DeleteIt's basically spicy, runny, peanut butter that you pour all over french fries. Even if you don't speak Dutch, eating french fries covered in peanut butter sauce will make you scream "LEKKER!" at the top of your lungs!
Did I mention I am about to stop my potato diet? Why do I all of a sudden want FRENCH FRIES????
You'd think I'd be sick of potatoes, lol.
'lekker': That's what they say in South Africa!
DeleteI like the mayo dip part. Moules et Frites.... oh I'm now dying.
According to the glycemic index of foods potatoes are high GI. Yeah, full cooked hot potatoes. But they didn't bother with the 'al dente cooled' potatoes. Heads up Dr. Jenkins!
Jo, not sure if oven roasting is going to give you what you are looking for. Maybe slice up al dente cooled potatoes and put them in a little fat to make them toasty coloured on each side. Then do the mayonnaise thing with them. Not as much fun but....
I think even eating the potato with fermented cucumber will probably keep the blood glucose from going up. Or any vegetable to which vinegar is added like beets, squash, peppers.... sauerkraut.
Tim, Gabrielle, I forgot about Patatje Oorlog !!! Patat is another word for Frietes. It is a combination of mayonaise and peanut sauce (came from colony Indonesia, just like chutney came from India)
DeleteLekker in South Africa is from Afrikaans, which is a form of Dutch.
Your suggestion of eating fermented cucumber with the potatoes confirmed my idea of eating fermented food like saurkraut (zuurkool in Dutch, seeing as we're on this theme). I even have a pot of saurkraut with fennel in the fridge.
I think I will do the experiment again next week and then do it combined with fermented vegetables. And I have to do some more measuring of BS levels after eating my potatoes.
Jo tB
And here is an email from Kira, having trouble posting. Thoughts?
ReplyDelete"Years ago, I recall hearing that when you heat potatoes at high temperatures, that some of the starches depolymerize and you end up with acrylamides forming. Acrylamides are carcinogens.
I noticed that some of your readers are making oven fries with potatoes and oil at 475 F. That would probably do it. I enjoy oven fries every now and then, but sometimes my mouth is aware of a faint burning sensation – the same sort of feeling I get from the PAHs in camp fire smoke.
Would you mind looking into this a bit? There might be a reason to caution your readers. Mashed or baked at low temperatures would be better than fried to a crisp. Of course the crispy texture gives it so much food reward!"
@Kira
DeleteI have recently read this paper:
Potato fiber protects the small intestinal wall against the toxic influence of acrylamide. (2012)
THANK YOU! I knew there was something like that we had recently reviewed!
DeleteAs a general rule, I don't blacken or char meats and veggies when cooking, but darn, a bit of browning sure adds flavor!
I hadn't seen this post earlier - I've had this same burning mouth effect, followed by swelling/rawness and not been able to tie it to anything specific. Good to have a likely answer, thanks :)
DeleteOk. I'm breaking into normal food. I did four days plus a bit of the fifth.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't exactly creative with the cooking. Mostly baked potatoes for me, which I never managed to leave undone enough for the 'stone in the middle' bit. The photos look good! Almost make me want some fried potato slices!
The morning of the third day I had loose stool. Not sure if it was the potatoes resetting something, or unrelated. I hope it was some kind of reset.
Will def do again, it was satisfying - the gut bugs were happy! Though I probably didn't eat nearly enough and could do with more kilos rather than less.
Thanks for providing the spur to do it Tim!
Yes, getting creative helps! Hope you learned something. There should be some sort of prize for people that hang in there and try it 'old school.'
DeleteWe did four days too - 4 days only potatoes for hubby and with some protein for me. One day of adding in meat and veges plus a little icecream dessert and maintained our weight loss. I won't bother with the icecream again, too sweet and not very nice. It was out of the same super-nice container of last week, but it isn't super-nice any more. Planning 3 days of clean eating then back to another 4 days of potatoes.
DeleteHarriet, do you have a glucose meter? Today was extreme because everything I ate for lunch was resistant starch plus vinegar..... blood sugar never went up and then it went too low. Supper was more balanced with codfish and lots of cabbage salad plus 1 spud. Blood sugars were better and it's a more comfortable feeling. Now coasting at 5.0.
DeleteIf I would eat a fully cooked potato, I think my blood sugar would go ballistic and then crash. Bad feeling.
Have to find a balance here. But it was a good lesson.
Man... that dinner looks nice. I just got some salmon for dinner too. Going to have to try that pindasaus sauce, though maybe without the peanuts for now as there are none in the house.
DeleteHarriet, yes it certainly made me realise just how much sweet stuff had snuck in there, mostly in the form of diluted fruit juices and fruit itself - though still enough to make me notice that it wasn't there.
Is 'old skool' 2 weeks or something? Will def do again, might even be in another week or two, just got a million veges. cant wait for some... Radish!
By "old school" I meant doing it with just potatoes. As they described in 1849:
Delete"Eat, of course, no salt, no butter, or condiments of any kind. "
And really, try it just for a day or two. No need to go 2 weeks, although you may want to after two days. It really gets the 'food monkey' off your back.
"We have tried it not for months, but a few days at a time—long enough to satisfy us of its good effects; long enough, too, to teach us well how good bread and apples and peaches are. We are far from believing that God created wheat, rye, corn, barley, buckwheat, etc.; chestnuts, beechnuts, butternuts, walnuts, etc., etc.; apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes, and ten thousand other delicious things, not to be eaten by man."
