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There's actually some science behind this diet. Potatoes are the highest scoring food on the satiety index. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-f

There's actually some science behind this diet. Potatoes are the highest scoring food on the satiety index. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-filling-foods https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-filling-f... Basically they're the most filling food per calorie. So if you subscribe to the idea that losing weight is mainly about how many calories you consume, a potato heavy diet should be effective. And an all potato diet, while monomaniacal, even more effective. Eggs and fish are also very high on the satiety index. If you threw in pretty much any vegetables and spices of your choosing and just stuck to those along with potatoes, even with a cheat day or three you'd have a very healthy diet which I bet most people would lose weight on.

browningstreet 4y ago
Also, if you’re having a lot of food intolerance or allergy or digestion issues, having potatoes to fall back on can feel like a lifesaver. It’s early in the elimination diet re-introduction schedule.
frostwarrior 4y ago
Potatoes may be pure carbs, but they're full of water. When I eat a portion of mashed potatoes (I cook them with very little butter), it feels like I've eaten a very dense soup.
corrral 4y ago
Fish is high on my personal satiety index, because I didn't eat much of it growing up so never developed a taste. Result is that when served fish I eat a little to be nice but don't enjoy it at all. That'd certainly help me eat less. Oddly, I love calamari and sushi.
- hahajk 4y ago
  Of course, eating food you don't like so you end up eating less doesn't sound like the way to go through life!
  - corrral 4y ago
    IIRC a study made it on here once (a couple years ago, maybe?) that boiled down to "we're fat because modern, affordable, low-or-zero-prep food tastes too good and is too varied" One of my not-well-backed suspicions is that this is closest to the truth of any of the various attempts to explain this.
  - s1artibartfast 4y ago
    It's fine if you substitute it with something that is equally or more pleasurable. There's no rule that you have to get part of your life satisfaction from food
entropicgravity 4y ago
Thanks for this, but I'll stick to the peanut butter diet :)
- com2kid 4y ago
  Peanut butter doesn't fill me up at all. I can consume 1k calories of it, nothing, still hungry after. Same with fish, I cannot get full eating fish in any quantity. Shrimp, sure, but not fish. Nuts, same deal. I'll eat 500+ calories of nuts, does nothing for me.
  - mixmastamyk 4y ago
    See a doctor.
    - com2kid 4y ago
      Plenty of other foods fill me up just fine. A 4oz steak and some broccoli. Bacon and eggs. Meat + a veg does me fine. > See a doctor. Doctors know next to nothing about gut biome stuff. "I don't get full eating an entire jar of peanut butter" is going to result in the doctor telling me to not eat a jar of peanut butter. Heck plenty of people don't get full eating entire tubs of ice cream. The answer is to avoid downing tubs of ice cream.
      - mixmastamyk 4y ago
        You just listed a bunch of things that don't make sense? See a specialist rather than quibbling over the definition of doctor.
        com2kid 4y ago
        You ever tried eating fish with bones in it? It takes me forever. By the time I finished picking the bones out of 700 calories of fish it'd be time for my next meal. Meanwhile I have friends who eat fish just fine and get full. FWIW Salmon drenched in butter and lemon does the trick, but that kind of feels like cheating. Maybe fish sticks would fill me up? Heck if I know. Peanut butter is another one, plenty of people can eat crap tons of peanut butter and not get full. Other people get full from peanut butter easily. Same goes for nuts, and a ton of snacking foods. That is why they are called snacking foods I once had a coworker who could honest to goodness get filled up from an ice cream cone. Calorically, that is correct, but the vast majority of people's bodies will completely ignore calorie math when consuming ice cream (see: Common jokes about a separate desert stomach). > See a specialist rather than quibbling over the definition of doctor. "Hi doctor, yeah, I have a normal BMI and I am in above average health and I work out multiple times per week but some guy online says I should see you because I don't get full eating peanut butter." You do realize that there are literally not specialists for this stuff? If medical science understood why some people never get full eating certain foods, we wouldn't have so much obesity. On the flip side, food scientists understand that fat + sugar = never satiated. That is why donuts are even a thing. Realistically a donut and a sweetened coffee are "enough calories" but they aren't satiating at all. And then there is the nastiness of the human body mostly ignoring liquid calories all together[1], outside of mechanical fullness of the stomach. That is why starbucks can get away with selling drinks that have almost an entire day's worth of calories in them. [1] Protein shakes are a notable exception to this.
friedman23 4y ago
I wonder where the misinformation that potatoes were unhealthy / fattening came from? Was it from french fries and fried starches?
- strbean 4y ago
  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).
  - TrisMcC 4y ago
    > Potatoes are calorie dense. No. https://gurmeet.net/Images/food/calorie_density/CalorieDensity_03.png https://gurmeet.net/Images/food/calorie_density/CalorieDensi... Boiled potatoes are 870 kcal per kilogram. 1 kilogram of potatoes is a lot.
    - zhynn 4y ago
      Having done 28 days of the potato diet, this is true. It is difficult to get over 1kcal of potato. Eating two kilos of potato in a day is heroic. I would eat like 1 kilo per day, and be satisfied-full. It's wild.
      - mrguyorama 4y ago
        I could definitely eat 2kg of potatoes a day. As french fries. Kind of ruins the whole point though
        borroka 4y ago
        One can eat 2 kilograms of boiled potatoes, refrigerated, cut into very thin slices and then air-fried at 400F for 15-20 minutes with a drizzle of avocado or extra-virgin olive oil. Some rosemary too. An overall increase of about 150 calories per kilogram compared to boiled potatoes only. The flavor is similar to that of French fries and they are an excellent substitute (I say this as someone who when asked what would be his last meal would answer: french fries).
strbean 4y ago
Eggs for breakfast and Marmitako for lunch and dinner, got it.
treis 4y ago
They're borderline at best for protein content, though. You'd probably want to at least supplement with a protein shake or two.
- maerF0x0 4y ago
  Or however many leads to 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass. No point losing weight if its lean body mass. (Protein has a muscle sparing effect during diets)
  - zhynn 4y ago
    potatoes have like 3g of protein per potato. And to stay full you eat _a lot_ of potato. I tried it! It was easy, then not easy, then totally shitty, then fine, and then I was done (28 days). I ate a few sweet potatoes along the way for B vitamins.
    - maerF0x0 4y ago
      iirc vitamin b12 is essentially non-existent in vegan diets. So it's important to either eat meats/seafood, eat a vegan food fortified in it, or take a supplement (the later two are equivalent, just different delivery mechanism)
      - ska 4y ago
        iirc, that's not quite right. All dietary B12 originates in/on plant sources, you just have to avoid processing that removes it, and include plant sources with good sources. If you try and eat vegan from a typical north american grocery store though, you may have trouble and need to supplement it. On the other hand, selections are pretty good these days, and if you incorporate some nori or legume sprouts (from memory) you'll be fine.
        zwaps 4y ago
