The Super Secret Potato Project page 44

[otzi]

Fortunately for me I was well into my weight loss before I found MDA. I had already decided on my own that grains were a bad investment when I only had so many calories to spend, so my carbs were rarely over 200g/day anyway. I did try HFLC around 150 lbs and 1400 cal/day because I was starting to feel crazy hungry all the time, but it didn't seem to make things any easier or help weight come off faster so I gave it up as too much trouble. I have naturally settled into about 100g carbs/day which gives me plenty of room to play around with any food I like.

My goal is just a number that seemed like a respectable middle-aged weight when I started, lol. I can see now that I can do better, which is actually very freeing when it comes to playing around with eating strategies.

I never really felt normal until I got brave enough to play with my food...maybe it was my Mom saying "Don't play with your food" all those years, but 'carbs' are such an easy target for elimination, that we get stuck in a low carb rut and find it hard to break free.

[spacegirl]

Day 1: 178.3
Day 2: 182.0 (gained 4lbs in one day, undoing most of my hard low-carb work - delightful!)

Thanks everyone for the replies and advice. Good point, flyingpig, about 'why go from one extreme to the other'. The answer is that I am trying to find something that produces weight loss for me - I thought the science behind low-carb/moderate-protein/high-fat/calorie-deficit was totally plausible and therefore that it would work, but it didn't. It was only by avoiding all the things that might make the approach fail (too much protein, too many over-all calories) that I could test it properly. I'm less sure of the science behind the potato diet (purely because it hasn't been studied as much) but I'd like to test it properly, without variables that might affect the results (adding in protein or fat). I don't expect to eat this way for the rest of my life, but I find that if I don't see results from a WOE I get very discouraged and want to give up. Now, that might be a character flaw of mine and and your response might be 'you have to be patient', but it's just something I have to work with. I'll give up grains, legumes, sweets, sugar, Diet Coke and sitting on the couch, but I'd like some results in return!

So, basically, the reason I'm not starting by adding a few potatoes into my existing diet is that I just don't see how adding 100g or carbs to a low-carb diet can result in fat loss - I don't understand what mechanism would make that happen. I'm willing to try everything to lose weight, so it's on my list of things to try, but not at the top.




Now, as I mentioned, I've been doing things to blunt the blood sugar spike that comes with the potatoes (taking ALA beforehand, eating with vinegar, drinking some lemon juice just before). I read this comment by tatertot on Richard Nikoley's blog:

The theory is because your body needs fat to manufacture insulin, if you are eating ZERO fat, it has to pull fat out of storage to manufacture insulin. Because white potatoes are so highly insulogenic and create such a massive, high GI response, it needs A LOT of insulin – which requires a significant portion of fat. Since you aren’t eating fat along with it, it is forced to go to adipose tissue as a source – and needs quite a bit – to make all that insulin.

So when you start combining potatoes with outside sources of protein and fiber – like egg whites, fish or vegetables – you are destroying the “hack.” You are greatly reducing the insulin spike you’re supposed to get, which lessens the immediate fat need from your fat cells to manufacture insulin. The whole point is because potatoes are so massively insulinogenic. If you add stuff, it doesn’t work. It has to be all potatoes.

This is very interesting. According to this, it's not the resistant starch that makes this work, it's eating a highly insulogenic food with very low fat. However, my problem with it is I can't find anything to back up the claim that 'your body needs fat to manufacture insulin', or that it can use body fat for that purpose in the absence of dietary fat. Anyone have any thoughts?

[otzi]

This is very interesting. According to this, it's not the resistant starch that makes this work, it's eating a highly insulogenic food with very low fat. However, my problem with it is I can't find anything to back up the claim that 'your body needs fat to manufacture insulin', or that it can use body fat for that purpose in the absence of dietary fat. Anyone have any thoughts?

Just a comment on this question first....I remember chasing the 'insulin from fat' theory around, and it does seem to have some backing in the literature, but I don't think it's enough of a process to account for the fat-loss associated with the Potato Diet.

However, the second part--can your body use stored fat in place of dietary fat-- that is a definite 'yes'. That is where the secret behind the Potato Diet's efficiency lies. Any fat-loss diet relies on several things: Enough satiety to prevent the user from going crazy and a calorie deficit.

Many who try the potato diet find they can easily eat only 1/2 or so of their normal caloric intake and not feel starved. A little hungry, yes, but not so bad they can't stick it out a week.

Potatoes have a little bit of all the protein you need to survive and enough carbs to give you energy, but very little fat. You need fat from somewhere to fuel bodily functions. Your body readily pulls this from body stores as needed in a calorie deficit state.

As to whether this is 'right' for you just depends. You don't need to focus on the science, just the way it makes you feel and results. If it feels dumb and you don't like it one bit, don't stress yourself out trying it.

