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Thoughts on the potato diet

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Re: Thoughts on the potato diet

#141

Post by mpalczewski »

sph wrote: post #56
csours wrote: post #35

If this is interesting I highly recommend "The Hungry Brain". Some other thoughts: Obesity is not a disease of over-eating, it is a disease of managing hunger. "Losing weight" is a terrible goal. "Changing Body Composition" is a much better goal. Specifically change the proportion of fat to muscle. ---- If your immediate answer is "Those are the same thing but with different words!!!" then here are some questions to…

> Obesity is not a disease of over-eating, it is a disease of managing hunger. Indeed it is, and the solution to managing hunger (i.e. returning your whole insulin and leptin system to a more optimal baseline) is NOT going for a 90% carbohydrate diet. That's exactly why we have a bloody obesity epidemic. It's a fun thought experiment, but reading the comments in here people actually think this is genius and sustainab…

> Indeed it is, and the solution to managing hunger (i.e. returning your whole insulin and leptin system to a more optimal baseline) is NOT going for a 90% carbohydrate diet.

Leptin system returns to a more optimal baseline with weight loss.

Insulin returns to a more optimal baseline by increasing insulin sensitivity. Exercise does this most effectively, loosing weight also does this. Low carb diets don't do this directly, only through weight loss.

Managing hunger is managing your dopamine response. Eating nothing but one food, will make you very bored of your food. You won't be looking for food as entertainment, stress relief, or a cure for boredom(dopamine). You will only eat for true hunger(lack of dopamine can feel similar).

Re: Thoughts on the potato diet

#142

Post by jasonlotito »

The moment you start thinking of a diet as something that deprives you of something, you are on the road to failure.

"Every diet restricts food choices."

This is incorrect. Good diets do not restrict food choices. They usually limit overall intake. You can eat whatever you want. You only have a certain number of calories you can eat per day without gaining some weight. I'm defining "good diets" as a diet that helps you maintain a healthy weight.

Basically, a diet is what you eat. If you eat junk food, your diet is junk food. When you go on a "diet" to lose weight, you generally change what you eat and how much. So, the most successful diets are ones that replace your old unhealthy diet. This means learning to eat a good diet as a habit.

It also means realizing a diet doesn't end just because you eat way more than you should one day. The mental strength needed to realize you didn't fail your diet, but simple changed your diet for one day, is quite high. You didn't fail. You didn't fall off the wagon. There is no wagon to fall off of. This is probably the biggest mental shift for me. Accept that I will eat unhealthy some times, and I don't need to feel guilty for it. I just go back to normal next time I eat.

And that all revolves around changing your normal diet, or what you eat normally. All of that also means I know I can eat anything, but only so much.

Note: This is mostly me rambling, so I apologize for any confusion. This is also my overall look and what's worked for me long-term. This isn't something that might apply to you, but it's how I see things, and helped me. Maybe it will help others.

Re: Thoughts on the potato diet

#143

Post by LesZedCB »

TrisMcC wrote: post #128
sph wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Obesity is not a disease of over-eating, it is a disease of managing hunger. Indeed it is, and the solution to managing hunger (i.e. returning your whole insulin and leptin system to a more optimal baseline) is NOT going for a 90% carbohydrate diet. That's exactly why we have a bloody obesity epidemic. It's a fun thought experiment, but reading the comments in here people actually think this is genius and sustainab…

Do you really believe that the obesity epidemic was caused by people eating 90% carbohydrate diets? The "high carb meals" at McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut... are all also (and more per calorie) high in fat. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to your mixed-green salad? That has turned into a high fat salad. Most people cannot avoid cheese or nuts on salad, either. Eating the potato diet with sour cream/butter/cheese:…

i thought fat was largely debunked as being the primary cause, though i'm not going to go searching for studies as i'm not a dietician (though my partner is).

consider this: each of those meals at McD's, BK, or Pizza hut come with a 1-2 liter soda, loaded with calories and sugar. yes, the fats are there, but they are _always_ paired with loads of sugar.

Re: Thoughts on the potato diet

#144

Post by riekus »

go_elmo wrote: post #6
mikkergp wrote: post #4

Is weight loss the only reason behind "Dieting"? Isn't the "carnivore diet" around mental fitness? That's why I choose a low carb diet, mental and physical fitness(when I'm not actively exercising, I try to limit my carb/sugar intake to mornings before I run)

Endurance training on an empty stomach is a great ketone pathways excercise, the first few times are hard but get easier afterwards!

