Chris Voigt's Potato Only Diet

In what's been dubbed "a bizarre PR campaign," Chris Voigt, director of the Potato Commission, has been eating only potatoes for 25 days (and aims to reach 60).

Chris's aim is to prove that potatoes can be part of a healthy lifestyle. But is such a limited diet going to make him ill?

Chris is highlighting the nutritional content of potatoes, although counted as a "starch" not a "vegetable", they are rich in several vitamins and minerals:
Voigt hopes his pro-spud stunt will educate the public about many healthy aspects of the maligned potato: an inexpensive source of vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, magnesium, and with the skin left on, dietary fiber.

The monotony of a potato-only diet would leave most of us feeling incredibly bored with our food, even with seasonings allowed. Chris claims to be enjoying himself though, with some innovative recipes like "potato ice-cream" and "potato lasagne".

Twenty days in, however, he posted about some of the psychological difficulties of the diet on his blog:
It was just one of those days where you really wonder what the heck you're doing. While I know I love potatoes, it was hard to keep eating them. I hung in there but I was the star of my own little pity party yesterday.

Chris has lost some weight on the diet (he's a few pounds overweight), finding his daily 6.5 pounds of potatoes so filling that he can't always finish them. He insists that he won't suffer any ill-effects from living off potatoes alone for two months.

What do you think - is this a crazy diet, or a genius PR stunt? And, if you could only eat one food item for sixty days, what would you pick?

Weird diet potatoes 12 Comments Ann on 26 Oct 2010

I wonder if he's including a multivitamin in this? And it sounds from this post like he must be including SOME other foods - how is it potato lasagna if there is only potatoes in it? There must be cheese and a sauce? Otherwise it's a stack of potatoe slices. Or mashed potatoes?

Reply Ann on 26 Oct 2010

I apologize for the Quayle-reminiscent moment ... I think I was originally going to say "stack of potatoes" but then opted for "potato slices" without fixing my spelling.

Reply Ryan on 26 Oct 2010

It's actually not so crazy. Potatoes, though not generally thought of as nutritious because of their association with French fries, are actually quite so.

I would gladly go on a pure grass-fed raw milk diet. The Mayo Foundation actually used to do this as a sort of cure-all. Whether it works is up for debate, but it is abundantly clear that a pure raw milk diet will at least keep you alive perfectly well by itself.

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