20potatoes a day??? Your thoughts? McDougall also loves it... I prefer fruits... but this is interesting

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by James bananaman Bailey on May 6, 2012 at 10:58pm

you should idearly be eating the skin as well. not only is it very nutritious but it also helps in the digestion and assimilation of the available nutrients. id alos look at millet and quinoa just to increase your food intake variation. :)

Permalink Reply by Milos Stepita on May 6, 2012 at 11:03pm

thanks for info I eat the skin sometimes as well, I will definitely try quinoa sometimes, I ve heard it´s good

Permalink Reply by Sweetfruitlover on May 6, 2012 at 11:35pm

Fruit feels much better for me than cooked starches, but if there is some reason that someone cannot eat that much fruit, then I'd suggest that potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squashes and other starchy roots and tubers might be the next best source of calories.

Sweet potatoes are especially nutritious.  They were the main source of calories for the Okinawans on their famously healthy traditional diet.  Winter squash is also great - and it's actually a fruit!

But I like fruit best.  Yum.

Permalink Reply by conrad mecheski on May 7, 2012 at 12:07am

I would much rather eat a cooked potato than a raw avocado or nut and seeds.

Permalink Reply by Connor Cordell on May 7, 2012 at 2:03am

The thing about potatoes and rice and the other starches is what they originally allowed us to do. They allowed humans (whether a good thing or not) to spread and multiply in areas which we would have not been normally suited to live. It's not possible to grow bananas in too many places in North America, but starches? Easy.  Starches will always be the powerhouse civilization builder. But for optimal health, fruit is the best.

Permalink Reply by Dominic Schumerth on May 7, 2012 at 2:59am

I think this is a good example of any high carb diet.  Potatoes are a lot more nutrient dense than some foods but don't match up against fruit.

Permalink Reply by PK on May 7, 2012 at 7:06am

IMO, he probably felt better on this diet because he cut the other crap out like animal products, processed foods, and high fat. 

However, I do not recommend this idea for optimum health. 

Many of our members get melon belly, gas, bloating, etc when eating potatoes, grains, and other cooked foods, even vegan foods. 

Many of our members also get digestive upsets from cruciferous veggies like broccoli, and the root and tuber veggies.

Potatoes are also high in protein which can cause health problems long term like arthritis, tooth decay, kidney stones, hardening of the arteries, and cancer. 

Potatoes may be a great emergency food if one does not have access to ripe fruit, but I would never recommend this long term.

Peace, PK

Permalink Reply by PK on May 7, 2012 at 7:10am

BTW, from a permaculture point of view, potatoes are horrible and cause big problems with erosion of top soil.  Think Irish potato famine and one of the contributing factors to the dust bowl. 

For long term vegan sustainability, root based fruit trees are a better idea for environmental health.

Peace, PK

Permalink Reply by RawBenny on May 7, 2012 at 7:59am

interesting. are you referring to erosion problems from monocultures of potatoes? i've worked on several different permaculture projects, all of which utilized potatoes/yams to some degree, interspersed with other plants in dedicated beds, with seemingly great success.

Permalink Reply by PK on May 8, 2012 at 1:22am

@RawBenney,

Yes, those results were probably a result of monoculture. 

I still think even from a permaculture point of view, for example, if the world were to suddenly become vegan, long term, planting crops like grains, rice, and potatoes are not sustainable.  Our best bet for our health and for agricultural health is to go for more tree based crops. 

Trees can be self fertilizing beasts if left alone.  If we observe the jungles and forests, without human intervention, trees live for decades, sometimes centuries.  Their leaves and fruits may fall to the forest floor and are decomposed by various organisms.  The decayed materials from the leaves and fruits and the organisms eating them go back into the soil and feed the tree. 

The trees roots also keep soils in place and prevent problems with flooding. 

And last but not least, trees are resilient to problems like drought, at least short term. They may not produce bumper crops every year, but they will be there never the less verses annual crops that once there gone, they are gone.

Of course I am no expert, but this is my theory.

Peace, PK

Permalink Reply by RawBenny on May 10, 2012 at 4:57pm

Ah, modesty! No need for theories! :) Well said! 

Permalink Reply by PK on May 11, 2012 at 3:37am

Thank you RawBenny! 

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page