Courtesy photo
By LAURA LEONARD
Doctor of Chiropractic
Many fad diets have hit the headlines through the years, and it feels like you need a PhD in nutrition to decipher, which ones work and which don’t.
The latest and greatest fad that I recently came across is championed by Dr. John McDougall MD in his book “The Starch Solution”.
Dr. McDougall is a professed vegan and expert on veganism with several published books on diet and how it affects our health. When I first came across a headline about potatoes and weight loss, I was skeptical to say the least.
As I started unrolling more information on Google, I saw a story on famous Vegas magician Penn Jillette, who recently lost over 100 pounds using this method to kickstart his weight loss.
At 6’7 and 322 pounds Jillette was diagnosed with 90 percent blockage of his coronary arteries. He used the potato diet for the first two weeks to kickstart the weight loss and then began integrating vegetable stews and salads for variety. Over the first three months he lost an astonishing 75 pounds.
So … what is this potato diet and how does it help hack our weight loss attempts? The science lies in the nutritional make-up of the potato itself. According to Dr. McDougall, the potato is as close to a perfect food source as it gets. One medium sized potato has roughly 110 calories, 3 grams of protein, 7 percent of your daily fiber and is plentiful in vitamins B6, C, potassium, iron and calcium. The catch with this diet is to treat it more as a short-term indulgence fast.
The recommendation is to try this fast for three to 10 days followed by a slow reintroduction of healthy foods into the diet. The rules are simple, you can eat as much as you want of plain cooked potatoes. Variation in type and color is allowed and butter, milk or oil is not. Chives, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper can be used to change things up from one meal to the next. Coffee and tea are also allowed and ample water intake is required.
The goal of this semi fast is to minimize the excess of flavor we usually get in our diet. It also is impossible to eat enough of this in a day to get enough calories thereby creating a calorie deficit while remaining full from the starch in the potatoes we are eating.
Where do I personally land on this spud thing? I’m intrigued enough by the science behind it that I’m going to try it next week with my husband. Three days to start and we’ll see how it goes. I’ll report back on our experience soon.
Dr. Laura Leonard has a BSc in Neuroscience and is a Doctor of Chiropractic. She has been in practice for 20 years and has recently joined Dr. Lenz and Dr. Savoia at the Los Alamos Chiropractic Center. Dr. Leonard’s practice focuses on posture and performance using a combination of soft tissue release, adjustments and exercise recommendations. She also coaches patients on nutrition, self-care and body awareness so they can manage themselves in between visits. Los Alamos Chiropractic Center is in the Mary Deal Building on Trinity Drive.