        Please check your sources. Such advice can be, and in fact is, dangerous to vegans. Legumes or sprouts are not an adequate source of B12 and neither are other plant sources. Your assertion that Nori has B12 is downright wrong. B12 is only synthesized by microorganisms. There are plenty of vegetarian options, but if you are vegan, you have to rely on fortified products and supplements. This has nothing do to with where you happen to live. You can check recommendations from physicians, researchers and most importantly Vegan associations all across the globe to the see this is true. “The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) suggests that vegans need to have reliable sources of vitamin B12 in their diets. (1) The Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group (VNDPG) of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics says that all vegetarians (including vegans) should include a reliable B12 source in their diets, such as fortified foods or supplements. (2) And The Vegan Society goes so far as to state, “What every vegan should know about B12: the only reliable sources of B12 are foods fortified with B12 and supplements.” (3)“ I have seen people get sick ignoring these issues in a vegan diet. “According to vegan expert and co-author of Vegan for Life, Jack Norris, RD, there are no reliable sources of B12 in plants, contrary to many rumors about sources, such as tempeh, seaweeds, and organic produce. Plants have no B12 requirement, therefore they do not have any active mechanisms to make or store it. When you find B12 in plants, it is due to contamination, which is not a reliable source. Many seaweeds have B12 analogues, through their symbiotic relationship with cobalamin-producing bacteria, however the evidence is not clear that this form is active B12 in humans. And fermented foods, such as tempeh, are not fermented through B12-producing bacteria, thus they are not a source of B12. Rumors about bacteria on the surface of organic produce producing B12 have not been verified. “Chlorella may improve B12 status, but it’s by such a small amount that I wouldn’t rely on chlorella for B12,” adds Norris. Norris stresses that, unless a food obtained from multiple regions consistently improves B12 status, it should not be relied upon as a source of B12.“ A vegan diet can be a healthy and sensible choice for people living in a modern society with access to supplements and fortified foods as well as the care and knowledge to use them. Otherwise it is not an appropriate diet for humans, especially not outside of the modern Western organic supermarket and supplement infrastructure. https://veganhealth.org/vitamin-b12/vitamin-b12-plant-foods/ https://veganhealth.org/vitamin-b12/vitamin-b12-plant-foods/
mminer237 4y ago
This. There really is something special about potatoes that just makes them far more filling than they "should be": https://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/fullness-factor https://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/fullness-factor
- com2kid 4y ago
  That list is ... suspect? > Lowfat yogurt I've never been satiated eating lowfat yogurt. I actually recently started buying high fat yogurt (10g+ of fat) and it is super satiating. Given I can eat 3x the amount of lowfat yogurt and still not be full, I'm not buying it. > Watermelon Maybe due to bloating from water? > Bean sprouts I challenge anyone to get full eating just bean sprouts. Again, they are more akin to drinking (crunchy) water than eating food. It is maybe a mechanical sense of fullness, it is not satiated as is normally thought of. > Fish, broiled I get bored eating fish long before I get full from eating fish. > Sirloin steak, broiled Yes, this works. Steak is super satiating. > Popcorn Has anyone in the history of humanity ever been satiated eating popcorn? To be fair I know a few people who go to the movies and eat only a small bit, but most people I know can easily down an entire large bag and it'll have no impact on their appetite soon after. > Oranges Eh, this also falls into the category of "hungry a little bit later."
  - mminer237 4y ago
    Well that's satiety/calories. So water will be have an index of infinity even if it's effect is rather small. I was more just linking it to highlight the 1995 study. Potatoes were by far the most satiating food found and far exceeding what NutritionData's modeling predicts it would be. (And FWIW, yoghurt was found to be much less satiating than the numbers would suggest.)
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    >Has anyone in the history of humanity ever been satiated eating popcorn? To be fair I know a few people who go to the movies and eat only a small bit, but most people I know can easily down an entire large bag and it'll have no impact on their appetite soon after. I'll take this one. I actually 100% agree that list is useless, but an entire bag of microwave popcorn is extremely satiating to me. It's the perfect midnight snack IME because it is only 400ish Calories and yet takes up a large volume of space and takes a significant amount of time to eat.
flobosg 4y ago
When I was doing intermittent fasting I would usually have roasted fish and potatoes for lunch, all prepared on the same baking dish[1]. It was very filling, agreeing with your post. [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/18/dining/the-minimalist-taking-a-different-tack-on-fish-and-chips.html https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/18/dining/the-minimalist-tak...
jsiaajdsdaa 4y ago
Satiety is a mental construct. I've been underweight, normal weight, and overweight in my life. What your brain tells you to put in your stomach is almost entirely divorced from nutritional requirements for thriving and surviving. The only way to be exceptionally healthy and thin is to ignore the urge to overeat, and this urge is extremely dynamic on a per human basis. As a result, some people out there will eat a case of potatoes and still feel very hungry and unsatisfied.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
  I've never managed "underweight", but having been as high as 320+lbs and as low as 161lbs, I agree. The key to losing weight is to find ways to ignore what your brain tells you to eat and stick to a calorie intake limit that matches the base metabolic rate of your target weight.
- bumby 4y ago
  >Satiety is a mental construct. Are you implying that there aren't physical manifestations that cause hunger? In other words, I could inject you with a suprahuman amount of ghrelin and you wouldn't feel hungry?
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    There are physical situations that can nudge your brain's choice to make you feel hungry or not, IME. For example, I stopped eating breakfast and lunch for two years (because, I am a colossal idiot, and knew it was stupid when I did it) and it took very little time for my body to realize "feeling hungry" at noon was a fools errand, so it quickly stopped happening. I was absolutely physically hungry, seeing as I wasn't eating larger dinners, and having been about 18 hours since I last put food in my body, but habit has a large effect on your feelings of hunger if you aren't living in the wild Savannah. If my thoughts are correct, then a possible indicator would be people with wildly different "normal" times for dinner would get hungry at those different times, ie my grandparents who eat at 4 get hungry at 4 compared to someone who normally eats at 8pm getting hungry at 8pm. I'm unsure if that "support" for my argument exists.
xeromal 4y ago
I had a buddy that created a spreadsheet of various foods and their micro/macro nutrients. He's an engineer and wanted to engineer his diet to cover every deficiency in the minimal amount of food possible. He told me that potatoes were almost the perfect food if you could magically reduce the amount of glucose you took from them.
- dredmorbius 4y ago
  Is there some form of fermented potato dish / treatment? Apparently yes: https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2018/02/fermented-raw-potato/ https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2018/02/fermented-raw-pota... (One of several results on search. I've no idea on merits / validity here.)
