The illustrious nutritional profile of the humble potato was further proven by the commitment of one Australian man to eat nothing but the starchy root vegetable for the entirety of 2016. Andrew Taylor, an Irish Australian man from Melbourne, lost over 100 pounds in 12 months by adhering to this diet, and has no plans to stop now.
Taylor, who dropped from 335 pounds to 218 pounds by eating six to nine pounds of potatoes per day, was determined to kick a food addiction. “You can’t quit food, but I wanted to get as close as possible, and wondered if there was one particular food I could eat,” he told news.com.au.
“Potatoes came up best.”
Potatoes are a carbohydrate-rich food source which also offer protein, dietary fat, and essential micronutrients fiber, vitamin C, and iron. Prior to the Great Hunger (1845 – 1852), much of the Irish population was solely reliant on this cheap crop, with many consuming up to 14 pounds per day. When potato blight struck, roughly one million people starved to death, while one million more emigrated overseas, many to the U.S., in search of a new beginning.
“Potatoes have been good to me this year,” Taylor reports, as his cholesterol and blood pressure continue to stabilize. His doctor, Taylor mentions, was initially skeptical of this extreme mono-diet, but came to support him as his health began to improve.
“If you want extreme results, you have to do extreme things,” Taylor added. “Yes, it’s extreme, but what’s wrong with that?” ♦
Irish America
Irish America
“reliant solely” would have been more accurate writing.
The potato comes from America, from the Carib Indians from whom we also get the word cannibal – It was apparently part of nature’s plan to send the potato to Ireland, to make us reliant solely on it, to withdraw it and thus force a million and more of us over here where we have contributed so much, not least by Patty and Niall. All the best! US’nAy. Love those spuds – any way you cook em, boiled, baked, friend, french fried, roasted… Tagus dut. Peadar