If you want to give it a try, I'd recommend cooking up a whole bunch of potatoes you can keep on hand in the fridge for snacks or meals on the go, and eating just potatoes for 3-4 days. If you drop a bunch of weight, continue on a few more days or stop and do it again at a later date. When I say 'just potatoes', I mean it--water/coffee/tea, potatoes, salt/pepper/vinegar. Try not to turn it into an all-you-can-eat, stuff-yourself-til-sick deal, but more of a potato for lunch a couple for dinner and a few bites here and there to stave off hunger.

You will know after a day or two if you can sustain it. If you can't--quit. That easy!

At the worst, you ate some healthy spuds ( Precision Nutrition » All About Potatoes ). At the best, you lose a little weight and realize that potatoes may be a good tool for weightloss, either alone or in your daily eating.

Good luck!

[spacegirl]

Thanks for the reply. I realise the body needs small amounts of fat for various processes (some vitamins are fat-soluble, etc) - this is one of the reasons why paleo is pro-dietary-fat. I find it hard to square the argument that we need to eat fat to be healthy with the idea that in the absence of dietary fat, the body will just used stored fat for whatever it needs. They can't both be right!

But anyway - you're right - I should just do the experiment.

Day 1 - 178.3
Day 2 - 182.0
Day 3 - 181.5 (so down half a pound, but I've still gained 3.2 lbs on this diet so far).

On a side note, I think I have developed a tolerance to vinegar in the space of a day - I can't taste it anymore!

[gopintos]

I find it hard to square the argument that we need to eat fat to be healthy with the idea that in the absence of dietary fat, the body will just used stored fat for whatever it needs. They can't both be right!

This one drives me bonkers also. The HF/LC makes sense to me, but so does the idea of taking the needed fat from my own @$$.


Just a side note, that I thought was funny. Funny isnt the right word, but anyways... DD came down to fix breakfast the other morning, she looked in the frig and said, Oh good, glad you made more potatoes. So she made some hashbrowns.

I try to keep them always ready to go in the frig. I use to bake them. Now I buy reds and boil them whole. Could not be easier.

I didnt think she noticed, although she has said before, on otherwise highly stressful mornings... she is a single mom, going back to school, moved back home while she finished up, etc. and one morning on the verge of a stress breakdown, she said... "Thank you for always having eggs." Those are the words that came out, but on that particular morning, I know the meaning was much deeper than that

Anyways, I look at tators different now. I hardly buy russets anymore, even though they are cheaper. I use to buy them because I figured they would just go to waste anyways, cuz I couldnt eat them, so therefore I hardly fixed them for anyone else either. But now, even though reds are a little bit higher, they are just so easy to fix when I boil them whole. I havent thrown out a tator since last October

[TheFastCat]

This thread is just a huge facepalm...

An all potato diet?

God forbid anyone on the Primal Blueprint forum actually follow... The Primal Blueprint in an effort to lose weight, gain strength and become healthier!

knock yourself out guys.

(as in literally)

[otzi]

This thread is just a huge facepalm...

An all potato diet?

God forbid anyone on the Primal Blueprint forum actually follow... The Primal Blueprint in an effort to lose weight, gain strength and become healthier!

knock yourself out guys.

(as in literally)

891 posts since Apr 2010 and this is the first you've heard of the Potato Diet?

Must be like when someone trying the SAD CW diet advice of 'Eat whole wheat, low fat, and lean meat' first discovers Primal/Paleo/Atkins...Eat fat--lose weight...WHAAAAT....?????

[otzi]

Thanks for the reply. I realise the body needs small amounts of fat for various processes (some vitamins are fat-soluble, etc) - this is one of the reasons why paleo is pro-dietary-fat. I find it hard to square the argument that we need to eat fat to be healthy with the idea that in the absence of dietary fat, the body will just used stored fat for whatever it needs. They can't both be right!

But anyway - you're right - I should just do the experiment.

Day 1 - 178.3
Day 2 - 182.0
Day 3 - 181.5 (so down half a pound, but I've still gained 3.2 lbs on this diet so far).

On a side note, I think I have developed a tolerance to vinegar in the space of a day - I can't taste it anymore!

Hey, Spacegirl - I know how you feel with the conflicting advice that's out there. Whatever you do, give each attempt at least a couple months to work. Try the potato diet for a week, then continue with healthy PB eating, but keep fat in the 50% of calorie range. For your carbs, keep them at about 30%, but be sure you are getting almost all of them from potato, rice, or sweet potato--not sugar or sugary fruits.

If that doesn't work after a while, increase fats and protein and lower carbs.

A big mistake a lot of folks make is eating higher carbs for a couple days then higher fat and flip=flopping back and forth. If something is working stick with it. If it's not, change it.

Best of luck!

[otzi]

I try to keep them always ready to go in the frig. I use to bake them. Now I buy reds and boil them whole. Could not be easier.

I've been making them in the slow cooker. Fill it with potatoes and 1" of water, set to high for a couple hours and they are perfect. I ruin too many by over-boiling them.

[gopintos]

I've been making them in the slow cooker. Fill it with potatoes and 1" of water, set to high for a couple hours and they are perfect. I ruin too many by over-boiling them.

I will have to try that. Maybe it "could be easier" haha