Primal Blueprint Journal DCarr10760 (David) page 28

[Siobhan]

Okay David, I'm in. Bought a 5-lb. bag of local organic potatoes. Or as it says on the label, "pomme de terre."

[DCarr10760]

Siobhan, good luck! I'll be interested in how it goes! I guess it was easier than an all out fast, in that I had something to eat when others were eating, but I did find myself hungry. P.S. I realize I've been spelling your name wrong all this time...sorry! Damn my dysexila!

So I did drop a full pound! It may have been water, but no matter, another day or two won't kill me. I still have taters left so I'm having them for breakfast. Lunch and dinner are on the road, so I will likely not be totally-taters today. Strangely, the ketosis strips still showed a trace of ketones all day yesterday and I am in "light" ketosis now, before breakfast.

I like to think I've become a fat burning machine and the carb heavy day was easily overcome. But who knows!

[Sabine]

Not to knock the potatoes per se, but just because you are eating 'only' potatoes, doesn't mean your digestion is resting. It still has to swing into action. Or am I missing something?

I have been following the potato thread, and will be interested to see how you do with it. It is like a combination carb-refeed/fast. Very intriguing. Especially you staying in ketosis even with the potatoes. Will you be testing that again today? I was wondering if you would be 'knocked out' the following day, as if it was taking your body a day to catch on to what was happening.

[DCarr10760]

I think it was said in the thread that potatoes are easily digested, so was less work than eating a variety of things. But certainly fasting is complete rest for digestion.

Today I couldn't do an all potato day, I had a business lunch (grilled chicken breast on garden salad with some crumbled bacon and the dressing on the side-untouched).

Dinner was leftovers I wanted to eat before they went bad, 3oz each of chicken and Salmon. I'm low on my calorie totals, but after a day of traveling to PA and back, I'm too tired to eat any more.

So I'll start up with the spuds again tomorrow.

[Siobhan]

I see there is no special preparation for the potato thing but today I went VLC, ate up all the meat. Small glass of red wine because that is all there is. Tomorrow is tater time.

[DCarr10760]

No, pretty much any way you want to make them is okay, just no added fat. I've just been boiling mine.

So today I am down nearly a pound again. Yesterdsy was only a partial tater day, but my calories were low, only about 1500. The taters are cooking in the pot for today. I'll probably stop after today, I'm out of raw materials and I think on the basis of a carb refeed, I accomplished my goal. Some folks are doing the totally tater diet for two weeks, that's more hardcore than I care to be. But it does seem like a useful way to shed pounds through a plateau. I do wonder what will happen to these folks when they return to a normal Paleo diet, if they'll rapidly put on the weight again? I suspect they will.

The trouble with fasts, potato or otherwise is that a lot of what's shed is water, and that all comes back. But I'm sure some fat goes with it, which doesn't. So there's some benefit. I was hungry through it, which was not so often reported by others, but that might be just my expectations. In a water fast I expect to be hungry, so when I am I can, in an odd way, embrace it. But with the tatorfeast I didn't expect to be hungry and was unpleasantly surprised. So there was a difference.

After today I'll do a week of just normal 100% PB eating at about 2000 cals. While traveling and do a 48 fast the following week.

Hopefully that will bring me close to the 220s!

[Judg]

I find that combining walking with fasting particularly effective.

I was wondering why Siobhan was going on a potato diet. I guess now I know where she got the inspiration.

I think it's wise to sometimes aim for just holding the line. There's only so many balls we can juggle at once.

[DCarr10760]

Yeah, I've been walking as much as I can during my day to day life, but sadly making little time for intentional walking. Hopefully the weather will remain nice this weekend and I can do some serious perambulation.

I became intrigued with the whole potato feast idea because I was looking into a carb refeed after the four feed-fast cycles stopped dropping pounds. I think I went too many times back to the well and my body adapted to the weekly fasts. So I just wanted to do something different. The potato fast came from the thread "Eat Moar Taters, Huh?" in the Primal Nutrition forum. I tried it as much to use up some beautiful potatos from my CSA as any particular health benefits that potatoes might posses.

It's actually been a fun interlude from meaty, fat-filled, Primal eating. But at the end of the day it really is just a modified fast for me, since two pounds of potatoes is only 1000 calories. I'll do it for a couple of days after a few fasting cycles, if they fail to produce lasting weight loss (each cycle I lost a fixed amount of weight, but gained a higher percentage of it back once the fasting stopped).

I'm a tinkerer by nature so it is applealing to me to try new things (it's why I tried PB) :-)

[Judg]

Shaking things up a little is sometimes just what the doctor ordered. I'll be watching you guys with interest. Although potatoes with no butter aren't much fun...

[InSearchOfAbs]

@Julie, I'm Irish, so I am pretty well adapted to potatoes, maybe I digest them fast? I'm also pretty sure I should've eaten more than I have been. I have 10 oz, three times a day.

Funny, before going Primal coffer never bothered my sleep, even in the evening. Now it does.

I'll BET you're adapted!

Yeah, I was thinking that since you're a dood, your metabolism may be a lot
faster cuz of the extra muscle mass and all.

And yeah, 10oz of potatoes 3 times a day is child's play!

You are a MAN! MUST.EAT.MORE.

I hear you on the coffee thing as well.

I think eating primaly really enhances (obviously) how
the body works and uses things.

Caffeine never used to keep *me* from sleeping too.

I never even used to really FEEL anything from it either .

But now, even the crap ass FOLGERS I drink, the ONE CUP I
drink in the morning, will send me into a cocaine enduced
frenzy for about 3 hours.. unless I dilute it with lotsa heavy
cream. Ha!

Julie