Starting weight: 182lbs
Today: 174lbs
Starting Fasting Blood Glucose (FBG): 99mg/dl
Today: 79mg/dl
Energy level: Excellent; Running 2-3 miles per day plus several rounds of pullups. No decline.
Potato repulsion: Minimal
 |
| Freshly dug spuds |
Daily eating pattern:
No breakfast (unless hungry, but I find I am not hungry until noon)
Lunch - 1-2 pounds of potatoes prepared fresh. Hash browns, sliced and fried, mash.
Snacks - leftovers from lunch.
Dinner - 2-3 pounds of potatoes, air-fryer French fries, oven baked potatoes, mash, potato gravy, potato pizza w/tomato sauce.
Dips - Ketchup, curry sauce, vinegar.
Spices - Salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder.
Potato numbers: I find that I am needing about 5 pounds per day, but this amount is increasing daily. I find my body really talking to me, telling me to eat more potatoes.
Full-disclosure...Cheating: Since the 1st of Spudtember, I have been dealing with the end-days of a huge garden. I have eaten a couple carrots, strawberries, and tomatoes on several days. A couple nights of hard frost lately have put an end to my sneaky ways. However, I am sure to eat no extra fats or meat.
"TMI": All normal, once-per-day, a bit less in volume than normal, a bit "looser." Minimal flatulence. Peeing normally, maybe just a tad more than normal. Had to get up in the night first couple days, but not since. I sent off a uBiome gut test kit just for fun, and have another kit I will be using later in the month to see what lurks in my bowels after 30 days of spuds.
Tricks I'm learning: The Potato Hack diet calls for eating just potatoes (with some variations) for 3-5 days. A longer potato diet calls for some experimentation to keep things interesting. When doing my regular 3-5 days, I find that keeping potatoes as plain as possible is key to remaining compliant, but now that I'm embarking on a 30-day hack, I'm pulling out all the stops to find unique ways to prepare potatoes in ways that I can eat even more. A big part of the Potato Hack is a reduction in calories which leads to rapid fat loss, but a longer-term all-potato diet requires more calories daily to keep energy levels high.
Cravings: My only real craving is for salt, oddly enough. I tend to not use much salt normally, but I probably get more than I realize from things like sardines, sauerkraut, and sauces. I've been trying to get in the habit of sprinkling a generous bit of salt on my potatoes.
Next 20 days: I'm focusing on reducing "cheats" and eating even more potatoes daily. I'll be happy if I end up around 165 pounds. I've been maintaining pretty effortlessly at 185 pounds for several years, but I felt my best when I was in the lower 170's.
Well, that's my progress report for the first 10 days of Spudtember. Classes start up tomorrow, I'm in my LAST class needed for my Master's degree in Biotechnology. I can't believe I've been at this for 2 straight years! Where did the time go?
I'll be posting frequent updates during Spudtember, but please forgive me if the posts slow a bit this Fall and Winter.
Later!
Tim
Thanks for this update. I like seeing your results from a lengthy all-potato diet.
ReplyDeleteI'll keep you all posted! This is new to me as well. For simple weight loss, I like a 30 day plan and see that even some cheats do not derail it completely.
DeleteBut, back-to-back 3-5 day hacks, separated by 2-4 days of normal eating, is also very effective.
Possibly for those that need to lose lots, they can plan a 30 day hack, make it as long as they can, then resume after the off-plan eating. Done consistently for a month should produce stellar results for most.
Interesting to contrast a 3 day hack with a 30 day commitment. The 3 day hack as I see it is very much about calorie restriction while eating enough spuds to cover hunger....which would still deliver a calorie deficit. Like a PSMF - effectively a modified fast. The longer term approach is different - about addressing different issues.
DeleteYes, exactly, which is why I am doing this 30-day run of it. I wanted to see if I could eat enough potatoes to keep exercising and maintain weight. The answers after 10 days are 'yes' and 'no.'
DeleteI am continually amazed at the lack of hunger while eating 1200-1500 cal/day and also the lack of urges to eat other foods. Potatoes are extremely satiating to me. The weight loss at this point is pretty much what I would expect from any low-calorie intervention, but without the awful hunger signals that derail most low-cal diets. Plus, I feel that a potato diet greatly improves insulin sensitivity and gut health. Especially when contrasted against a low-carb/low-cal approach in which insulin sensitivity and gut health are decimated.