  - jiggawatts 4y ago
    I eat pickled / fermented thin potato strips as a side-dish with Korean BBQ. They're really delicious! I also drink highly fermented potatoes, that's called Vodka!
    - dredmorbius 4y ago
      ! do have some famliarity with the "little water". https://www.etymonline.com/word/vodka https://www.etymonline.com/word/vodka
- adrianN 4y ago
  A nice anecdote about mathematicians trying to solve this problem: > Again the diet seemed to be plausible except for calling for the consumption of 200 bullion cubes per day. https://web.archive.org/web/20160411141356/https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5317066/1990-dantzig-dietproblem.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20160411141356/https://dl.dropbo...
maerF0x0 4y ago
I learned this concept from Jeremey Either on youtube and highly recommend his content. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxktmQ3zJOA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxktmQ3zJOA He does a good job of summarizing content and then the only hard part is putting it into action in your life.
mattgreenrocks 4y ago
This was my discovery as well. Keto, at its core, amounts to optimizing for satiety. Typically that takes the form of increasing fat intake, and progressively lowering carb intake. For most people, this results in fewer calories ingested, as fats + protein heavy diets make it hard to overeat. I burned through my excess weight rapidly: maybe 2-3lb a week IIRC? After that, it changes to figuring out how many net carbs you need. I've found that this amount changes and is not a hard and fast rule. When I started keto, I aimed for 20g total (I don't recommend that low). Now, it is more like 50-100g. There's also the mental shift: carbs are not bad, they're just a tool. The thing that feels most unfair is once your body gets to a lower weight, you're accustomed to eating less, and you've 'reset' things, I found I had a lot of leeway in what I could get away with, diet-wise.
GordonS 4y ago
This seems highly unlikely to me. I have reactive hypoglycemia, and can say that potatoes spike my blood glucose levels more than table sugar - they have a really high glycemic index, and anyone with blood sugar issues should totally avoid them IMO. And the thing about foods with a high glycemic index is that they cause you to feel hungry when your blood sugar rapidly drops back to baseline. I find protein and fat way more satiating than, well, anything else. For example, eat 2 eggs for breakfast and I guarantee you won't even think a out food again until lunch time, if not dinner time.
- ghostly_s 4y ago
  > eat 2 eggs for breakfast and I guarantee you won't even think a out food again until lunch time, if not dinner time. What a patently absurd claim. Your anecdata is not evidence.
  - rockostrich 4y ago
    While anecdotal, it entirely depends on habits and context. If your usual breakfast is pretty big and you tried to switch then you'd definitely start to get pangs of hunger earlier than you usually would. But after a while, your body would adjust and you'd be fine for longer and longer (really until whenever you usually ate your next meal). It's the reason why intermittent fasting or "one-meal-a-day" sucks the first couple of weeks you try it. I'm not recommending one way or the other. Personally, I wouldn't eat just 2 eggs for breakfast because it sounds like a boring breakfast (at least throw it on some toast with some hot sauce). But it's certainly plausible that 2 eggs for breakfast would satiate most folks after they got through the initial growing pains.
    - stevage 4y ago
      How would you get through the initial pains? Hunger is absolutely intolerable for me. When I go out for breakfast I will often have two eggs...and a couple of big pieces of toast, mushrooms, hash browns, spinach etc. I have great difficulty believing that two eggs alone would be sufficient.
jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
A couple years back I tried making colecanon due to a random suggestion from a friend. It's just mashed potatoes mixed with cabbage or kale or such, seasoned as you like. I do a version where I brown the cabbage in butter first. I was surprised just how satisfying a plate of it as a meal, and thought exactly the same thing: I'm pretty sure you could live on that stuff indefinitely and be in great shape.
- lesstyzing 4y ago
  Same goes for Champ (mashed potatoes with diced spring onions throughout). Seems super basic but really filling.
- memcg 4y ago
  I love colecanon. Mine has skin on boiled and mashed potatoes (any type or a mix), lots of butter, full fat whole milk greek yogurt and chopped cooked kale. My family loves it hot or cold. Add a few more spices and a little mustard, and I serve it as potato salad to my mayo hating in-laws.
- linsomniac 4y ago
  I used to fry up a kielbasa and then add in sauerkraut and serve that with mashed potatoes. The Sauerkraut and potato combination was delicious, so I'd buy your cabbage and mash idea. Going to have to give that a try.
  - jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
    Oh for sure. I usually add just a dash of vinegar to the cabbage to balance it out with some acidity.
- CobaltFire 4y ago
  Colecannon is a staple in my house. Our variety is: Peeled Russet potatoes boiled, then strained and let steam some moisture off for a bit. Kale blanched in water for a few seconds (no more than 30). Then allow it to steam off some moisture. Chop to desired size, pat dry. Add butter and kale to potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. We found that controlling the moisture has a huge impact on flavor and the kale maintaining some texture.
stjohnswarts 4y ago
Eggs are definitely my goto on a calorie controlled keto diet. Obviously potatoes are out of the question :) . They are simply awful for people who prediabetic or think they have metabolic syndrome; not as bad as white bread or sugar but bad.
- csours 4y ago
  My understanding of the current science is that many cycles of excess carbs (especially processed carbs) while you are not in a calorie deficit, alongside a sedentary lifestyle, are bad for metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. White flour pancakes ALWAYS give me a blood sugar crash, and often cause a mild to moderate hypoglycemic episode; but I can eat whole grain pancakes without too much trouble. If you're not carrying a large amount of excess weight, it might be worth trying the potato diet for a short time period, with a LOT of caveats. The problem is, as always, what happens when you go off the diet.
  - stjohnswarts 4y ago
    One of the main reasons I've switched from a Mediterranean type diet (lost about 20 lbs there) to low carb was sort of about this as well. When I eat bread and other flour based things my energy through the day is much more variable. Low carb seems to give me a much steadier supply of energy through the day after I got over that initial two week hump where your body adjusts to a new way of eating.
2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
>There's actually some science behind this diet. Potatoes are the highest scoring food on the satiety index. Never heard of this before, but I was surprised by the number of potatoes this person ate. I can eat like, 1.5 large potatoes max. Then I’m good. But this guy was quoting 18 med potatoes everyday!?!?
- stevage 4y ago
  So that's 6 per meal? Maybe the equivalent of 3 large? Doesn't seem absurd, when you're eating nothing else.
tonymet 4y ago
boiled potatoes yes, but french fries and chips are more common and definitely crave worthy
giaour 4y ago
>Potatoes are the highest scoring food on the satiety index. ... Eggs and fish are also very high on the satiety index. So there was sound science behind my all-scrambled-eggs-and-hashbrowns diet in college.
armchairhacker 4y ago