Ah, ok. I pretty much did that except for the salt bit.
DeleteWill try with absolutely nothing next time.
I've only ever done a day or two with no salt. My lunches this week were mostly salt-free. But fun to try. I doubt that some salt derails the potato diet completely.
DeleteGabrielle, Love your comment. Yes my sugar levels go ballastic too, but unfortunately they don't crash. They come down very slowly, and if I'm lucky they go back to basal, but can stay higher. That is why I think there is something else going on, that it is not just about diabetes.
ReplyDeleteJo tB
I did Monday through Friday this week and lost 2 pounds. I baked my potatoes before I read the part about leaving the stone in the middle... They were cooled and then ate 2 - 3 for lunch and dinner by reheating them on my griddle - so yes they got browned. I did use salt but nothing else. And even though I wasn't real hungry, I did start to crave something other than potatoes to eat. Last week I had also done the potato diet for 4 days and over the weekend gained back the 2 pounds I had lost so I was discouraged. Today and tomorrow I will try to eat healthier and today we are having liver and onions for my son's traditional birthday meal (Yeah, cake and ice cream are not healthy). I am not sure if I will try the potato diet again next week yet... I struggle with yeast and I think that makes it really difficult to lose weight. I am not happy with the thought of losing and gaining the same 2 pounds! Although I can say that I felt better while on the potato diet and did sleep a bit better but sleep is still a struggle for me...
ReplyDeleteGina
The last thing I want is for anyone to worry about the potato diet, it is really just for fun. If you try and like, maybe you'll want to do it again. If you try and hate...or just 'meh', then forget about it. It's no big deal. Definitely not a 'must-do.'
DeleteBut, Gina - your sleep. I hate hearing you say sleep is a struggle. Everyone agrees on that point! Sleep is crucial to overall health. And struggling with yeast may be related. I hope you try to zero in on your sleep. That's way more important than losing weight.
Gina, If you have problems with yeast - do you mean with candida? If so you might like to take Saccharomyces boulardii. Its a probiotic which doesn't colonise the gut but does make it so unpleasant that the candida doesn't stay around as long as you keep taking it - presumably until you make the changes which naturally make it undesirable to live there. My doc informs me that two other things that help are to stop feeding it sugar and to keep the body more alkaline. I didn't go along with the alkaline story for a long time, but I have to say that I'm better when I'm alkaline than when I'm slightly acidic. Tim reckons that adding resistant starch makes the gut alkaline on its own but it didn't for me even after a year. So I use a pH tape to check the urine acidity off and on throughout the day and do what I need to do to keep it alkaline when I find it drifting. I too have problems with sleep and sleep better on a mixed diet (plus RS) than just potatoes. Hubby is going back on the potato diet tomorrow and I will stay very "clean" with no extras i.e. some fish, salads plus a lot of potatoes (plus RS) - no cheese, no yoghurt, no muesli, nothing out of a packet or processed.
DeleteAfter our almost ordinary eating day on Friday we ate "clean" yesterday and continued to drop weight. So another 200g drop for each of us yesterday and I've just dropped below my last "set point". So now bounce back of weight for which I am grateful.
Yes Harriet I did mean candida - sorry. And I do generally try to stay away from sugar because that definitely does cause it to rage. Thanks for the tip on the Saccharomyces boulardii - I will have to look for that.
DeleteNo stressing here about doing the potatoes, Tim. I do like the way I feel when I am doing potatoes only and my struggles with weight have been years of frustration so.... Same with the sleep issues. My mom had 8 living children and I am sure I was probably the worst of them as far as getting her up at night. As far back as I can remember I have always gotten up during the night. I think part of it is mental and my mind not wanting to shut down even though my body does and then I read something that said people with autoimmune disease never get into REM sleep as their brains kick them out of it as soon as they get there. It said that even though some of them may sleep through the night, they still never get REM sleep.....
I still think I may do the potato diet again this week, Monday - Friday and see what happens. It won't hurt! Thanks!
Anonymous, how do you tell about the candida? What symptoms or how do you know you have a problem like this? What happens when you eat sugar?
DeleteI've done the syliva test first thing in the morning that indicates candida. And I have an appendectomy scar that gets red and inflamed when I have been eating a lot of sugar. The strange thing this time was that I had been on the potato diet for 4 days and then took a 2 day break so even though I did have a little sugar, I had not had much at all and it generally takes much more of a binge... I had thought that since I have been doing RD for several months that perhaps the candida was possibly getting cleared up. I hadn't had any recent issues until this flair. But I am just assuming for the most part.
DeleteSorry - I meant I have been doing resistant starch, not RD.
DeleteGina
Harriet, I read about your S boulardii tip as well and did some research into it. It seems a very good product to try, but I suffer from constipation rather than diarrhea and it gets worse when I travel. Would it be appropiate in my case??
DeleteJo tB
Sorry Anon I have no idea. I'm not a medical practitioner and have no experience other than my own. It has worked for me. I got over my constipation problems by adding all the resistant starch to my diet - till I went on the potato only diet. Then it started to come back! Oops, but it isn't bad and not every time. I am still on the PS - 4 tbs/day) but no longer on the legumes though may have some tonight if I remember when I come to make tea.
DeleteJo tB - You should the S. boulardii. My way of 'trying' new stuff is simply to buy a bottle and take according to the directions until the bottle is gone or you decide it makes things worse. If you want to continue, buy another bottle, but take at about 1/4 the recommended dose, or just sporadically throughout the week/month.
