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This is similar in terms of macros to the traditional Irish diet in the 19th century, which for workers was purportedly made up of around 13 pounds of potatoes

This is similar in terms of macros to the traditional Irish diet in the 19th century, which for workers was purportedly made up of around 13 pounds of potatoes a day for an adult man. This traditional Korean diet appears to also be extremely high in carbs as a proportion. Of course these groups had significantly higher energy expenditures than most moderns, but it does seem possible that caloric excess in the absence of significant dietary fat does not drive obsesity / metabolic disease in the same way.

nradov 1y ago
What's the hypothesis there? Were they just shitting out the extra starch without digesting it? Due to conservation of energy the calories can't just vanish. It doesn't seem physically possible for most adult men to consume 13 pounds of potatoes a day. I'm a large man and I think I'd burst or vomit before choking down that much, regardless of how hard I'd been working. Most likely that number is just wrong.
- carabiner 1y ago
  Hypothesis is that the irishmen were doing hard physical labor that required a high caloric intake. PCT thru-hikers consume 4,000-4,500 calories per day (at least I did) while staying thin. According to inter-net, 13 lb of potatoes has about 4,500 calories. Apparently US civil war soldiers expended 3-4k per day.
  - nradov 1y ago
    I was responding to the claim by @codeableconcept that the absence of significant dietary fat somehow prevents obesity, independent of energy balance. That seems unlikely. Obviously it's possible for an active man to expend ~4500 kcal/day. I've done it myself many times. Even back during the Civil War, US soldiers typically consumed more energy dense food and only got a fraction of their calories from potatoes.
- astura 1y ago
  >it doesn't seem physically possible for most adult men to consume 13 pounds of potatoes a day. I'm a large man and I think I'd burst or vomit before choking down that much, Presumably you aren't doing hard manual labor every day.
  - nradov 1y ago
    Not every day now, but I've done enough hard manual labor to know that it wouldn't allow me to eat 13 pounds of potatoes. Seriously no one was eating that much on as regular basis.
    - codeableconcept 1y ago
      If your diet is 90% potatoes and you do hard manual labor all day, you would absolutely need about 7 pounds of potatoes (2500 calories). I don’t think 13 pounds seems that crazy. I have sat down at a meal and eaten 3 pounds of potatoes before.
      - wafflemaker 1y ago
        A little off topic, but there is this joke: A Russian and American soldier meet during some peacekeeping mission/veteran fair and discuss which army is better. They go through weapons, the American really likes AK-47. They talk about training. They discuss the distributed vs centralized command. Finally the American says that they eat 5k calories per day. The Russian suddenly jumps up, points his finger at the American and starts yelling: "Liar! Nobody can eat that much potatoes!"
    - ipsento606 1y ago
      13 pounds of potatoes is about 4600 kcals. That's in the range of what an NFL athlete consumes in a day.
      - nradov 1y ago
        The problem is digesting that quantity of food, not the energy content. Elite athletes typically eat some potatoes but most of what they eat is more nutrient dense. Seriously guys, get out your scale and weigh 13 pounds of potatoes. Could you really consume that much volume in a day without feeling sick? Let's do a reality check here.
Mistletoe 1y ago
The Irish had milk also with all the potatoes. It made it a diet that could keep you alive and even thrive. >Potatoes and milk, particularly buttermilk, were a nutritionally complete diet for many Irish peasants before the famine, allowing them to be healthier than some European counterparts who ate a bread-based diet.
- scns 1y ago
  Potatoes contain all proteins, if i'm not mistaken, only less than protein rich plant sources. Wheat and rice need to be combined with other sources to get all proteins.
  - nradov 1y ago
    Potato protein quality is fairly good relative to most plant sources but still deficient in certain essential amino acids, mainly cysteine and methionine.
anentropic 1y ago
> it does seem possible that caloric excess in the absence of significant dietary fat does not drive obsesity / metabolic disease in the same way. FWIW this is exactly the opposite hypothesis to that of the Keto diet (whereby consuming fat in absence of carbs does not drive obesity / metabolic disease) To me seems more likely they were just burning more calories
- codeableconcept 1y ago
  I think you’re probably right. It is an interesting thing to think about though — since carbohydrate to fat conversion is extremely inefficient, I think you could at least expect a more forgiving change in body composition during a period of over feeding.
  - anentropic 1y ago
    More speculatively, there could also be a genetic component