Potatoes are more filling per calorie than broccoli? Spinach? Also I wonder the comparison between potatoes and protein champions like hard-boiled eggs or fish. Maybe we could have a nice American eating competition to compare. Or just a detailed study where people eat short-term diets of each and measure their satiety and other vitals.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  > Potatoes are more filling per calorie than broccoli? Spinach? Way, way, way more filling. Regular vegetables have basically no fill value at all. Just a fancy form of water & vitamins. Potatoes are quite good at filling.
  - tempestn 4y ago
    Filling here meaning over the medium term. You can stuff your stomach with vegetables and briefly feel "full", but you won't feel "satisfied" for very long, and might even feel a bit of nausea as your digestive system works on all these vegetables without much in the way of calories.
    - rootusrootus 4y ago
      Exactly. I can eat enough vegetables to feel ill, and still not actually feel satiated. It's an uncomfortable feeling, still being hungry but also feeling full and a little nauseous even.
  - guerrilla 4y ago
    I'm pretty sure this is quite wrong [1]. While potatoes score as the most satiating "carb" it seem far from the most satiating food, vegetables have tons of fiber score a lot higher in satiety vs. nutrient density.[2] > Just a fancy form of water & vitamins No. 1. https://optimisingnutrition.com/calculating-satiety/ https://optimisingnutrition.com/calculating-satiety/ 2. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p_QyR5ImpQSJ_QODYl-tKxeKfjbeOqSuyEC0_ChJdhjpTXWEVicUE69bxS_M1JLiMgzq_v7jlpTVhTO0dZLFuKfpRvxm31vJfIzyHs8R6b5rwb9df-wrYvplIHqAYi3A2r5cpR8u https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p_QyR5ImpQSJ_QODYl-tKxeKfj...
bergenty 4y ago
When I went to the Irish potato famine museum in Ireland they said the average person needed a basketful of potatoes per day. That doesn’t seem like it’s high in the satiety index.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  I can find claims that people were eating 14 pounds a day. That seems implausible. They'd have been really fat on nearly 5000 Calories per day.
  - sgtnoodle 4y ago
    If you're building a house or something 12 hours a day, you're going to burn that much.
    - rootusrootus 4y ago
      I don't buy that. We've studied cultures where everyone works really hard all day. Their metabolism adjusts pretty well and functions at a level not too different from the rest of us.
      - sgtnoodle 4y ago
        https://www.lhsfna.org/burning-calories-on-the-job/ https://www.lhsfna.org/burning-calories-on-the-job/ Burning 400 calories an hour for 12 hours would be about 5000 calories. Anecdotally, I know a retired guy who's been constructing a gymnasium sized $150K play tube structure for the past month, and he's lost like 25lb.
        bergenty 4y ago
        What is a play tube because it makes me think of those structures that kids play in at McDonalds and something like that couldn’t possibly cost $150K.
giantg2 4y ago
The biggest parts to losing weight are the things you didn't mention - portion size, snacks, alcohol, and sugary drinks. Most people would lose weight on any diet diet if they control those. I think I've lost about 20 pounds over the past 2 months just from reducing those things (not even eliminating).
- safety1st 4y ago
  Best comment on the post right here
galaktus 4y ago
You don't seem to factor in the glycemic index. If someone spreads such meals over the day, it keeps spiking blood sugar levels (potatoe meals have a high glycemic load) and realsing lots of insulin. That doesn't sound too efective for weightloss.
adrian_b 4y ago
Eating nothing else but potatoes would easily fulfill all the energy needs of your body. The problem with potatoes and with all similar starchy food, like cereals, bananas, sweet potatoes etc., is that their ratio between energy content and protein content is much too high. If you eat enough potatoes to also eat enough proteins, you would also gain weight and it would be difficult to do that, because you will be very satiated long before eating enough proteins. If you eat only enough potatoes to be satiated, you will not get enough proteins and a large part of the weight loss will be from muscular mass, not only from fat reserves. After one month of potato diet, unless you had been a very muscular person previously it is likely that symptoms of protein deficiency will already be visible, e.g. swellings of the feet due to insufficient albumin in the blood. A much more effective single-item diet would be to eat some high-protein legume, e.g. lentils with olive oil and iodized salt instead of potatoes with (unspecified) oil and (unspecified) salt, which would provide enough proteins. Such a diet would be almost complete, except that it does not have enough of some substances required in very small quantities, i.e. sulfur amino-acids, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, choline, vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium.
oarabbus_ 4y ago
>Potatoes are the highest scoring food on the satiety index. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-filling-f https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-filling-f... They certainly didn't calculate this index by weight, because per gram eggs are far more filling than potatoes
- bckygldstn 4y ago
  Satiety index is normalised by calories rather than weight [1]. If it were normalised by weight, calorie density would dominate any satiety effect. [1] http://www.ernaehrungsdenkwerkstatt.de/fileadmin/user_upload/EDWText/TextElemente/Ernaehrungswissenschaft/Naehrstoffe/Saettigung_Lebensmittel_Satiety_Index.pdf http://www.ernaehrungsdenkwerkstatt.de/fileadmin/user_upload...
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audiometry 4y ago
Fish is high on satiety!? I can’t think of anything non-plant based that leaves me hungrier more quickly. Even something oily and tasty like a cod.
haspok 4y ago
This satiety index can be very misleading. Maybe you eat a lot of potatoes, and then you feel full - but for how long? In my experience nothing beats the feeling of fullness after eating food with high fat content. It may not be the quickest to kick in, eg. you eat salad with lots of olive oil and cheese, you might feel light in the following hour or so. But then the fat digestion really starts, and you won't even want to think about food for the next 6-8 hours. This is why keto works so well, especially when combined with fasting / intermittent fasting. If you eat a lot of fat, IF is a breeze - it's not that you have to manage your hunger (and eat various snacks every 2-3 hours), but that you don't have hunger at all, in fact, you feel full all the time. If you hadn't tried it you cannot even imagine how good this feeling is...
gopalv 4y ago
> And an all potato diet, while monomaniacal, even more effective. I met someone on a Potatoes + Curd/Butter diet and he said something that stuck with me - "You need to eat the skins too". So you can't just eat fries or mashed potatoes, but more like baked potatoes in skin with sour cream. Seems a bit crazy, but it seemed to make him happy & felt like he was discovering something unique rather than being forced by someone else. > even with a cheat day Cheat days are under-explained, they're not for fun. If you keep up a calorie deficit long-term, then your metabolism tanks and the easiest way to convince your body that it doesn't need to cut costs is to take a day of extra calories intermixed with the fasting. If you don't do them, you will feel tired all the time when fasting.
- lm28469 4y ago
  > So you can't just eat fries or mashed potatoes, You can keep the skin for both of these though, especially fries, it's delicious, for mashed potatoes it's a bit weird but if you're lazy it works
- BizarroLand 4y ago
  Also, for your standard potato, you should boil the potato whole the day before and put it in the fridge to cool. This causes resistant starches to develop in the potato which is good for you in a handful of ways. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/resistant-starch-101 https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/resistant-starch-101