Deletere: constipation when travelling - I hear that a lot, and see it myself. Could it be disrupted bowel movement patterns, dehydration, or too much sitting? All three? For me, it is never a big issue, but I notice it, especially on long flights or day-long car trips.
But I think people who experience chronic constipation have some 'mechanical' problems causing longer than normal transit time. All the over-the-counter constipation aids and prescribed meds just seem to exacerbate the problems, though provide short-term relief.
Not sure how to break the cycle.
I used to have terrible constipation while traveling. I used to travel quite a lot, so it was miserable.
DeleteI read someplace that people often have "lazy" intestines that rely on ingested food to push out the poop, instead of moving it along like a conveyer belt. I forget the name of this condition. But I did feel the urge to poop after every meal, whether or not I could.
I would imagine all 3 issues that Tim mentions, plus probably changes in food and timing of meals, particularly if one has this condition.
My fiber regimen has changed this for me. I am as regular on the road as I am at home. It takes a lot of pressure off when traveling, ha, ha.
I too suffer from chronic constipation - I read it was one of the symptoms of candida... so not sure the Saccharomyce Boulardii is what I need either... I found this product when I was searching for the S Boulardii so perhaps it would help: http://www.optibacprobiotics.co.uk/shop/bifidobacteria-fibre
DeleteThe increased potato starch and other fibers is still hit and miss as far as my constipation goes so I obviously am still missing something. I remember traveling to Mexico and drinking the water just to get relief from constipation - even that didn't help!
Oh and as far as sleep goes, I sometimes suffer from restless leg syndrome so that doesn't help either.
I am doing the potato diet again this week although I might add fermented veggies to the menu as well...
Thanks everyone!
Gina
@Gina
DeleteHave you expected to get rid of Candida overgrowth by PS alone? It can help perhaps, but within a context of a healthy diet. Potato is more "whole" - a lot of other compounds that are antimicrobial (and antifungal).
Some raw pieces are even better, some people had success with it.
S. boulardii can kill candida (it produces caprylic acid).
Yes to fermented vegetables.
Do you use oil pulling? Also helpful.
@Gina,
DeleteHave you tried taking Mg Citrate in divided doses over the day to stay regular? Or epsom salt body or foot soaks?
Michelle
@ Gemma, no not really. I try to stay away from sugar and flour a great deal (not totally), do lots of fermented foods, (make my own fermented veggies, raw goat milk kefir, and kombucha) and use garlic. I have tried oil pulling but did not notice any benefits - perhaps I should do it anyway... I have, in the past, purchased several products that supposedly helped rid the body of candida. For the most part, I haven't had any real issues since starting the potato starch and being more vigilant about my diet. That's why the symptoms (the jock-itch type skin issue at the appendectomy scar site) that appeared after 4 days on the potato diet startled me so much.....
Delete@Michelle, I have used a product called MagOx and that does help a lot with constipation. Sometimes I do use a topical magnesium product - it does not help with constipation or with sleep.
I was under the impression that some candida will always be present. I started fermented foods, kefir and kombucha years ago and was not seeing any real benefit in my physical condition. I was hoping that with time, that the addition of potato starch (RS), might prove to be the missing piece of the puzzle. I am feeling better most of the time and realize that my age, weight, and sleep issues also effect my physical well-being. It is a journey and I will keep plugging away.
Thanks for the ideas. This is a great community!
Gina
I woke up this morning with raging hunger, which is VERY strange for me, so the potatoes definitely did help. Yesterday I boiled some potatoes ready for today, and today suddenly realised I finished 3 days yesterday!! I seem to have subconciously embraced this diet and so I will continue today as day 4. This morning on the scales and I weighed 74.1 kg (so lost 200 grams). If it stays off and will go down further, I will have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteJo tB
I did 2 days of potatoes only. I did add salt and a small amount of olive oil. I wanted other food by the end of day two. I don't own a scale so I can't report on specific weight loss but I am happy to report that my jeans were looser. I'll definitely do the potato diet again. My head was clear and slept well - both things that I go through periods of struggling with. The thing I'm curious about is what happens if instead of eating only potatoes what happens if I eat a normally one meal a day and do only potatoes for the other meals. Will I still experience some weight loss benefits? Has anyone tried that and lost some weight?
ReplyDeleteHow many meals do you eat per day? I would figure if you replace all your starch foods with potatoes and reduce intake of fats and proteins because of the bulk of the potatoes, eat no junkfood at all, no sugar (no ice cream and stuff like that) you ought to see weight loss over time. The good thing about potatoes is they take up a lot of room in the stomach. Compared to rice, bread or pasta, they have about 1/2 the calories per volume.
DeleteI usually eat 3 meals a day. I grew up eating potatoes and then stopped eating them years ago when carbs started getting such bad press. I don't eat a lot of other starch regularly so it will be interesting to see how I do with more potatoes. I was really surprised that I didn't feel hungry eating potatoes only. Thanks!
DeleteI've tried variations, and they end up just being the same, crazy hunger diets of the past. As soon as I start sneaking other stuff in, even low calorie "rabbit food" like broccoli, carrots, lettuce, I start craving everything else and even if I stick to it, see no weight loss.
DeleteBut, I have added potatoes to my repertoire, having eliminated them completely a few years due to their 'evilness'. So, yes, I think adding potatoes, and especially a slice or two of raw potato here and there, will benefit most people and not lead to crazy weight re-gain.
Hi Tim and everyone else - Just an uodate because I'm not quite done!
