Christmas PUDDD'ing and Potato Porn

Merry Christmas, kind readers!

We take Christmas seriously up here in North Pole, Alaska. I have some intel from "the man himself" that the reindeer are looking forward to that warm weather ya'all have been having down in the lower-48.

You might think I'm kidding, but check it out. Santa has so much time on his hands what with automating the toy work shop and outsourcing to China, he ran for City Council. Right. Like we aren't going to vote for Santa in North Pole, Alaska.

Maybe we can write him in for president!

Anyway, just wanted to let you all try my favorite variation of the potato hack over the holidays. I know we should all be good little boys and girls and not eat the fudge, divinity, toffee, and candy canes, but sometimes you just gotta say, "ho! ho! ho!" and go with the flow. So here's a great way to keep the old waistline in check over the holiday season. I call it Christmas PUDDD'ing.

Christmas PUDDD'ing

This is a spin-off of the Johnson UpDayDownDay Diet™. Often abbreviated JUDDDD™, this diet is one of the trademarked low carb diets that seems to work exceptionally well for people who enjoy a low carb approach to dieting. With JUDDDD™, one has days of high calories (up days) and days of low calories (down days). The book associated with JUDDDD™ is The Alternate Day Diet which promises activation of your “skinny gene.” If you are shopping for a diet plan, take a look, maybe you’ll like it. The Alternate Day Diet is filled with many of the same “alphabet soup” strategies for success that I use in the potato hack.

“The Alternate-Day Diet is based on scientific and clinical studies that show how restricting calories only every other day activates a gene called SIRT1, the skinny gene.”

With Christmas PUDDD'ing, simply eat "normally" one day, and potatoes the next. With JUDDDD™, you’ll need to go through an extensive “induction” period and use a series of calculations to determine your basal metabolic needs for your down days. The down days of JUDDDD™ are simply calorie reduced days and the up days are eating normally. The danger of this diet is that the user may never really learn to eat properly and simply switch between starving and eating crappy food. With Christmas PUDDD'ing, the same trap is there…you’ll need to learn to eat right in your up days. However, the down days of PUDDD are so easy, even a caveman could do it (sorry, Paleo®). Just eat potatoes until you are full on your down days. No counting calories, no tracking nutrients. The potato is the ideal food for an “up day down day” approach to eating.

PUDDD would be great for a long term maintenance plan, or for slow, sustained weight loss. For maintenance, try PUDDD for a week at a time, once every month or even just a couple times a year. For weight loss, try PUDDD for a month and see what happens. The weight loss will be undoubtedly slower than straight potato hacking, but PUDDD shows great promise in keeping people on track.

When it comes to your up days, I can’t stress enough that you will need to learn to eat a human-appropriate diet. This is as simple as just avoiding the big 3 industrial foods: Refined sugar, industrially processed oil, and enriched wheat. If a food label lists any of those as the main ingredients, don’t eat it. Ever.

But for the holidays, don't feel guilty if you eat some of the homemade treats that Aunt Bessie put so much effort into. It's Christmas. Enjoy. And try some Christmas PUDDD'ing (or even pudding).

Merry Christmas!
Tim

BONUS SECTION.............................................................................................

Oh, also some potato porn for your viewing pleasure:

Oven-baked hash browns.

Grated potatoes on a sheet of parchment paper cooked at 450 for 20-25 minutes. No oil, no salt. Delicious. Sorry, kinda dark and out-of-focus just like real porn. Still getting the hang of my camera.

And here we have a dish that you could serve anywhere, anytime and it will be the highlight of the dinner.

 I call it "Potato Baklava"

"California White" Potatoes

Thinly Sliced

Layered and "fried"

Flipped once

 Isn't that just mouthwatering? I was getting about 50 slices per potato, and did not slice my finger for a change. It helps to use a good non-stick pan and keep the heat just at medium. I keep covered and flip just once when the bottom has browned.

The gravy I made is so simple. 2 cups of chicken broth, 1TBS of potato starch, salt and pepper. Bring 1-1/2 cups of the chicken broth to a quick boil, the take off the heat. Mix PS in reserved, cold 1/2 cup of broth and dump into the hot broth and stir. It thickens almost instantly. Don't over-starch your gravy!

Served with Potato Starch Gravy

And this dish is Potato Hack Approved! The only extra being a bit of chicken broth and salt. What's more potato-y than potato starch? 

More after the Holidays! 

Cheers!

Tim