browningstreet 4y ago

Also, if you’re having a lot of food intolerance or allergy or digestion issues, having potatoes to fall back on can feel like a lifesaver. It’s early in the elimination diet re-introduction schedule.

frostwarrior 4y ago

Potatoes may be pure carbs, but they're full of water. When I eat a portion of mashed potatoes (I cook them with very little butter), it feels like I've eaten a very dense soup.

corrral 4y ago

Fish is high on my personal satiety index, because I didn't eat much of it growing up so never developed a taste. Result is that when served fish I eat a little to be nice but don't enjoy it at all. That'd certainly help me eat less. Oddly, I love calamari and sushi.

hahajk 4y ago
Of course, eating food you don't like so you end up eating less doesn't sound like the way to go through life!
- corrral 4y ago
  IIRC a study made it on here once (a couple years ago, maybe?) that boiled down to "we're fat because modern, affordable, low-or-zero-prep food tastes too good and is too varied" One of my not-well-backed suspicions is that this is closest to the truth of any of the various attempts to explain this.
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  It's fine if you substitute it with something that is equally or more pleasurable. There's no rule that you have to get part of your life satisfaction from food

entropicgravity 4y ago

Thanks for this, but I'll stick to the peanut butter diet :)

com2kid 4y ago
Peanut butter doesn't fill me up at all. I can consume 1k calories of it, nothing, still hungry after. Same with fish, I cannot get full eating fish in any quantity. Shrimp, sure, but not fish. Nuts, same deal. I'll eat 500+ calories of nuts, does nothing for me.
- mixmastamyk 4y ago
  See a doctor.
  - com2kid 4y ago
    Plenty of other foods fill me up just fine. A 4oz steak and some broccoli. Bacon and eggs. Meat + a veg does me fine. > See a doctor. Doctors know next to nothing about gut biome stuff. "I don't get full eating an entire jar of peanut butter" is going to result in the doctor telling me to not eat a jar of peanut butter. Heck plenty of people don't get full eating entire tubs of ice cream. The answer is to avoid downing tubs of ice cream.
    - mixmastamyk 4y ago
      You just listed a bunch of things that don't make sense? See a specialist rather than quibbling over the definition of doctor.
      - com2kid 4y ago
        You ever tried eating fish with bones in it? It takes me forever. By the time I finished picking the bones out of 700 calories of fish it'd be time for my next meal. Meanwhile I have friends who eat fish just fine and get full. FWIW Salmon drenched in butter and lemon does the trick, but that kind of feels like cheating. Maybe fish sticks would fill me up? Heck if I know. Peanut butter is another one, plenty of people can eat crap tons of peanut butter and not get full. Other people get full from peanut butter easily. Same goes for nuts, and a ton of snacking foods. That is why they are called snacking foods I once had a coworker who could honest to goodness get filled up from an ice cream cone. Calorically, that is correct, but the vast majority of people's bodies will completely ignore calorie math when consuming ice cream (see: Common jokes about a separate desert stomach). > See a specialist rather than quibbling over the definition of doctor. "Hi doctor, yeah, I have a normal BMI and I am in above average health and I work out multiple times per week but some guy online says I should see you because I don't get full eating peanut butter." You do realize that there are literally not specialists for this stuff? If medical science understood why some people never get full eating certain foods, we wouldn't have so much obesity. On the flip side, food scientists understand that fat + sugar = never satiated. That is why donuts are even a thing. Realistically a donut and a sweetened coffee are "enough calories" but they aren't satiating at all. And then there is the nastiness of the human body mostly ignoring liquid calories all together[1], outside of mechanical fullness of the stomach. That is why starbucks can get away with selling drinks that have almost an entire day's worth of calories in them. [1] Protein shakes are a notable exception to this.

friedman23 4y ago

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

strbean 4y ago
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).
- TrisMcC 4y ago
  > Potatoes are calorie dense. No. https://gurmeet.net/Images/food/calorie_density/CalorieDensity_03.png https://gurmeet.net/Images/food/calorie_density/CalorieDensi... Boiled potatoes are 870 kcal per kilogram. 1 kilogram of potatoes is a lot.
  - zhynn 4y ago
    Having done 28 days of the potato diet, this is true. It is difficult to get over 1kcal of potato. Eating two kilos of potato in a day is heroic. I would eat like 1 kilo per day, and be satisfied-full. It's wild.
    - mrguyorama 4y ago
      I could definitely eat 2kg of potatoes a day. As french fries. Kind of ruins the whole point though
      - borroka 4y ago
        One can eat 2 kilograms of boiled potatoes, refrigerated, cut into very thin slices and then air-fried at 400F for 15-20 minutes with a drizzle of avocado or extra-virgin olive oil. Some rosemary too. An overall increase of about 150 calories per kilogram compared to boiled potatoes only. The flavor is similar to that of French fries and they are an excellent substitute (I say this as someone who when asked what would be his last meal would answer: french fries).

strbean 4y ago

Eggs for breakfast and Marmitako for lunch and dinner, got it.

treis 4y ago

They're borderline at best for protein content, though. You'd probably want to at least supplement with a protein shake or two.