I'm curious about that curry sauce - do you buy it or make it yourself? If it's homemade, I'd love to see the recipe! Chips and curry sauce is delicious!
ReplyDeleteI found this organic curry paste on Amazon,
Deletehttp://amzn.to/2c41urV
I need to learn to make my own, lol. Yes, chips and curry sauce is a natural!
Tim, Are you putting potato starch on your potatoes or adding it in any other way during this potato only month? I know you said you did add it to your regular diet.
ReplyDeleteIf you are using it in a recipe, like that flat bread you mentioned, I'm not talking about that use.
Only using it in the potato bread. Not supplementing anything.
DeleteGarden freeze up here in Toronto isn't going to happen a Time, with a capital T. Until I've got 'groceries' coming out of that garden, the one I worked so hard to have it all grow and be nicenice..produce is slowing down but the rapini, arugula, chard, and endive is growing for fall crop...... I cannot go on all potato. Maybe start in a week from now but I'm going to do it like Andrew's wife minus eating the kid's leftovers. ;)
ReplyDeleteAwe inspiring to see that 10 days of all spuds results in an 8 pound weight loss. I notice Spudfit has cut back and not eating breakfast because he's checked in with his body and he gets hungry at 11 a.m. All of a sudden he's losing weight again.
I'm starting to see another "variation" to the basic potato hack, and that is where one commits to eating a minimum of two to three pounds (700-1000cal) of potatoes per day, then eat whatever else you want as long as it is a near zero-fat plant-based food. Meat is trickier, perhaps some small portions of lean meat as Marie explored earlier.
DeleteSo... Steamed broccoli and cauliflower, boiled okra, dehydrated plantain chips, and homemade red cabbage sauerkraut would be OK? Now you're talking.
DeletePS. Gotta put in a plug for Ed Yong's new book, 'I Contain Multitudes.' Vegetablepharm friendly and a great read.
All those things plus potatoes is pretty much what McDougall's Starch Solution is all about. I'm not to keen on his banishment of all meat and all fat, but it's a good plan otherwise. See book at: http://amzn.to/2ck77OA
DeleteI think a vegan hack with spuds making half of your calories, and the rest being fat free would do better than a pure hack. I would add chickpeas for example. One can do that for a week or two and experience favorable body changes. It is also great for the food budget!
DeleteWhen I did 9 days of potato hack 2 years ago, I too craved a lot of salt. Potassium/sodium balance maybe?
ReplyDeleteI have a yearly physical on 10/1. Am going to do ADF (alternate day fasting) for the next week. When my potatoes come in (20# order) will eat them for a few days too. For bureaucratic purposes, need to get the BMI down to 24.9, haha. (Right now it's 25.6.) But decreasing waist circumference is much more important -- currently 92cm (36.2"), want to get down to at least 90 (35.4").
I tend to carry all excess weight in my mid-section as well, I think that using periodic potato hacks, such as 3-5 days at the start of each month, is probably the best thing people like us can do for long-term health. I'll be blogging on it soon, but there is a body of evidence that suggests periodic fasting is extremely healthful, and these fasts need not be complete fasts. The potato hack mirrors several therapeutic fasts.
DeleteRE: Salt - our bodies are what % water? we hold a salt water ocean within us - get your MINERAL SALTS as much as you crave/wish/want! When I began removing all foods and starting over re: gout attack mentioned here a few weeks ago - another thing I did was switch to mineral salts once I discovered the nature of the bleaching process for all processed foods (basically remove ALL OF THEM if you want health/healing!)!
ReplyDeleteSo stop using non salt as I like to call it (literally having to add the "salt" back in) and use as much mineral salt as you want! My wife, one generation removed from italy, LOVES cooking with salt, LOTS of it! I had her taste test the mineral salts and she was shocked how much better/more potent they were!
It took a bit of trial and error b/c she had a problem with the moisture level causing it to stick together and not shake - experiment with brands/kinds/custom grinders to get a feel for your sweet spot but we need the salts to move the electrical signals around the body!
Four fifth of glucose supplied as demanded by our brains - we need MINERALIZED salts to OPTIMALLY meet that demand!