ReplyDeleteI am still in disbelief a bit at my results this week. I did 5 full days of poato diet and went from 195 to 187. I'm eating just normal this weekend and doing another 5 days starting in the morning. If I can get to 170's I will be very happy man.
Thank-you Tim and everyone for reporting your progress. This is easier than any other diet!
That was from Jerry M. Sorry. I am still having trouble with these comments, Tim.
DeleteKeep us posted! If you have trouble, just shoot me an email and I will repost if you like. Going from 190's to 170's is quite a milestone. I'll be more impressed if you can maintain in the 170's, but you may find it is a bit too low, and your body will gravitate a bit higher. At least you now have a way to break the cycle.
DeleteGood job!
Tim... In the 1849 Journal, the potatoes are described as barely scalded and the inside hard, you described your potatoes as slightly undercooked. To have the desired affect do you have to go with undercooked potatoes?
ReplyDeleteIt's been so fun to read everyone's journey for a week! (I've been mia with crazy life events, but reading!).
ReplyDeleteAs for me, my potato days (previous to Tim's thread here) definitely left me with lasting changes. Noticeable weight loss (tummy, thighs & face/neck) that has stayed through what would be the 'rebound' period, a decrease in all cravings (except gluten, dammit - whatever eats potatoes must also eat gluten, cause those bugs waaaant me to eat gluten) and a lasting disinclination to overeat or comfort eat or eat stuff that may taste good in the short term but will make me feel sick in the medium/long term.
The sharp reduction in food cravings is HUGE. I used to joke that I don't actually have 'appetite', I have 'cravings.' Since starting potato starch, that has been changing (hey! food is now almost my friend!), but I'm still subject to cravings based on habit, based on comfort eating, based on dysbiosis. The reduction in cravings has been so intense that I've been substantially irritated that my usual comfort foods aren't comforting - I don't want to eat them (they either don't sound appealing or actively put me off), or if I do eat them I have a couple of bites and go....nope. Not what I want. But...there are times when you want comforting familiar things :D And this past week has been one of them! LOL
It's good though - the kind of reset 4 days of potatoes gave me is something I need. And need more of :) The fat loss I'll take just as much! One thing I'll do on the next round of potatoes is add some psyllium though - my insides aren't yet regulated enough to keep things moving without some non-soluable fiber in the mix, apparently.
I've been a bit MIA myself, but have been trying to keep up with reading everyone's updates. I plan on doing three days of the potato diet, starting tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to the simplicity of it.
DeleteCheryl
I'm in the middle of day one, and my farmer friend dropped by to give me some produce, including a very large bag of very delicious looking kale. I don't miss anything sugary, but I'm certainly missing kale! Oh well, it will keep until I'm done with all these potatoes.
DeleteCheryl
I've been known to cheat with a bit of raw greenery, a bite of mint, basil, kale, etc... Not a big salad or anything, but just a bite.
DeleteI think if I ever get serious about making up an 'official' potato diet, it would be done in 3 day chunks. I find days 1-3 the most beneficial, and after that the days just drag as the novelty is over.
So maybe 3 days a week, 1 week out of the month for weight maintenance. Or 3 days a week for an entire month for weight loss.
Thanks for the note, I hope for some updates!
Currently, I'm hungry and a bit spacey feeling. I've eaten three pounds of potatoes thus far today. Normally, I have trouble sleeping when I completely avoid meat and fish, but that seems to not bother me as much since I've been upping my fiber intake. I'm curious to see how I'll sleep tonight.
DeleteI've continued to take a couple of my TCM herbal formulas for regulating my menstrual cycle, I'm drinking unsweetened "tea" (herbal), and I'm continuing my fiber concoction at half my usual amount.
Cheryl
Saturday was my third day of the potato diet. It was a mixed bag for me. I didn’t have any trouble sleeping, though I woke up early in the morning due to intense dreams (a couple were odd/interesting and the third one so disturbing that I’m still a bit freaked out by it). When I previously upped my RPS intake, I had similar dreams, and they calmed down after a couple weeks. I was able to work and do stuff at home, but I had difficulty with mental focus and I didn’t have enough energy to complete everything I needed to. On the evening of the first day, I became so light headed that I added a little salt to my potatoes, which noticeably helped. I feel like my muscles are more responsive, and I’m more interested in exercising and going for a walk (in terms of motivation). My BMs weren’t as consistent or formed. I wasn’t craving very much “bad” food before my journey into potato-land, so I didn’t notice any big changes in that department.
DeleteMy pants now fit even tighter in the waist and hips, and it almost seems like I had some fat/fluid(?) migration from my lower legs/arms to my torso (especially my waist) . . . like I’m a toothpaste tube that’s being squeezed from my extremities toward my torso. Part of me thinks that’s a good sign, and part of me is concerned because I don’t know when/if I’ll turn the corner and avoid a clothes shopping trip that’s not in my budget. I didn’t weigh (no scale) or measure myself, so I don’t know if the migration truly occurred or not. I feel uncomfortably plump.
Overall, it was difficult for me to function as much as I need to for my work and for taking care of things at home. Doing this periodically would be feasible, but trying to do it every week feels overwhelming and stressful to me. I’m still game to experiment with it some more, but I’m not sure when I’ll feel up to it. A couple weeks prior to doing the potato thing, I found my pants were noticeably looser when I tried this: minimal potatoes and grains (total of ~3 servings in 6 days, but did not restrict myself on day 7), 2-3 servings of homemade refried beans daily, lots of meat and non-starchy vegetables, and eating very little after 6:00 p.m.).