maerF0x0 4y ago
Or however many leads to 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass. No point losing weight if its lean body mass. (Protein has a muscle sparing effect during diets)
- zhynn 4y ago
  potatoes have like 3g of protein per potato. And to stay full you eat _a lot_ of potato. I tried it! It was easy, then not easy, then totally shitty, then fine, and then I was done (28 days). I ate a few sweet potatoes along the way for B vitamins.
  - maerF0x0 4y ago
    iirc vitamin b12 is essentially non-existent in vegan diets. So it's important to either eat meats/seafood, eat a vegan food fortified in it, or take a supplement (the later two are equivalent, just different delivery mechanism)
    - ska 4y ago
      iirc, that's not quite right. All dietary B12 originates in/on plant sources, you just have to avoid processing that removes it, and include plant sources with good sources. If you try and eat vegan from a typical north american grocery store though, you may have trouble and need to supplement it. On the other hand, selections are pretty good these days, and if you incorporate some nori or legume sprouts (from memory) you'll be fine.
      - zwaps 4y ago
        Please check your sources. Such advice can be, and in fact is, dangerous to vegans. Legumes or sprouts are not an adequate source of B12 and neither are other plant sources. Your assertion that Nori has B12 is downright wrong. B12 is only synthesized by microorganisms. There are plenty of vegetarian options, but if you are vegan, you have to rely on fortified products and supplements. This has nothing do to with where you happen to live. You can check recommendations from physicians, researchers and most importantly Vegan associations all across the globe to the see this is true. “The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) suggests that vegans need to have reliable sources of vitamin B12 in their diets. (1) The Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group (VNDPG) of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics says that all vegetarians (including vegans) should include a reliable B12 source in their diets, such as fortified foods or supplements. (2) And The Vegan Society goes so far as to state, “What every vegan should know about B12: the only reliable sources of B12 are foods fortified with B12 and supplements.” (3)“ I have seen people get sick ignoring these issues in a vegan diet. “According to vegan expert and co-author of Vegan for Life, Jack Norris, RD, there are no reliable sources of B12 in plants, contrary to many rumors about sources, such as tempeh, seaweeds, and organic produce. Plants have no B12 requirement, therefore they do not have any active mechanisms to make or store it. When you find B12 in plants, it is due to contamination, which is not a reliable source. Many seaweeds have B12 analogues, through their symbiotic relationship with cobalamin-producing bacteria, however the evidence is not clear that this form is active B12 in humans. And fermented foods, such as tempeh, are not fermented through B12-producing bacteria, thus they are not a source of B12. Rumors about bacteria on the surface of organic produce producing B12 have not been verified. “Chlorella may improve B12 status, but it’s by such a small amount that I wouldn’t rely on chlorella for B12,” adds Norris. Norris stresses that, unless a food obtained from multiple regions consistently improves B12 status, it should not be relied upon as a source of B12.“ A vegan diet can be a healthy and sensible choice for people living in a modern society with access to supplements and fortified foods as well as the care and knowledge to use them. Otherwise it is not an appropriate diet for humans, especially not outside of the modern Western organic supermarket and supplement infrastructure. https://veganhealth.org/vitamin-b12/vitamin-b12-plant-foods/ https://veganhealth.org/vitamin-b12/vitamin-b12-plant-foods/

mminer237 4y ago

This. There really is something special about potatoes that just makes them far more filling than they "should be": https://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/fullness-factor https://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/fullness-factor

com2kid 4y ago
That list is ... suspect? > Lowfat yogurt I've never been satiated eating lowfat yogurt. I actually recently started buying high fat yogurt (10g+ of fat) and it is super satiating. Given I can eat 3x the amount of lowfat yogurt and still not be full, I'm not buying it. > Watermelon Maybe due to bloating from water? > Bean sprouts I challenge anyone to get full eating just bean sprouts. Again, they are more akin to drinking (crunchy) water than eating food. It is maybe a mechanical sense of fullness, it is not satiated as is normally thought of. > Fish, broiled I get bored eating fish long before I get full from eating fish. > Sirloin steak, broiled Yes, this works. Steak is super satiating. > Popcorn Has anyone in the history of humanity ever been satiated eating popcorn? To be fair I know a few people who go to the movies and eat only a small bit, but most people I know can easily down an entire large bag and it'll have no impact on their appetite soon after. > Oranges Eh, this also falls into the category of "hungry a little bit later."
- mminer237 4y ago
  Well that's satiety/calories. So water will be have an index of infinity even if it's effect is rather small. I was more just linking it to highlight the 1995 study. Potatoes were by far the most satiating food found and far exceeding what NutritionData's modeling predicts it would be. (And FWIW, yoghurt was found to be much less satiating than the numbers would suggest.)
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  >Has anyone in the history of humanity ever been satiated eating popcorn? To be fair I know a few people who go to the movies and eat only a small bit, but most people I know can easily down an entire large bag and it'll have no impact on their appetite soon after. I'll take this one. I actually 100% agree that list is useless, but an entire bag of microwave popcorn is extremely satiating to me. It's the perfect midnight snack IME because it is only 400ish Calories and yet takes up a large volume of space and takes a significant amount of time to eat.

flobosg 4y ago

When I was doing intermittent fasting I would usually have roasted fish and potatoes for lunch, all prepared on the same baking dish[1]. It was very filling, agreeing with your post. [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/18/dining/the-minimalist-taking-a-different-tack-on-fish-and-chips.html https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/18/dining/the-minimalist-tak...

jsiaajdsdaa 4y ago

Satiety is a mental construct. I've been underweight, normal weight, and overweight in my life. What your brain tells you to put in your stomach is almost entirely divorced from nutritional requirements for thriving and surviving. The only way to be exceptionally healthy and thin is to ignore the urge to overeat, and this urge is extremely dynamic on a per human basis. As a result, some people out there will eat a case of potatoes and still feel very hungry and unsatisfied.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
I've never managed "underweight", but having been as high as 320+lbs and as low as 161lbs, I agree. The key to losing weight is to find ways to ignore what your brain tells you to eat and stick to a calorie intake limit that matches the base metabolic rate of your target weight.
bumby 4y ago
>Satiety is a mental construct. Are you implying that there aren't physical manifestations that cause hunger? In other words, I could inject you with a suprahuman amount of ghrelin and you wouldn't feel hungry?
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  There are physical situations that can nudge your brain's choice to make you feel hungry or not, IME. For example, I stopped eating breakfast and lunch for two years (because, I am a colossal idiot, and knew it was stupid when I did it) and it took very little time for my body to realize "feeling hungry" at noon was a fools errand, so it quickly stopped happening. I was absolutely physically hungry, seeing as I wasn't eating larger dinners, and having been about 18 hours since I last put food in my body, but habit has a large effect on your feelings of hunger if you aren't living in the wild Savannah. If my thoughts are correct, then a possible indicator would be people with wildly different "normal" times for dinner would get hungry at those different times, ie my grandparents who eat at 4 get hungry at 4 compared to someone who normally eats at 8pm getting hungry at 8pm. I'm unsure if that "support" for my argument exists.

xeromal 4y ago

I had a buddy that created a spreadsheet of various foods and their micro/macro nutrients. He's an engineer and wanted to engineer his diet to cover every deficiency in the minimal amount of food possible. He told me that potatoes were almost the perfect food if you could magically reduce the amount of glucose you took from them.

dredmorbius 4y ago
Is there some form of fermented potato dish / treatment? Apparently yes: https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2018/02/fermented-raw-potato/ https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2018/02/fermented-raw-pota... (One of several results on search. I've no idea on merits / validity here.)
- jiggawatts 4y ago
  I eat pickled / fermented thin potato strips as a side-dish with Korean BBQ. They're really delicious! I also drink highly fermented potatoes, that's called Vodka!
  - dredmorbius 4y ago
    ! do have some famliarity with the "little water". https://www.etymonline.com/word/vodka https://www.etymonline.com/word/vodka
adrianN 4y ago
A nice anecdote about mathematicians trying to solve this problem: > Again the diet seemed to be plausible except for calling for the consumption of 200 bullion cubes per day. https://web.archive.org/web/20160411141356/https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5317066/1990-dantzig-dietproblem.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20160411141356/https://dl.dropbo...

