7 ms·

This sounds like a great way to quickly deplete most of your vitamins and minerals.

captaincrunch 4y ago
Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that potatoes gave you every vitamin and mineral you needed (except b12 which you can get from butter).
- lucideer 4y ago
  B12 is a pretty important one if you want to avoid the title of section 1 of this article though. And while butter contains b12, you'd probably have to be eating a few bars of it a day to get enough long-term.
- mod 4y ago
  That's my understanding. The spudfit guy did only potatoes and a B12 supplement for a year. His claim was that he was getting everything else he needed from the potatoes.
- corrral 4y ago
  You can pick one of the usual Native American crop patterns and get a solid set of vitamins. Potatoes + beans + squash or something like that, maybe with some corn. Cf. Mann's 1491. If you're going for a minimal veggie ingredient diet these new-world combos work well as a base, in part because potatoes are pretty much a superfood.
- zhynn 4y ago
  I did the SMTM study and they prohibited dairy. So I got my B12 from sweet potato.
  - lucideer 4y ago
    Sweet potato doesn't contain B12 - you're probably thinking of Vitamin A. Dairy doesn't contain enough B12 to supplement you on it's own, which is why the study recommends against and instead suggests taking an actual B12 supplement (Puritan's Pride lozenges) 4 weeks shouldn't be enough time to develop a serious B12 deficiency but doing this for longer could impair you cognitively.
    - xeromal 4y ago
      Is there an easy way to test your B12 when on this diet?
      - lucideer 4y ago
        It's typically via blood test, I'm not aware of any easier methods
    - lucideer 4y ago
      fwiw, I wouldn't personally be a massive advocate of supplements - dietary sources are usually better if possible - so not sure whether the study's supplement recommendation here is a good one. Just quoting the instructions given to participants
toolz 4y ago
Agreed, it does sound that way, but it's amazing how many anecdotes there are of people who eat exclusively 1 type of food and thrive on it. I don't think modern intuition about nutrition is likely to stand the test of time.
- bee_rider 4y ago
  The conclusion I have come to is that humans, when starting from an over-fed modern baseline, are robust enough to eat a totally shit diet for a couple months. This is also long enough to convince us it is worth blogging about.
  - iudqnolq 4y ago
    The subculture of long-distance hikers who optimize by going fast and light (maybe 1-3 lbs food per day plus 10-20lbs of gear). They'll go for months on extremely weird diets that optimize for calories per gram while doing more exercise than they've ever done and generally be fine.
- weberer 4y ago
  I've only heard that about carnivore diets, and it makes sense to me. Where can you find all the nutrients necessary for a mammal to survive? In the body of another mammal, of course.
AngryData 4y ago
Potatoes have nearly everything you need to survive. You won't have any deficiencies until you eat only straight potatoes for a full year or more.
lucideer 4y ago
I wouldn't quite say "most" as potatoes are surprisingly nutritious, but yes, it is notable that the article doesn't contain the words "nutrient(s)", "nutritious", "vitamin(s)" or anything similar I could think of. I've always been curious whether many of these diets lacking appropriate B vitamin requirements might have a compounding effect w.r.t. people's interest & willingness to continue trying such diets...
malikNF 4y ago
There was a British teen who went blind eating only fries and chips. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/british-teenager-went-blind-from-eating-only-fries-and-chips-doctors-say-warning-over-junk-food-caused-malnutrition/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/british-teenager-went-blind-fro...
pwython 4y ago
Potatoes are a good source of vitamin C, B6, potassium, magnesium… Butter has vitamin A, D, E, B12, K2, etc. This diet doesn’t seem TOO crazy. Perhaps pairing it with a multivitamin supplement wouldn't hurt though.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that potatoes gave you every vitamin and mineral you needed (except b12 which you can get from butter).

lucideer 4y ago
B12 is a pretty important one if you want to avoid the title of section 1 of this article though. And while butter contains b12, you'd probably have to be eating a few bars of it a day to get enough long-term.
mod 4y ago
That's my understanding. The spudfit guy did only potatoes and a B12 supplement for a year. His claim was that he was getting everything else he needed from the potatoes.
corrral 4y ago
You can pick one of the usual Native American crop patterns and get a solid set of vitamins. Potatoes + beans + squash or something like that, maybe with some corn. Cf. Mann's 1491. If you're going for a minimal veggie ingredient diet these new-world combos work well as a base, in part because potatoes are pretty much a superfood.
zhynn 4y ago
I did the SMTM study and they prohibited dairy. So I got my B12 from sweet potato.
- lucideer 4y ago
  Sweet potato doesn't contain B12 - you're probably thinking of Vitamin A. Dairy doesn't contain enough B12 to supplement you on it's own, which is why the study recommends against and instead suggests taking an actual B12 supplement (Puritan's Pride lozenges) 4 weeks shouldn't be enough time to develop a serious B12 deficiency but doing this for longer could impair you cognitively.
  - xeromal 4y ago
    Is there an easy way to test your B12 when on this diet?
    - lucideer 4y ago
      It's typically via blood test, I'm not aware of any easier methods
  - lucideer 4y ago
    fwiw, I wouldn't personally be a massive advocate of supplements - dietary sources are usually better if possible - so not sure whether the study's supplement recommendation here is a good one. Just quoting the instructions given to participants

toolz 4y ago

Agreed, it does sound that way, but it's amazing how many anecdotes there are of people who eat exclusively 1 type of food and thrive on it. I don't think modern intuition about nutrition is likely to stand the test of time.

bee_rider 4y ago
The conclusion I have come to is that humans, when starting from an over-fed modern baseline, are robust enough to eat a totally shit diet for a couple months. This is also long enough to convince us it is worth blogging about.
- iudqnolq 4y ago
  The subculture of long-distance hikers who optimize by going fast and light (maybe 1-3 lbs food per day plus 10-20lbs of gear). They'll go for months on extremely weird diets that optimize for calories per gram while doing more exercise than they've ever done and generally be fine.
weberer 4y ago
I've only heard that about carnivore diets, and it makes sense to me. Where can you find all the nutrients necessary for a mammal to survive? In the body of another mammal, of course.

AngryData 4y ago

Potatoes have nearly everything you need to survive. You won't have any deficiencies until you eat only straight potatoes for a full year or more.

lucideer 4y ago

I wouldn't quite say "most" as potatoes are surprisingly nutritious, but yes, it is notable that the article doesn't contain the words "nutrient(s)", "nutritious", "vitamin(s)" or anything similar I could think of. I've always been curious whether many of these diets lacking appropriate B vitamin requirements might have a compounding effect w.r.t. people's interest & willingness to continue trying such diets...

malikNF 4y ago

There was a British teen who went blind eating only fries and chips. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/british-teenager-went-blind-from-eating-only-fries-and-chips-doctors-say-warning-over-junk-food-caused-malnutrition/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/british-teenager-went-blind-fro...

pwython 4y ago

Potatoes are a good source of vitamin C, B6, potassium, magnesium… Butter has vitamin A, D, E, B12, K2, etc. This diet doesn’t seem TOO crazy. Perhaps pairing it with a multivitamin supplement wouldn't hurt though.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]