Question For An Expert Nutritionist

[hazelm]

I can't give you a factual source.  This came to me in one of those round robin emails. I am wondering how true it is.  Granted it would get terribly boring but is it true?

 

Quote:   You can survive entirely on a diet of potatoes and butter which provide all the nutrients the human body needs.

[Moronium]

I can't give you a factual source.  This came to me in one of those round robin emails. I am wondering how true it is.  Granted it would get terribly boring but is it true?

 

Quote:   You can survive entirely on a diet of potatoes and butter which provide all the nutrients the human body needs.

 

According to Snopes fact-checking:

 

Claim:  A person can "survive" living on a diet of nothing but potatoes and butter.

 

Rating:  Mostly true.

 

What's True:  Eating nothing but potatoes and butter, in sufficient quantities, could keep a person alive for an indeterminate period of time.

 

What's False:  Whether a person could remain healthy in the long term on such a dietary regimen would depend upon on other health factors.

 

Dana Hunnes, senior dietitian at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, ...told us that this type of diet could be sustainable for persons who consumed enough potatoes to support their body weight and muscle mass.

 

However, she said she would advise anyone looking to pursue that kind of regimen to instead eat a wider variety of fruits and vegetables.“You can certainly survive healthily — it’s been done,” Hunnes said. “Would I recommend it for people? No. Because I think you’d be bored in that diet.”

 

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/potato-butter-diet/

 

What I wanna know is whether I could survive on fat french fries and ketchup.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Moronium

[hazelm]

According to Snopes fact-checking:

 

 

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/potato-butter-diet/

 

What I wanna know is whether I could survive on fat french fries and ketchup.

Thank you, Moronium.  What came to me an hour later was "you might survive but would you be healthy? Do you, for example, get enough protein?"  It sounds as if Dane Hunness is saying it has been done.

 

All right.  I do enjoy my bowls of mashed potatoes (with margarine or butter), a good dash of salt (<g>)  and sometimes a dash of grated parmesan.  But daily, weekly and monthly?  Nope.  Don't think so.  As for french  fries,  I recently tried them with honey mustard.  Quite good for a change.

[Moronium]

 "you might survive but would you be healthy? Do you, for example, get enough protein?"  It sounds as if Dane Hunness is saying it has been done.

 

 

Yes, according to her:

 

“You can certainly survive healthily — it’s been done,” Hunnes said

 

She ends up saying she wouldn't recommend it because the diet would be "boring," not for health reasons.

 

I read a story where an extremely obese person ate nothing but potatoes for 8 months.  He lost 120 pounds, which went a long way toward improving his health, eh?

Edited March 14, 2019 by Moronium

[hazelm]

Yes, according to her:

 

 

She ends up saying she wouldn't recommend it because the diet would be "boring," not for health reasons.

 

I read a story where an extremely obese person ate nothing but potatoes for 8 months.  He lost 120 pounds, which went a long way toward improving his health, eh?

I am just very surprised.  I do find potatoes are good for upset digestion, but they have to be plain mashed potatoes.  No decoration of them.  Not baked or fried or with onions, etc.

 

I'll take Dane Hunness's word for it but don't think I want to try it.   I'll just rely on my inherited genes with chocolate for dessert.

[Moronium]

I am just very surprised. 

 

 

Yeah, I was surprised too.  As it turns out, potatoes seem to have almost all required nutrients.  I guess the butter supplies the rest.

[Moronium]

  As for french  fries,  I recently tried them with honey mustard.  Quite good for a change.

 

 

I look at potatoes as being nothing more than a bland vehicle for carrying condiments.  Butter and sour cream when baked, for example.  Ketchup, vinegar, mustard, etc., when fried.  Gravy when mashed.  Kinda like rice, ya know?

 

The potatoes just reduce the risk of O.D.ing on the good ****.  Kinda like cutting bourbon with coke.

 

 

But it's all kinda ritualized and habitual.  Why not put gravy on fries?  Or mustard on mashed potatoes, eh?  Aint no good reason that I can see.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Moronium

[hazelm]

I look at potatoes as being nothing more than a bland vehicle for carrying condiments.  Butter and sour cream when baked, for example.  Ketchup, vinegar, mustard, etc., when fried.  Gravy when mashed.

 

Kinda like rice, ya know?

 

But it's all kinda ritualized and habitual.  Why not put gravy on fries?  Or mustard on mashed potatoes, eh?  Aint no good reason that I can see.

Or jellied cranberry in a sliced turkey (or any other meat) sandwich.    I insist on salt in my mashed potatoes and cheese in my scrambled eggs. 

 

Rice?  There is a new trent toward riced cauliflower to replace rice.  Can't tell the difference myself.

[Moronium]

 Rice?  There is a new trent toward riced cauliflower to replace rice.  Can't tell the difference myself.