maerF0x0 4y ago

I learned this concept from Jeremey Either on youtube and highly recommend his content. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxktmQ3zJOA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxktmQ3zJOA He does a good job of summarizing content and then the only hard part is putting it into action in your life.

mattgreenrocks 4y ago

This was my discovery as well. Keto, at its core, amounts to optimizing for satiety. Typically that takes the form of increasing fat intake, and progressively lowering carb intake. For most people, this results in fewer calories ingested, as fats + protein heavy diets make it hard to overeat. I burned through my excess weight rapidly: maybe 2-3lb a week IIRC? After that, it changes to figuring out how many net carbs you need. I've found that this amount changes and is not a hard and fast rule. When I started keto, I aimed for 20g total (I don't recommend that low). Now, it is more like 50-100g. There's also the mental shift: carbs are not bad, they're just a tool. The thing that feels most unfair is once your body gets to a lower weight, you're accustomed to eating less, and you've 'reset' things, I found I had a lot of leeway in what I could get away with, diet-wise.

GordonS 4y ago

This seems highly unlikely to me. I have reactive hypoglycemia, and can say that potatoes spike my blood glucose levels more than table sugar - they have a really high glycemic index, and anyone with blood sugar issues should totally avoid them IMO. And the thing about foods with a high glycemic index is that they cause you to feel hungry when your blood sugar rapidly drops back to baseline. I find protein and fat way more satiating than, well, anything else. For example, eat 2 eggs for breakfast and I guarantee you won't even think a out food again until lunch time, if not dinner time.

ghostly_s 4y ago
> eat 2 eggs for breakfast and I guarantee you won't even think a out food again until lunch time, if not dinner time. What a patently absurd claim. Your anecdata is not evidence.
- rockostrich 4y ago
  While anecdotal, it entirely depends on habits and context. If your usual breakfast is pretty big and you tried to switch then you'd definitely start to get pangs of hunger earlier than you usually would. But after a while, your body would adjust and you'd be fine for longer and longer (really until whenever you usually ate your next meal). It's the reason why intermittent fasting or "one-meal-a-day" sucks the first couple of weeks you try it. I'm not recommending one way or the other. Personally, I wouldn't eat just 2 eggs for breakfast because it sounds like a boring breakfast (at least throw it on some toast with some hot sauce). But it's certainly plausible that 2 eggs for breakfast would satiate most folks after they got through the initial growing pains.
  - stevage 4y ago
    How would you get through the initial pains? Hunger is absolutely intolerable for me. When I go out for breakfast I will often have two eggs...and a couple of big pieces of toast, mushrooms, hash browns, spinach etc. I have great difficulty believing that two eggs alone would be sufficient.

jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago

A couple years back I tried making colecanon due to a random suggestion from a friend. It's just mashed potatoes mixed with cabbage or kale or such, seasoned as you like. I do a version where I brown the cabbage in butter first. I was surprised just how satisfying a plate of it as a meal, and thought exactly the same thing: I'm pretty sure you could live on that stuff indefinitely and be in great shape.

lesstyzing 4y ago
Same goes for Champ (mashed potatoes with diced spring onions throughout). Seems super basic but really filling.
memcg 4y ago
I love colecanon. Mine has skin on boiled and mashed potatoes (any type or a mix), lots of butter, full fat whole milk greek yogurt and chopped cooked kale. My family loves it hot or cold. Add a few more spices and a little mustard, and I serve it as potato salad to my mayo hating in-laws.
linsomniac 4y ago
I used to fry up a kielbasa and then add in sauerkraut and serve that with mashed potatoes. The Sauerkraut and potato combination was delicious, so I'd buy your cabbage and mash idea. Going to have to give that a try.
- jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
  Oh for sure. I usually add just a dash of vinegar to the cabbage to balance it out with some acidity.
CobaltFire 4y ago
Colecannon is a staple in my house. Our variety is: Peeled Russet potatoes boiled, then strained and let steam some moisture off for a bit. Kale blanched in water for a few seconds (no more than 30). Then allow it to steam off some moisture. Chop to desired size, pat dry. Add butter and kale to potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. We found that controlling the moisture has a huge impact on flavor and the kale maintaining some texture.

stjohnswarts 4y ago

Eggs are definitely my goto on a calorie controlled keto diet. Obviously potatoes are out of the question :) . They are simply awful for people who prediabetic or think they have metabolic syndrome; not as bad as white bread or sugar but bad.

csours 4y ago
My understanding of the current science is that many cycles of excess carbs (especially processed carbs) while you are not in a calorie deficit, alongside a sedentary lifestyle, are bad for metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. White flour pancakes ALWAYS give me a blood sugar crash, and often cause a mild to moderate hypoglycemic episode; but I can eat whole grain pancakes without too much trouble. If you're not carrying a large amount of excess weight, it might be worth trying the potato diet for a short time period, with a LOT of caveats. The problem is, as always, what happens when you go off the diet.
- stjohnswarts 4y ago
  One of the main reasons I've switched from a Mediterranean type diet (lost about 20 lbs there) to low carb was sort of about this as well. When I eat bread and other flour based things my energy through the day is much more variable. Low carb seems to give me a much steadier supply of energy through the day after I got over that initial two week hump where your body adjusts to a new way of eating.

2muchcoffeeman 4y ago

>There's actually some science behind this diet. Potatoes are the highest scoring food on the satiety index. Never heard of this before, but I was surprised by the number of potatoes this person ate. I can eat like, 1.5 large potatoes max. Then I’m good. But this guy was quoting 18 med potatoes everyday!?!?

stevage 4y ago
So that's 6 per meal? Maybe the equivalent of 3 large? Doesn't seem absurd, when you're eating nothing else.

tonymet 4y ago

boiled potatoes yes, but french fries and chips are more common and definitely crave worthy

giaour 4y ago

>Potatoes are the highest scoring food on the satiety index. ... Eggs and fish are also very high on the satiety index. So there was sound science behind my all-scrambled-eggs-and-hashbrowns diet in college.

armchairhacker 4y ago

Potatoes are more filling per calorie than broccoli? Spinach? Also I wonder the comparison between potatoes and protein champions like hard-boiled eggs or fish. Maybe we could have a nice American eating competition to compare. Or just a detailed study where people eat short-term diets of each and measure their satiety and other vitals.