nradov 1y ago

What's the hypothesis there? Were they just shitting out the extra starch without digesting it? Due to conservation of energy the calories can't just vanish. It doesn't seem physically possible for most adult men to consume 13 pounds of potatoes a day. I'm a large man and I think I'd burst or vomit before choking down that much, regardless of how hard I'd been working. Most likely that number is just wrong.

carabiner 1y ago
Hypothesis is that the irishmen were doing hard physical labor that required a high caloric intake. PCT thru-hikers consume 4,000-4,500 calories per day (at least I did) while staying thin. According to inter-net, 13 lb of potatoes has about 4,500 calories. Apparently US civil war soldiers expended 3-4k per day.
- nradov 1y ago
  I was responding to the claim by @codeableconcept that the absence of significant dietary fat somehow prevents obesity, independent of energy balance. That seems unlikely. Obviously it's possible for an active man to expend ~4500 kcal/day. I've done it myself many times. Even back during the Civil War, US soldiers typically consumed more energy dense food and only got a fraction of their calories from potatoes.
astura 1y ago
>it doesn't seem physically possible for most adult men to consume 13 pounds of potatoes a day. I'm a large man and I think I'd burst or vomit before choking down that much, Presumably you aren't doing hard manual labor every day.
- nradov 1y ago
  Not every day now, but I've done enough hard manual labor to know that it wouldn't allow me to eat 13 pounds of potatoes. Seriously no one was eating that much on as regular basis.
  - codeableconcept 1y ago
    If your diet is 90% potatoes and you do hard manual labor all day, you would absolutely need about 7 pounds of potatoes (2500 calories). I don’t think 13 pounds seems that crazy. I have sat down at a meal and eaten 3 pounds of potatoes before.
    - wafflemaker 1y ago
      A little off topic, but there is this joke: A Russian and American soldier meet during some peacekeeping mission/veteran fair and discuss which army is better. They go through weapons, the American really likes AK-47. They talk about training. They discuss the distributed vs centralized command. Finally the American says that they eat 5k calories per day. The Russian suddenly jumps up, points his finger at the American and starts yelling: "Liar! Nobody can eat that much potatoes!"
  - ipsento606 1y ago
    13 pounds of potatoes is about 4600 kcals. That's in the range of what an NFL athlete consumes in a day.
    - nradov 1y ago
      The problem is digesting that quantity of food, not the energy content. Elite athletes typically eat some potatoes but most of what they eat is more nutrient dense. Seriously guys, get out your scale and weigh 13 pounds of potatoes. Could you really consume that much volume in a day without feeling sick? Let's do a reality check here.

Mistletoe 1y ago

The Irish had milk also with all the potatoes. It made it a diet that could keep you alive and even thrive. >Potatoes and milk, particularly buttermilk, were a nutritionally complete diet for many Irish peasants before the famine, allowing them to be healthier than some European counterparts who ate a bread-based diet.

scns 1y ago
Potatoes contain all proteins, if i'm not mistaken, only less than protein rich plant sources. Wheat and rice need to be combined with other sources to get all proteins.
- nradov 1y ago
  Potato protein quality is fairly good relative to most plant sources but still deficient in certain essential amino acids, mainly cysteine and methionine.

anentropic 1y ago

> it does seem possible that caloric excess in the absence of significant dietary fat does not drive obsesity / metabolic disease in the same way. FWIW this is exactly the opposite hypothesis to that of the Keto diet (whereby consuming fat in absence of carbs does not drive obesity / metabolic disease) To me seems more likely they were just burning more calories

codeableconcept 1y ago
I think you’re probably right. It is an interesting thing to think about though — since carbohydrate to fat conversion is extremely inefficient, I think you could at least expect a more forgiving change in body composition during a period of over feeding.
- anentropic 1y ago
  More speculatively, there could also be a genetic component