Primal Potato Diet (PPD) page 35

[otzi]

I know there have been so many posts on the potato diet but just want a quick clarification,currently on holiday and gained couple(only couple I hope!) pounds whilst I'm here and interested in doing a few days ppd when return,haven't done this before but normally very low carb
-am I likely still to lose on this or will I have a massive gain as body not used to carbs?
-can I have sweet potatoes aswell
-no calorie target so long as don't use anything else?
People just use spices etc to flavour? And can I dry fry and various other ways or do they HAVE to be eaten cold?
I was just planning on following for a couple days or so then returning to primal, do you think this will be ok?

Hardly anyone has complained of weight gain when starting, in fact, just the opposite. A few ladies that have tried this had some weight gain, but not really attributed to the potatoes, per se.

A good way to go about this, buy 10 pounds of really clean potatoes that are about 1/2 pound each. Plan on eating 4 of them per day and nothing else. Spices are fine, coffee, tea, water OK. Just don't use butter, oil, or eat anything else to as great an extent as you can handle. If you are really going crazy, a few nuts, small pieces of lean meat, or some chocolate maybe, but try not to eat a bunch of fruit and veggies.

On the first day, boil about 8 potatoes and store in the fridge. These will be your emergency munchy stash for if you get really hungry and just have to eat something. You can fix the potatoes any way you like, baked, fried, boiled, cold, raw, whatever. Sweet potatoes aren't the best for this, but one or two in the week is OK for a little variety. I'd stay away from rice, though.

Ps what hot sauce do people use sounds like could make more flavoursome..and mustard ok?

Ketchup, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper. Hot sauce fine, too. Soy sauce OK.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes. 10 pounds should last you about 5 days. If you are doing great, buy more or take a day or two break if you want to extend.

[Rosemary 231]

I had potatoes for breakfast and lunch only back in early December and lost 3.5lbs in 4 days . I don't post much on the potato threads because I'm pretty lax about following the "rules". I have 1C 2% milk in coffee while I'm getting ready in the AM and I'm not prepared to give that up, lol. I'm back to 1-2 potato meals a day after a week of holiday gluttony and weight is dropping again. However, some of that is probably just due to the fact that I'm done eating like a pig and drinking like a fish.

I've been pretty impressed by how eating a potato with nothing but spices fills me up and blunts the desire to eat later, even when I'm starting to feel hungry. And I really like potatoes, so I prefer to think of them as real food - useful and yummy food.

When you ate potatoes only for breakfast and lunch did you eat a regular primal dinner or did you fast that meal?

[AshleyL]

Has anyone with IR/diabetes done this? Seems so backwards for weight loss.

[jazzyj]

But why would you do it? for 10lbs? gone quickly? I'm new, but after reading and researching, primal goes beyond materialistic, which is where i usually put those get rid of 10lbs quick thingies. Why would you just eat potatoes for 2 weeks just to lose 10lbs? I mean hey if you want go ahead, I'm just trying to understand the reasoning for it.

[Gibtron]

Hey Otzi,
Thankyou SO much for ur reply,I'd been reading loads on it and really want to try just wanted to make sure on everything!
I enjoyed reading your posts and this has been my first post on the forum,been primal now for 7months and now the heads getting round it all-no low fat junk etc I'm really enjoying it!! Get back from hols next week then going to crack onto the PPD straight away but got a social event(what am I on about-I mean a blooming good few drinks!) on the Saturday night do u think this will mess it up?
So if I run through 10lbs worth and see how I get on, do u tend to do the ppd every so often?
Feeling pretty stressed at mo being away and am convinced the weight is piling on
Any advice welcomed!
Cheers guys!!

[Gibtron]

I'm eating probably at least one sometimes two primal meals whilst here but not the same training as do at home, and alcohol which don't normally have! Snowboarding so am being active..just mayb not enough to cancel out the food&drink!ha!

[otzi]

Has anyone with IR/diabetes done this? Seems so backwards for weight loss.