rootusrootus 4y ago
> Potatoes are more filling per calorie than broccoli? Spinach? Way, way, way more filling. Regular vegetables have basically no fill value at all. Just a fancy form of water & vitamins. Potatoes are quite good at filling.
- tempestn 4y ago
  Filling here meaning over the medium term. You can stuff your stomach with vegetables and briefly feel "full", but you won't feel "satisfied" for very long, and might even feel a bit of nausea as your digestive system works on all these vegetables without much in the way of calories.
  - rootusrootus 4y ago
    Exactly. I can eat enough vegetables to feel ill, and still not actually feel satiated. It's an uncomfortable feeling, still being hungry but also feeling full and a little nauseous even.
- guerrilla 4y ago
  I'm pretty sure this is quite wrong [1]. While potatoes score as the most satiating "carb" it seem far from the most satiating food, vegetables have tons of fiber score a lot higher in satiety vs. nutrient density.[2] > Just a fancy form of water & vitamins No. 1. https://optimisingnutrition.com/calculating-satiety/ https://optimisingnutrition.com/calculating-satiety/ 2. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p_QyR5ImpQSJ_QODYl-tKxeKfjbeOqSuyEC0_ChJdhjpTXWEVicUE69bxS_M1JLiMgzq_v7jlpTVhTO0dZLFuKfpRvxm31vJfIzyHs8R6b5rwb9df-wrYvplIHqAYi3A2r5cpR8u https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p_QyR5ImpQSJ_QODYl-tKxeKfj...

bergenty 4y ago

When I went to the Irish potato famine museum in Ireland they said the average person needed a basketful of potatoes per day. That doesn’t seem like it’s high in the satiety index.

rootusrootus 4y ago
I can find claims that people were eating 14 pounds a day. That seems implausible. They'd have been really fat on nearly 5000 Calories per day.
- sgtnoodle 4y ago
  If you're building a house or something 12 hours a day, you're going to burn that much.
  - rootusrootus 4y ago
    I don't buy that. We've studied cultures where everyone works really hard all day. Their metabolism adjusts pretty well and functions at a level not too different from the rest of us.
    - sgtnoodle 4y ago
      https://www.lhsfna.org/burning-calories-on-the-job/ https://www.lhsfna.org/burning-calories-on-the-job/ Burning 400 calories an hour for 12 hours would be about 5000 calories. Anecdotally, I know a retired guy who's been constructing a gymnasium sized $150K play tube structure for the past month, and he's lost like 25lb.
      - bergenty 4y ago
        What is a play tube because it makes me think of those structures that kids play in at McDonalds and something like that couldn’t possibly cost $150K.

giantg2 4y ago

The biggest parts to losing weight are the things you didn't mention - portion size, snacks, alcohol, and sugary drinks. Most people would lose weight on any diet diet if they control those. I think I've lost about 20 pounds over the past 2 months just from reducing those things (not even eliminating).

safety1st 4y ago
Best comment on the post right here

galaktus 4y ago

You don't seem to factor in the glycemic index. If someone spreads such meals over the day, it keeps spiking blood sugar levels (potatoe meals have a high glycemic load) and realsing lots of insulin. That doesn't sound too efective for weightloss.

adrian_b 4y ago

Eating nothing else but potatoes would easily fulfill all the energy needs of your body. The problem with potatoes and with all similar starchy food, like cereals, bananas, sweet potatoes etc., is that their ratio between energy content and protein content is much too high. If you eat enough potatoes to also eat enough proteins, you would also gain weight and it would be difficult to do that, because you will be very satiated long before eating enough proteins. If you eat only enough potatoes to be satiated, you will not get enough proteins and a large part of the weight loss will be from muscular mass, not only from fat reserves. After one month of potato diet, unless you had been a very muscular person previously it is likely that symptoms of protein deficiency will already be visible, e.g. swellings of the feet due to insufficient albumin in the blood. A much more effective single-item diet would be to eat some high-protein legume, e.g. lentils with olive oil and iodized salt instead of potatoes with (unspecified) oil and (unspecified) salt, which would provide enough proteins. Such a diet would be almost complete, except that it does not have enough of some substances required in very small quantities, i.e. sulfur amino-acids, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, choline, vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium.

oarabbus_ 4y ago

>Potatoes are the highest scoring food on the satiety index. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-filling-f https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-filling-f... They certainly didn't calculate this index by weight, because per gram eggs are far more filling than potatoes

bckygldstn 4y ago
Satiety index is normalised by calories rather than weight [1]. If it were normalised by weight, calorie density would dominate any satiety effect. [1] http://www.ernaehrungsdenkwerkstatt.de/fileadmin/user_upload/EDWText/TextElemente/Ernaehrungswissenschaft/Naehrstoffe/Saettigung_Lebensmittel_Satiety_Index.pdf http://www.ernaehrungsdenkwerkstatt.de/fileadmin/user_upload...
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audiometry 4y ago

Fish is high on satiety!? I can’t think of anything non-plant based that leaves me hungrier more quickly. Even something oily and tasty like a cod.

haspok 4y ago

This satiety index can be very misleading. Maybe you eat a lot of potatoes, and then you feel full - but for how long? In my experience nothing beats the feeling of fullness after eating food with high fat content. It may not be the quickest to kick in, eg. you eat salad with lots of olive oil and cheese, you might feel light in the following hour or so. But then the fat digestion really starts, and you won't even want to think about food for the next 6-8 hours. This is why keto works so well, especially when combined with fasting / intermittent fasting. If you eat a lot of fat, IF is a breeze - it's not that you have to manage your hunger (and eat various snacks every 2-3 hours), but that you don't have hunger at all, in fact, you feel full all the time. If you hadn't tried it you cannot even imagine how good this feeling is...

gopalv 4y ago

> And an all potato diet, while monomaniacal, even more effective. I met someone on a Potatoes + Curd/Butter diet and he said something that stuck with me - "You need to eat the skins too". So you can't just eat fries or mashed potatoes, but more like baked potatoes in skin with sour cream. Seems a bit crazy, but it seemed to make him happy & felt like he was discovering something unique rather than being forced by someone else. > even with a cheat day Cheat days are under-explained, they're not for fun. If you keep up a calorie deficit long-term, then your metabolism tanks and the easiest way to convince your body that it doesn't need to cut costs is to take a day of extra calories intermixed with the fasting. If you don't do them, you will feel tired all the time when fasting.

lm28469 4y ago
> So you can't just eat fries or mashed potatoes, You can keep the skin for both of these though, especially fries, it's delicious, for mashed potatoes it's a bit weird but if you're lazy it works
BizarroLand 4y ago
Also, for your standard potato, you should boil the potato whole the day before and put it in the fridge to cool. This causes resistant starches to develop in the potato which is good for you in a handful of ways. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/resistant-starch-101 https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/resistant-starch-101