 

I really wouldn't know.  I don't touch either one of those vile substances.  You'd need to ask some asian, I figure.

 

I did learn a lesson when I mainlined a couple of bottles of russian dressing when I was kid.   Best not to mainline certain things.  Ya got to cut it with some tasteless lettuce.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Moronium

[Moronium]

All this food talk is making me hungry.  Makes me want to order a pizza so I can pour hot sauce all over it.

 

I just read a story about some guy and his dog who survived 5 days of being trapped in the snow by only "eating" hot sauce.  Maybe I should go back to mainlining.

 

I'm also thinking about inventing my own diet fad for fun and profit.  Nothing but Slim Jims and Everclear.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Moronium

[fahrquad]

Or jellied cranberry in a sliced turkey (or any other meat) sandwich.    I insist on salt in my mashed potatoes and cheese in my scrambled eggs. 

 

Rice?  There is a new trent toward riced cauliflower to replace rice.  Can't tell the difference myself.

 

The Atkins diet book has a recipe for mashed potatoes using steamed cauliflower.  If I had not cooked it I would not have known the difference.  BTW, try adding sour cream and onion powder.  

[hazelm]

The Atkins diet book has a recipe for mashed potatoes using steamed cauliflower.  If I had not cooked it I would not have known the difference.  BTW, try adding sour cream and onion powder.  

You can put/add sour cream on anything and it will be good.   It can even replace all this fancy dancy yogurt they are selling now.  But I have never yet found a form of dried onion that had an onion taste. 

[Moronium]

 But I have never yet found a form of dried onion that had an onion taste. 

 

The only way to truly appreciate the magnificence of an onion it to treat it like an apple and take a big-azz bite.  Then another, and another, until the whole thing is gone, just like an apple.  It ROCKS, eh!?

[Moronium]

You've all probably heard the conventional wisdom that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away."

 

The should have said onion instead of apple, eh?

 

To stay healthy, eat an onion a day

 

...the onion is more than a kitchen staple. It is a world-class superfood that has received very little fanfare, most likely because of its common position in cookery. And yet, compared with high-profile foods like pomegranates, red wine, and green tea, the onion offers superior benefits for both the prevention and treatment of many common diseases, including various kinds of cancer, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cataracts and more. In addition, onions can act as a powerful antibiotic and are helpful in reducing food-borne illnesses caused by microbial contamination.

 

Onions contain extraordinarily powerful compounds that possess many health benefits. Hundreds of scientific studies published on these naturally-occurring compounds show that they are highly protective to nerves and the cardiovascular system, and that they enhance immune function, fight the growth of many types of tumors, help to promote healthy hormone function, and many more.

 

Onion lowers cholesterol, inhibits hardening of the arteries, enhances elasticity of blood vessels, and helps to maintain healthy blood pressure.  You could easily claim that the onion is the unsung cardiovascular-enhancing hero that has been right under our noses all along. We smell it, but don’t give it proper respect.

 

Equally impressive are the hundreds of scientific citations, which pertain to the anti-cancer properties of onion. While nobody is suggesting that onion is a cancer cure per se, it certainly is a valuable adjunct therapy, and it provides almost unequalled cancer risk-reducing properties.

 

Surprisingly, onion demonstrates significant blood sugar-modifying properties to be a real help in the fight against both type 2 diabetes and obesity. No, onion alone won’t keep you in fine shape, but it will help. In addition to limiting your intake of fats and sugars, eating onions can get your blood sugar-and your weight-on the right track.

 

So here is a simple, powerful health-enhancing recommendation: Eat an onion every day.

 

 

https://www.foxnews.com/health/to-stay-healthy-eat-an-onion-a-day

Edited March 15, 2019 by Moronium

[Moronium]

I love onions. Put them on everything. I thought guillermo was being kind of a wimp the other day. So, I bought a regular onion from the local store and was gonna try to eat a whole raw onion like an apple

.

Things did not go as planned. I was able to take 3 fairly large bites, finishing probably a 3rd of the onion. My whole face was burning and tingling. My nose was running and burning. Minutes later, my stomach was bubbling and and churning. I felt like my body was rebelling against me.

 

Props to guillermo. I failed

 

.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/DanLeBatardShow/comments/58kaff/you_guys_i_ate_a_raw_onion/

 

What a wimp, eh?

[fahrquad]

People do eat Vidalia Onions like apples.  The town of Vidalia, where the sweet onions are grown, is about 200 south of me.  The soil there is the same red clay substrate as this area, and the acidic composition probably influences the flavor of the onions.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidalia_onion

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidalia,_Georgia

 

BTW, if sour cream and onion powder with the mashed cauliflower are not to your liking, then try a couple of dollops of French Onion Dip.

[Moronium]

Chuck from the Bronx knows how to take care of bidniz, eh?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=479&v=lIY2jSpFJM8