Runs are better as well, some Sundays I don't eat, go for a 30k run on 14:00 and have a meal after. Feels great. Never do breakfast either, sometimes lunch if I feel like it otherwise just a big meal in the evening.

Re: Thoughts on the potato diet

#145

Post by dubswithus »

nostrebored wrote: post #65
sph wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Obesity is not a disease of over-eating, it is a disease of managing hunger. Indeed it is, and the solution to managing hunger (i.e. returning your whole insulin and leptin system to a more optimal baseline) is NOT going for a 90% carbohydrate diet. That's exactly why we have a bloody obesity epidemic. It's a fun thought experiment, but reading the comments in here people actually think this is genius and sustainab…

CGMs should disillusion people of this pretty quickly. I really wish more people would try them for a month just to see how they respond to certain foods.

So I think this is an attempt to link a random result to a metabolic disease? This goes against the advice of pretty much every health doctor, nutritionist, and scientist.

Re: Thoughts on the potato diet

#146

Post by kzrdude »

manmal wrote: post #48
worker_person wrote: post #9

I did plain chicken and sweet potatoes for a month. No spices, boiled or baked. Water or Green Tea. Best I have ever felt. Ended six months of whole body agony. I try and follow AIP these days. (Potatoes aren't allowed, but Sweet Potatoes are.)

Basil, oregano, thyme, ginger and some other spices are allowed according to AIP though?

They are herbs and not necessarily called spices

Re: Thoughts on the potato diet

#147

Post by TrisMcC »

strbean wrote: post #68
friedman23 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder where the misinformation that potatoes were unhealthy / fattening came from? Was it from french fries and fried starches?

Potatoes are calorie dense. I think the focus on satiation rather than pure calorie counting is a more recent trend. Also, it sounds like water content is a significant contributor to their capacity to satiate, so things like potato chips probably fail miserably under this lense. Many processed foods made from potatoes have far less water in them than home cooked versions (french fries, hash browns).

> Potatoes are calorie dense.

No.

https://gurmeet.net/Images/food/calorie_density/CalorieDensi...

Boiled potatoes are 870 kcal per kilogram.

1 kilogram of potatoes is a lot.

Re: Thoughts on the potato diet

#148

Post by billjings »

exolymph wrote: post #132
billjings wrote: post #106

The only reason the potato diet is interesting to me (and presumably the reason it's interesting to the https://slimemoldtimemold.com/ folks) is the likely relationship to their environmental contaminant hypothesis for the public health issue of increasing body weights since 1980, outlined in a series of posts here: http://achemicalhunger.com/ In short, while the variety and satiety explanations make a lot of sense s…

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7iAABhWpcGeP5e6SB/it-s-proba...

Thanks!

I'm not completely sold on the lithium hypothesis, either. But I find their arguments for some kind of environmental contaminant compelling, especially for the ways in which they refute some of the other major hypotheses for the increase in body weights (e.g. food variety, processed food, etc)

Note that the SMTM folks recently published an article responding to the TDS data referred to by "It's Probably Not Lithium": https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2022/07/05/total-diet-studies-...

Re: Thoughts on the potato diet

#149

Post by _0w8t »

neilk wrote: post #70
ramesh31 wrote: post #15

Eat less food and move more. There's literally nothing to losing weight beyond that. It's incredible to me the amount of mental gymnastics that people will perform to avoid facing this.

You're right and wrong. Many obese people have done this and lost weight... and then gained it right back again. Over, and over again. There is a persistent myth that the obese person lacks some spiritual strength or willpower. I think your comment implies this. And yet they do have the willpower to lose weight? And something happened in 1980 which turned 30% of adults into weak-willed moral degenerates, and more and…

My favorite hypothesis is that it is big refrigerators at home and perhaps widespread use of preservatives that made people fat as it provided uninterrupted access to high calorie food like meat, cookies etc.

Re: Thoughts on the potato diet

#150

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

neilk wrote: post #70
ramesh31 wrote: post #15

Eat less food and move more. There's literally nothing to losing weight beyond that. It's incredible to me the amount of mental gymnastics that people will perform to avoid facing this.

You're right and wrong. Many obese people have done this and lost weight... and then gained it right back again. Over, and over again. There is a persistent myth that the obese person lacks some spiritual strength or willpower. I think your comment implies this. And yet they do have the willpower to lose weight? And something happened in 1980 which turned 30% of adults into weak-willed moral degenerates, and more and…

> And something happened in 1980 which turned 30% of adults into weak-willed moral degenerates, and more and more every year?

...actually when you put it like that it sounds pretty plausible. Ronald Regan was elected in 1980, officially beginning the Reign of the Boomers.

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