T1D, probably not a good idea. T2D I think would be OK, but have to monitor glucose closely. IR, ie. slightly high FBG, it's fine, but again you'd want to monitor. I have done numerous self-tests with a blood glucose monitor after eating many potato-only meals, and I haven't seen anything worrisome in those tests, but if one had a serious problem regulating blood glucose, they'd want to be cautious. Ways to blunt the glucose load are to eat the potatoes cold and/or eat with vinegar, like in German Potato Salad.

But why would you do it? for 10lbs? gone quickly? I'm new, but after reading and researching, primal goes beyond materialistic, which is where i usually put those get rid of 10lbs quick thingies. Why would you just eat potatoes for 2 weeks just to lose 10lbs? I mean hey if you want go ahead, I'm just trying to understand the reasoning for it.

It's kind of like a 'reset button' when life gets in the way of normal primal eating, or you find yourself bloated and lost in food choices. It's not a long-term diet or a magic bullet. It's a step higher on the sanity chart than a week long fast, but it is very effective for most that try it. Eat potatoes as plainly as possible without going overboard on quantity for 5-14 days and you'll lose 3-10 lbs during that time. It's these 10 pound gains that get people discouraged with dieting and makes them give up. The Potato Diet is a way to quickly shed those pesky 10 pounds with a very simple, fairly healthy diet. More than 2 weeks and you'd be running the risk of nutrient deficiencies, but 5-14 days is not too long to go for just potatoes. It also has helped many get over their fear of carbs and is a good step in adding them back in your normal daily eating.

Hey Otzi,
...got a social event(what am I on about-I mean a blooming good few drinks!) on the Saturday night do u think this will mess it up?
So if I run through 10lbs worth and see how I get on, do u tend to do the ppd every so often?

A few drinks won't hurt. May be helpful, actually. When I first discovered the PPD, I was a non-believer, but quickly became a believer when I saw how fast it worked. Since last summer, I've done 2 - 2 week stretches and 2 - 1 week run of potatoes only, sometimes adding things just to see how it would effect the outcome. I find the closer you stay to only potatoes, the better it works. Start adding little things and it is very slow. If you read through all the comments, you'll see that same pattern in those who tried it.

I think long-term, I may never have to do the potato diet again, I used it as a tool to help me learn how different foods effected my weight and now I am pretty confident in what is real weight-gain and what is water weight. For the past couple years on Primal Blueprint, I was horrified whenever I would gain 5 pounds, I'd go zero-carb and hit the weights hard until it was gone, but now I'm not afraid to experiment a little since I know I can just eat good ol' potatoes for a couple days and lose any excess water weight and a little longer to lose a few good pounds of fat. I like to think the PPD is a tool in my tool kit just like Intermittant Fasting, Low Carb, and other little hacks we've come up with.

Good luck!

[jazzyj]

Great info Otzi! thanks for the insightful reply!

[LauraSB]

When you ate potatoes only for breakfast and lunch did you eat a regular primal dinner or did you fast that meal?

A regular primal dinner. This time round, two of those dinners included a beer, so not totally primal, I guess. Each day breakfast was 12oz sweet potato with garam masala and lunch was 12oz white potato with salt, pepper and ACV. Total calories each day was 1200-1400 calories. After 4 days I was down 4lbs.

Right now I am back to yogurt and berries for breakfast and then have 8-10oz of my white potato with 4-5 oz of meat for lunch. Next week I'm going to try the sweet potato for breakfast and something non-potato at lunch. I'm not in a rush to lose the last of the weight. I'm really more interested in condensing breakfast and lunch into one 500 or so calorie meal and potato looks like it will work better for me, hunger-wise, than something high fat.

[Gibtron]

Cheers Otzi much appreciated!
Looking forwards to starting! Did someone say too u can add a little sauerkraut? If anyone has any good recipes to keep me going please throw them my way!
Also what did people add if they did mash?or just nothing *dry* eeek!

I'm same with the ole water weight you get all disheartened but you know that normally u can shift it fairly quick, just frustrating as always makes you feel swollen!!