Tim, have you seen the posts in Spudtember by Leesa? She blends a peeled boiled or steamed potato with "milk" to make a "bechamel" sauce. Just calling it that opens up creativity! So far she's made layered baked potato slices/mashed with flavorings, inspired by lasagne, and potato slices with taco-spiced "bechamel" like scalloped potatoes.
ReplyDeleteTim,
ReplyDeleteI was having problems with no-salt taters until I figured that in the past maybe some folks boiled their taters in sea water. Since a gallon of sea water weighs about 8.6 pounds, I add 3.2 ounces "sea salt" per gallon of tap water. After draining and cooling, the residual salt clinging to the potatoes seems to satisfy most of my desire for salt.
James H.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canarian_wrinkly_potatoes
DeleteThe dish is made from small new potatoes which are cleaned (but not peeled), then boiled in water (originally in seawater, but it is more usual that salt is added to the water in the boiling process) and then baked in their skins until they become shrivelled. Alternatively, in some recipes, after cooking in salted water most of the water is discarded and the small amount that remains is boiled away until the potatoes become dry. This leaves them with a characteristic dry salt crust on their skins.
Hey Tim,
ReplyDeleteHow's your sleep during this all potato diet?
Great! In fact, better.
DeleteHas anyone read any of Dr. Robynne Chutkan's books? I like what I have heard here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHEDIiIKQE8
But have not yet read any of her books. I am hoping my library will get one so I don't have to purchase it!
Cheapskate! lol
DeleteDr. Chutkan has a nice blog (http://www.gutbliss.com/blog/) but really looks like she just wants to sell stuff. She is a board certified integrative gastroenterologist, and makes lots of TV appearances, Dr. Oz, etc. I cannot comment on the quality of her advice, but from what I see, it looks generalistic in nature, sort of how Dr. Oz presents things.
I looked at a couple of her books, The Microbiome Solution (http://amzn.to/2cvcyNC) for instance. Looks to be a good read. But I doubt she has any secret insider information to divulge. But just to read up on the microbiome and gut health, it seems complete.
lol - I save when I can! However, I did buy a couple copies of your book so I could share!
DeleteI haven't watched any of her segments with Oz since I am not a fan of his but I have listened to some of her other things on Youtube. Perhaps her generalistic or simplistic approach is what I like. As much as I appreciate all the information you and your followers provide, sometimes I really get lost and confused by all the wisdom and knowledge here. I totally agree that she is into selling. And one of the reasons I was drawn to your blog was that you weren't trying to get rich off of the misfortune of the rest of us! I haven't heard her mention RPS yet! lol She does admit that her patients educated her more in some ways than medical school did and she says that some in the medical community are not up to speed on gut health, and I agree that she isn't giving out even as much information as I have gotten here at Vegetable Pharm so she doesn't have any "secret insider information to divulge". And I guess that's probably the reason I don't want to invest in her book and would prefer to get it from the library although my time would probably be better spent elsewhere! lol Thanks for helping me see that!
She has a good blog, I spent some time reading it. It looks to me like she reads lots of current gut health papers and blogs, maybe even this one.
DeleteI terrible about buying books, too, and get them for free when I can. I've probably only bought 3 books in the last 10 years, lol.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteNo idea, just your body rebelling, I guess. I keep waiting for something to happen, but it doesn't. I feel great, energetic, running a couple miles almost every evening, doing my normal pushup/pullup routine daily, walking lots...no slowdown at all.
DeleteI find I am simply not hungry in the least until noon, then I scarf a spud or two, same for dinner, with maybe 3-4 big potatoes, totally 3-5 pounds a day.
If you hit a wall at 9 days, there is no shame in calling it quits. I would. I do not believe in self-torture, lol.
I am a big fan of 3-5 day hacks, and I'm glad I did not recommend longer 14-30 day hacks. Although this is a good experience for me, showing me that even 30 days can be easily done (for me, anyway). Day 14!
Good luck!
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DeleteGreat update!
ReplyDeleteI liked my 3 to 3.5 day hack. It went well. So I find it interesting at day 3 on high fiber foods, I felt horrible. Yet on 3 days of potatoes, no problem. I just wonder about that.