@ Terra re: “clear evidence of my body using fat to sequester a chemical it couldn't processclear evidence of my body using fat to sequester a chemical it couldn't process”
AWESOME!
Cheryl
Tim, I have i hypothetical case for making the official potato diet longer than 3 days, because in a lot of cases the 'withdrawal' of SAD or hyperpalatable diet in susceptible people (those who have hard time getting off of SAD/hyperpalatble diet, for whatever reason it may be) is only bearable and diminishing after 2-3 days, thus doing it longer I think would be a real reset of sorts. But this is just hypothetical/speculative, just a thought (many other things would matter when you would set up an official diet)
DeleteOkay! It's another round of potatoes for me! This time, I'm trying the 'protein at least 5 hours away from potatoes' variation, in hopes I can avoid the 'slogging along with the Louis & Clark Expedition' loss of motivation problem :) I'll keep using potato starch, and I'm going to add psyllium to see if I can keep things moving along in the large intestine this time.
ReplyDeleteI had a very interesting effect a day or 2 after ending my first 'potato fast'. I had lost significant and visible fat right where the medication had put fat *on* me a year ago, and suddenly I was having the symptoms of side effects of that medication in the present. Wow - such clear evidence of my body using fat to sequester a chemical it couldn't process. Pretty cool :)
My goat milk kefir is on ice in the fridge - sad I cannot have my morning kefir! :D
reporting in for the ongoing N=1 accumulation!
Deletepotato diet variation: Protein meal 4-5 hours separated from potatoes. Tiny amount of oil. Usual potato starch intake, plus psyllium to avoid the zero motility problem I had last time. I've been taking gelatin for a few weeks (gut healing) - I drank that with my chicken as part of the 'protein' meal.
I did a *lot* better with energy, motivation, focus & generally feeling 'normal' than the previous 'potatoes-only' trial. The psyllium did its job and everything kept on keepin' on in the large intestine. The sense of the potato diet hitting the adrenals was also much less with the added protein (for me, the 1st signal that I've stressed my adrenals is intense tinnitus, and that was avoided this time).
As with the 1st potato session I craved mineral-based salt, so I put a lot of Himalayan salt on my potatoes. This made me happy :) I was also pretty thirsty, just as with last time. For my protein, I ate a chicken breast every day for lunch, my 1st meal of the day. Probably ate between 1 and 2 pounds of cooked potatoes for dinner, either mashed with a dab of butter, or spiralized and made into hashbrowns in a sandwich press. Fast & easy. There was also coffee every day - do not get between me and my coffee. :D
I did 2.75 days of potatoes. I saw a small but noticable drop in inches. My food cravings, which had started to reappear in the 2 weeks since the first round of potatoes, dropped to nothing about the end of the second day. They have remained in check for the remainder of the week.
The only cravings-exception is wheat - but the desire to eat wheat is *very very* specific. I only want wheat that's been through a true slow-rise, European-type bread process, or a true sourdough. All other wheat makes me cringe, cause I know how crappy I'd feel if I ate it. It's the strangest thing! How smart are the gut bugs, to know the difference between wheat that's been *fermented*...and wheat that hasn't?
My diet overall has shifted heavily to fermented things. Aside from what the gut bugs themselves are fermenting for me, I find I'm getting the majority of my calories from sauerkraut, home made goat kefir and sourdough bread (the remainder of the calories are usually either plain meat or a salad...plus random treats - gotta have treats for the soul!). I'll be curious to see how this evolves as my gut continues to heal.
This approach was so much easier for me - i'll be doing another 2-3 days of potatoes + protein again starting Monday.
I'm having fun doing a potato-heavy diet, with some regular meals thrown in there, plus some red wine. Oh dear, it sounds like I'm not doing the potato diet at all!
ReplyDeleteI don't want to go "no salt & pepper". I love potatoes so much & do not want to develop an aversion to them. Roasted Yukon Golds are so delicious.
Jeans are fitting better, a week later. Some GI upset.
It is very timely so to do the potato hack for a week, given my five weeks of seven kg (fifteenpounds) (63,5 => 70,5kg) enfattenment (that i like to call an experiment, you know, to not feel the uselessness and rather have learned lessons out of it. though I've come to terms with this, I would have been way better of not doing this)
ReplyDeletePerhaps additional thoughts i have on this if interesting for folks: One could say my 'experiment' was the opposite of potato diet: calorie surplus fueled by cravings for highly palatable and addicting(my case really severe for opioids) foods (and that is fueled by yeast and die off, and vicious fueling by highly palatable and addicting foods themselves).
Whereas the potato diet is satiating(trough water weight in potatoes, optimal macronutrient ratio, rs content that gives steady fat fuel trough scfa, low palatability = no overezting, ..), provides macronutrients in very good ratio's for fat loss (= sufficient carb, sufficient and comple protein(allthough bit on low side)+prot, fat from your fat stores as potatoes don't provide you with it, except for the lovely homeostasisencouraging and satiating scfa) and decent amount of micronutrients (so like tim pointed out not much of a chance that your body will feel starved and thus not put in motion countermechanisms due to micronutrient deficiencies, at least not in span of days/weeks), ..
Here's my (long winded) view on how total calories and fatgain is higher on crap(ish) diet (despit best efforts), at least in my case, i suspect it is this way in most fases:
2 things at play here: the good food you don't eat and the bad food you do eat (good food meaning food that is food and that is good for you in your situation, bad food meaning edible food like products znd/or junkfood and/or food not good for you in your situation).
