Sunday, August 28, 2016

SPUDtember Challenge!

Andrew "Spudfit" Taylor, the Australian bloke who is eating nothing but potatoes for an entire year, has issued a challenge on Facebook. He's calling it Spudtember. He wants to take people on a guided trip through his world of eating nothing but potatoes.





Here's what Channel 7 in Melbourne has to say about Spudtember.

If you'd like to join in the challenge, Andrew has set up a private Facebook group and is charging $10 to enter. For the $10, you'll get a copy of his 60-page ebook with AMAZING recipes, and daily guidance from Andrew. He's also scheduling live/recorded guest speakers throughout the month.

To join, visit his website and see the instructions.  Join Spudtember.

I joined!  I'm doing it, too.  The longest I've done "all-potatoes" was 2 weeks back in 2011. After seeing how Andrew has been thriving after 8 full months on potatoes, he's made me re-think the advice to keep potato hacks to 3-5 days.

I will be writing potato-themed blog posts and posting my progress here, if anyone wants to try the challenge for Spudtember, I'll see you there, too.

Stay tuned for lots of blogs on potatoes, the potato hack, etc. 

Am I crazy?

Later!
Tim

14 comments:

  1. Well... I'm on day 2 of my 3-day hack, so this news is at least inspiring. I spent yesterday eating nothing but dry, baked russets and it became quite a chore mucking them down. Today I puréed some with water and a wee bit of salt into a thick, porridge-like soup, and it was quite a revelation. Much more pleasant to eat it this way, especially when you have a big appetite!

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    1. I am still convinced that 3-5 day "hacks" are the most beneficial. Especially when done once-a-month or so. We'll talk more during Spudtember, I have a lot of blog posts planned.

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    2. "A lot of blog posts"??? I am having a hard time keeping up now and hate to miss out on the comments as we never know what we will miss from someone else's experiences!!! LOL! There is so much good information here! Thanks!

      gina

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  2. What a fun idea! Very creative of Andrew, and such a great way to support him.

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  3. "After seeing how Andrew has been thriving after 8 full months on potatoes, he's made me re-think the advice to keep potato hacks to 3-5 days."...
    Yes, I'm a skeptical guy by nature. What does he do for a living? If he already makes good money then there's less of a financial motivation to be un-truthful. The fact that he's now making money off of this endeavor is what gave me pause for thought. All we have is his word that he's been eating nothing but spuds for 8 months.
    Secondly, while I'm a fan of the spud-hack and have done it a couple times this guy's long term focus on the subject gives me this uneasy feeling like those whacko's on Youtube preaching all-banana diets, etc.
    Not trying to troll the guy. He may be legit. I don't know him. Just throwing out some thoughts/feelings I had.

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    1. He's legit. He's a full-time school teacher. This $10 facebook thing is the first time he's charged anyone anything. He is not so concerned with losing weight as he is food addiction and overeating. I see a book in his future and maybe an online coaching gig like so many others are doing. He's at that point we get where the only way he will keep active on-line is if he can make a bit of money along the way.

      I started talking to Andrew back in January shortly after he started his year of spuds. I have no reason to doubt what he says or that he is in this for money. I'm curious to see where he takes it next year.

      But I agree, many will see this as a fad diet or crazy scheme.

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  4. Which version are you doing? Andrew's or yours?

    "Am I crazy?" - TBD

    Barney

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    1. Joining me?

      I'm doing Andrew's version. As it is 30 days, I'll need to really eat a lot of potatoes. But really his version is not much different than mine, except for sweet potatoes, which I will probably not be eating. I think people will be surprised to see how little extra stuff he is using. He uses soy milk, but not to drink, just to wet the mashed potatoes. I use chicken broth for the same thing.

      I am interested in seeing if I can keep from losing too much in a month. I probably have 10-15 pounds I can easily part with.

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    2. We need an Alaskan potato spa! Go Tim!!!

      gina

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    3. I have managed to stockpile several pounds of potatoes this summer. 30 days is probably out of reach, but I will strive for a new PR.

      As usual, I will use honey to wet my mashed potatoes.

      Barney

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  5. I'm not sure an all-spud menu can be called a "fad," except maybe in a modern context. I was bored one day and googled the Irish potato. According to several articles, before the potato famine, the Irish had turned the potato into the primary food item and "primary" it indeed was. Although other foods such as oats, large quantities of milk, occasional meat, etc., was eaten, the potato was far and away the most popular food item. It seems that men ate around 15 POUNDS of taters per day, women and young men ate around 10 pounds, and youngsters ate smaller quantities.

    I didn't find any mention of popular cooking methods except one anecdote: a group of ladies visited a wealthy Irish woman and interrupted her mid-morning snack of a lightly salted boiled potato. (The visitors were amazed.)

    It was stated in a couple of articles that the potato-eating Irish were famous for their health and vigor.

    Texas Old Guy

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    1. Well, Texas Old Guy...you just outed yourself as a person who has not bothered to read my book, lol.

      "The more prosperous Irish landowners, on tour in Europe, surprised the continentals by their addiction to potatoes. When the Polish Countess Myscelska called on Lady Mountcashel in Paris, she found her eating plain boil’ d Potatoes for her luncheon in the middle of the day. She then heard for the first time that that was the principal food of the Irish."

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    2. And don't forget they didn't cook it right through. The 'stone in the middle' business provided for the resistant starch in the diet.

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  6. Well, cool. I sometimes think we eat too diverse. Not that I intend to change that, as I like diverse foods a lot. But seeing numbers (stool data, blood sugars, cholesterol-related, etc) on a hack like that would be interesting.----Regarding the time length of hacks. It's very hard to condone things that may be fine when there is a population who may take it to the extreme and end up in the ER with a metabolic disturbance--or even their kids. You'd like to think people will listen to their bodies and know when they need to stop a bit, but they don't always. Right!?---- Ah. The question we all seek to answer. Are we crazy? ;-)

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