When eating the good food + bad food = calorie (carb and fat) excess (because inclusion of bad food make eating at czlorie maintenance a rare occurance, even with my 2 meals a day which is most often optimal for hunger, rhytms, many other things. Whereas with good food only it requires no effort at al to eat at maintance, ofcourse when not in addiction and yeastdieoff mode that i am in now)
When eating less of the good food but still quite a bit of the bad food (in my case it was never a little, its either nothing or substantial amount) = calorie maintenance (which can still impair body composition by negative effects by the food itself on the body trough various mechanisms) or likely again calorie excess (by bad foods being highly palatable/addicting and amounts easily exceeding normal portions, and the reduction of the good foods leading to less buffer for that. For example you skip potatoes in meal because you already ate too much carbs previous days: lower satiation, which gives more rise to wanting to fullfill the cravings).
And despite best intentions/efforts to mitigate the damage(somedays i ate only dinner after day of eating way too much, my god i even ate at night 2 times, no hunger at all and i was like in 'fill the bucket' mode) or to resume normal eating the monky(or gremlin is better analogy) had the best of me.
Started eating only them aardappelen yesterday and within couple hours gonna pound them potatoes for postworkout meal. patent: post workout potatoes!
I'm also doing 1-2tbs of evco, good amount of salt, cup of bone broth. these things alone and nothing else sure made me the fungus not happy, I'm having crazy withdrawal and die off effects. Though that is a bit confounded by other things, I feel that the potato diet would be a very good antifungal diet. In the realm of giving your body (barely) what it needs and fungus can beg as much as it wants (I turned in a rehabing heroin addict after potatomeal yesterday..), it can't have much (or smack them some caprylic acid in the face)
However, today I think of a possible flaw in the 'mindlessness/onlypotatoesareallowed' factor.. I might be tempted to eat Belgian fries! (Yes belgian!).
Wow, this is great! Glad you guys are all finding usefulness with the potato diet. I like your long-winded thesis, Levi...or, 'Mr. Meat". I think your professors and new clients won't know what to think of your crazy ideas! Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteJin - You are doing great. Just have fun with it. When it becomes a stressor, it's time to stop. Ley me know what combo works best for you and I'll make it a new "alternate method" in the main post.
Terra - Glad to see you are doing another round, that must mean that the first wasn't so horribly bad. I just hate the bad rap that potatoes get, often being compared to donuts or bags of sugar. The nutrition profile alone should be enough to want them in your diet. Thanks
And, from "Jerry M" who cannot seem to get the hang of commenting here, a note:
"Tim, I don't know what the hell is a matter with my computer, I have tried all week to leave a comment so I didn't have to bother you, but looks like i just can't do it anymore. I did two full weeks of your 1800-esque Potato Diet and can't believe the results. The first 5 days I went from 195 to 188, then went another 10 days straight with only potatoes, but I added in 1 whole raw potato a day (thinly sliced with salt and vinegar).
Anyhoo, over the entire 14 days, I went from 195 down to 183 (Sunday morn). Then ate normal yesterday and did not weigh myself. Today I am at 179. I actually saw 180 during last week, but the next day was at 182, then 183 where i ended. I thought the magic was over, but it just may have been some water shuttling about. No I am not so sure what to think.
My goal for years now has been to break into the 170's. I think i am going to eat kind of regular this week (any ideas) and then do one more week for good measure and see how long i can keep in the 170s. This really does seem to be all too good to be true. I'll keep you updated if you like. (Jerry) "
I'm thrilled for everyone who had such a great response, though I'm also a bit jealous! :-) When I try it again, I'll post what happens.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, I keep having powerful urges to do some experiments with kichari. Not to hijack this thread, but here's some more information on kichari, which I see as another type of "reset" diet. I've been doing so well with legumes, after years of not being able to digest them well, that perhaps my body is calling out for more.
https://www.planetherbs.com/diet/kichari-the-food-of-the-gods.html
Cheryl
i wud no more eat only potatoes than shoot my toes. the satiation i have on vhf is worth everything to me. im not even losing wgt beyond the few lbs lost in 1st few wks. while thats sad, the abolutely no hunger, let alone carb-hunger...well that keeps me sane while i conitnue to figger out wth else is wrong with me. YES ive tried just lowcarbing. i was hungry, n sometimes crazy hungry, way too often. no thanx.
ReplyDeleteI have done the potato hack for 5 days and have lost 3kg (6,5pounds). I came of 5weeks of SAD-style diet, were i to have done equicaloric optimal diet then maybe it would have been 1kg.
ReplyDeleteI felt very good and reminded me of the early times i switched over to phd and ps (improved sleep, more energy, feeling like you should feel), although again the effect is in part because of coming from SAD feeling
My digestion had never been so undisturbed (not that it was perfectly normal digestion). You can add my trial to the lisst of successfull trials for dyspeptic friends!
This experiment made me rethink a bit again on (among many things) macronutrient ratio's. a while back i came up with the thought of SCFA produced by gut bugs should be a good percentage of total fat consumption (total fat = fat directly from food digestion, fat from prebiotics fermented by gut bugs, fat from own fat stores), and i felt that was not yet common wisdom in ancestral community (perhaps there's now more and more awareness of that). So percentage of fat that we eat (speaking in perspective of perfect health diet) shouldn't necessarely be >60%. a part of total fat percentage can come from SCFA produced by gut bugs (in my diet when healthy: estimated 50g prebiotics = 10g as fat = 5% of calories on 2100 kcal diet). This means a bit more starches and veggies in place of extra scoops of fat (or too much protein). That way, in tune with the phd, the whole thing is even more omnivorously balanced and logical (instead of erring on less starch and veggies on one hand and more protein and/or added fat on other hand). Still then, there's the whole lower carb higher fat thing being better for longevity etc..
starches also fulfill glucose needs that we don't get from fresh animals. So phd-style starch intake is probably a bit higher proportionally (relative to other foods) than the real ancestral diet(s). and higher starch intake also skews RS amount a bit higher relative to other fibers. not that its much or matters all that much, but knowing this it makes for another angle of explanation why it is (next to other factors like low fibercontent in modern veggies) that on a phd diet natural veggie intake seems (to me) to be on lower side than what would be desirable for optimal health (or equal to what paleoman ate). Eating this 'optimal'(in modern times) amount of starches in combination with decent amount of veggies (instead of heaps) makes that total prebiotic consumption is more likely to be adequate. though the more veggies and smart supplementation, the more benefits you can attain (when healthy and attention to diversity).
@levi
DeleteInteresting thoughts, but what does this mean? Am I missing anything?
"Still then, there's the whole lower carb higher fat thing being better for longevity etc.."
Well, by that i mean that it is in my mind that its pretty well established/acknowledged that cultures who eat higher fat and lower carb diet have better longevity etc, but that this 'trueth' is maybe not necessarely true (and it is provoked by the previous line of thinking).
DeleteAnd i guess what i say with that is that then it probably means that its another example of the phd not so perfect yet (or that my line of thinking is wrong, but rather not want that to be the case)
Yeah, sorry if the writing has to be read a couple times over to understand what it means
"its pretty well established/acknowledged that cultures who eat higher fat and lower carb diet have better longevity etc,"
DeleteWhere did you buy this idea?
On the topic of another good food: oats, containing beta-glucan, really does ramp up (better word is modulate) my immune response (so that my body deals with yeast better). It was couple weeks back when first trying it that it became obvious, and now again I ate some (after 6 days of no oats) and I notice it again. I notice it especially in being able to hack up mucus more and even a 'gerdy' feeling (not having eaten at all, its like funguslayers peeling off and giving that slight painful burning feeling very similar to gerd. i know this sounds out there). And I know for sure its due to beta-glucan because this morning I took a cordyceps capsule (also beta-glucan) and that gave me the light gerdy feeling on empty stomach.
ReplyDeleteThought I'd throw that out there because its pretty remarkable, and unfortunate that big benefits like that are missed by having been led to believe there's not much good with this or that food. Its funny even, 3 years ago i bought bulk bags of oats and whey (pre-paleo times when i started getting interested in fitness). Soon when I learned about paleo I gave the oats to a friend of my mom who since around that time made spectacular improvement in her wellbeing and functioning, all we attributed it to was real food and smart supplementation (and some possible theories like protein deficiency, but not had i thought of the oats) (I advised her paleo and supplements in around same periode as when she got the oats). If this last section pollutes the thread too much, i don't mind moving it over to the oat thread (should be of use for some people reading comments)
Levi - I love your "brain dumps." lol. Thanks for posting all of this, quite thought-provoking.
DeleteI'll admit the potato diet is not the most fun thing in the world to do, but it's just like the said back in the 1840's...a good experiment.
I can't wait to see your big thesis.
Ik heb hoge verwachtingen voor u!
Have any of you tried combining the potato diet with IF - say, only eating the potatoes within a certain time window? I wonder if that would juice the effect of eating only potatoes...
ReplyDeleteAnother question - sometimes during the fasting periods, I get really hungry (big surprise! lol) - I've read that glucommannon is really beneficial for appetite suppression...do you think having a glass of the water/glucommanon concoction during the fasting hours would interrupt the beneficial health effects of IF?
Hi Tim - just "met" you through Dr. G's Animal Pharm SIBO post. Have you run across many folks that have trouble digesting potatoes? I seem to have gas, bloating and tummy grumbles a few hours after eating them. I do have some pesky SIBO sx and blastocystis hominis that I am working on getting rid of. Thank you and look forward to doing your potato diet soon!
ReplyDeleteThe only people I've met who couldn't tolerate potatoes had truly messed up guts! There is a Nightshade reaction that some have that may be a bit different, but just general digestion of potatoes and rice seems to be well-tolerated by nearly everyone. Beans have a lot more fiber, and therefore cause more problems, but even beans are generally well-tolerated once the gut flora is built-up with fiber loving species.
DeleteGood luck! Blasto...nasty guy there. Good reading: Blasto, treat or not?
Potatoes, take 3! :D I'm doing 3 days of protein+potatoes, since that worked really well last time - looking forward to some hashbrowns here in a little bit :)
ReplyDeleteAnyone doing potatoes this week? My CFB just arrived in the mail as well - this week promises some significant detox effects, I'd imagine :)
*hangs out the Potatoes 4 Lyfe! banner*
Terra - I get emails all the time from people doing the potato diet, but not commenting. Just yesterday got one from a guy simply amazed at his weight loss and asking if he could go longer than 7 days.
DeleteThanks for keeping us updated!
Eric, the CFB guy, also takes raw potato starch...I think he ended up with that super-typical gut of over trained athletes from years of eating only to support a specific body type.
As he did research on brown fat and all that, he started seeing that the gut was tied intimately to everything he was seeing and chose a quick and easy method of increasing fiber, potato starch.
It's actually kind of fun wearing the CFB, it's like it makes you cold, but your hand, feet, head are warm. I need to check up on his Indiegogo. Hope he is doing well, what a shame to have the Kickstarter project cancelled as it was so far along.
And just remember, the CFB, potato diet, potato starch...none are magical or silver bullets...they will never replace healthy eating and exercising. Not that that reminder is for you, just wanted to say it, lol.
Ha - probably everyone could use that reminder at some point!
DeleteI'm thinky today...may I pontificate a bit? :)
I've been pondering the inter-locking, mutually reinforcing nature of all of these different (for want of a better phrase) 'paleo re-set' approaches. Since people cannot change their lives 100% right out of the gates, they get discouraged at the massive project it is to reclaim an ancestral level of optimum health...but what's fascinating about it, is that you can start at so many different places in this process, and have that one body-hack intervention perturb the system so much that the other interventions become easier, or even *craved* at a body level. And suddenly you're on a self-reinforcing upward trending spiral of health improvements.
Being obsessed with fat, western people seem to gravitate almost exclusively to diet intervention as the first step - calorie reduction, nutrient improvement (enormous air quotes around 'improvement' since CW has most people eating industrialized 'diet food' - ak!). More and more I'm wondering whether that's the best first step. It's psychologically very difficult - most people feel so deprived by altering their diets that they give up. What if people begin with gut restoration, or cold thermogenesis (CT the easy way - gimme the CFB over full immersion any day! I'd love to start a discussion on that actually...I'll go over to that thread and post :D) or blue light reduction etc.?
As I've talked about here, despite my considerable diet modifications over a decade and a half, it has been gut restoration, even in my current early stages, has made everything about pursuing health easier - from gravitating toward nutrient-dense foods to limiting calories to reducing cravings; exercise is easier; concentration is improved; sleep is improved - all making pursuing further health interventions easier. Reading people's reports on experimenting with cold tells a very similar tale - that moving toward cold adaptation re-wired their food behaviours, their exercise behaviours etc.
The old pattern of "If I want to look fabulous (forget *feeling* fabulous, god we're weight obsessed in this culture!), I must deprive myself from the pleasure of eating and punish myself with detestable exercise!" is so destructive on so many levels. It's as if the decades of toxic living continue to play out in toxic pursuit of 'health'!
If gut flora restoration or cold adaptation or no blue light after sun-down or any number of other interventions could be the spark that lights the fire for global health, that changes the picture completely. Self punishment isn't the way to a fulfilling and fully engaged life - but without using one or more of these body hacks, it's damn hard to both realize that fact and live by it.
(forgive thinky expounding! See what you've done, Tim? :D)
@ Terra
DeleteYou are even more entertaining now that you are taking long chain inulin. Don' stop.
aaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha Stuart :D It really is a feel-good fermentable. And I find that I crave it - my other fibers I put in water, Orafti I dump onto my tongue. mmmmmm.
DeleteOkay, did my 3 days (it was interrupted by my birthday, which I totally forgot was happening when I started LOL!), and once again my cravings for almost everything dropped almost to nothing (they had slowly faded back in). I'm back to the point of being able to cooly consider my next food choice, which I really appreciate!
DeleteI'm currently starting with cold experiments, so I've got confounding factors for weight and inflammation reduction, but potatoes helped those before, they probably helped them again who's to say :)
Yay potatoes :D
Hey there I think i'm the guy Tim spoke about. I'm on day 11 but I haven't actually eaten yet. So far I've lost 8.4 lbs (191.6 to 183.2). So I'm very excited about that! I went to bed last night convinced that I was done with the potato diet for a week but the results are kind of addictive. Now I'm thinking about continuing kind of 1 day at a time until I've done 14. I started January 1st trying to lose 20 lbs I had gained over the last few years. Well it took me 10 weeks to go from 197 to 191.6. I wasn't to happy with those results. The potato diet is amazing and so simple. Hopefully I can maintain what I've lost. I'm definitely not going to go on a Oreo binge but I do have a steak and a beer waiting for me.
ReplyDeleteWay cool results, Jason! Damn - 11 days, I could never last that long :D Hat tip to ya :D
DeleteJason - Thanks for the update! Just wait until you taste that steak and beer...the potato diet makes your taste buds come alive.
DeleteTerra - I think it's great to see you getting out of your comfort zone. Sometimes it's good to just throw a whole bunch of stuff at once and see what sticks.
Tim - Agreed! It's been a few years since I came across anything worth trying and it's really invigorating to be back in the "lets try lots of things and see where it takes me" place...and actually be seeing results :) So much new info is out there since I last threw myself into the deep end of self experimentation - very exciting!
DeleteSo I completed my 14 days! I lost 10 lbs and my waist is obviously leaner. My pants fit great! I am defitely ready to eat that steak tonight. I basically did the version that you add a teaspoon of fat per medium potato. However I continued drinking my coffee with cream and sometimes sugar. I ate sweet potatoes at least every other day. I also drank coke zero daily. No calories but not the best thing to drink. I remember dieting all summer once cutting my calories to 1500 per day to lose 10 lbs. In two weeks eating 1400 calories per day on the potato diet I accomplished the same thing. At this point I'm returning to my previous diet that I was losing weight slowly on for at least 5 days then I will start cycling 5 to 7 days on and of the diet until I get to my goal weight.
ReplyDelete