Could I Eat 2kg Potatoes A Day Without Fear Bout Hyperkalemia?

[DaveFoster]

RP: Very good. New Guineans live on basically the traditional diet of almost pure potatoes for 51 weeks per year, and one week of pork feasts. They did not have any heart disease, not a high rate of cancer or any degenerative disease."

The Rapa Nui (Easter Island) people also live on a largely tuber-based diet (yams, bananas, and potatoes) along with rats for protein content.

 

[zooma]

You have it right, zooma. :)

Nutritional databases don't account for a potato's ketoacid content. Here's the quote from Ray that I think you may be referring to?

"Two pounds of well-cooked mashed potato has the protein value similar to a liter of milk, about 33 grams of protein. A person would be able to live for a long time on two or three liters of either milk or 4-6 pounds of potatoes per day. The milk drinker would eventually need to supplement iron, the potato eaters would need to supplement vitamin A, possibly B12, but both of them are nearly perfect foods"

Thanks Jennifer, that's the one.

So 2000kcal of potatoes has more than 70g of high quality protein. For people who can't drink milk yet, potatoes seem like the ideal replacement. Or as you are both suggesting above, the juice may be even better if it can be extracted fully.

 

[Jennifer]

For some reason, the manufacturing process seems to prefer grating or rasping, but I don't know if that's a requirement. People who make latkes swear by fine grating or rasping for making the best slurry. Coincidence? It seems graters are really cheap compared to the heavy duty machinery you have at your disposal.

For a potato peeler, I was thinking of getting a tiny one named Jennifer. No, sorry, I mean this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Starfrit-Rotato-Express-Electric-Peeler/12442228

The freezing might cause the amylose to form a gel when the potato thaws, which might be harder to separate, I don't know? Lemon juice or vinegar might stop it from turning color, you're right!

Oh, I have a Jennifer! Her hands start to cramp up by the time she hits the 20 pound mark, but she came with a fine set of appliances so I overlook that one inconvenience.

Thank you for the link to the peeler. Nice find! That thing's brilliant! It will make the process so much easier. I can peel in tandem with the electric peeler and get it done faster.

I finished reading the process for manufacturing starch last night, but I'll have to look on YouTube to see how it's done to fully understand it. I need visuals on this one.

Okay, so grating. I have a grater attachment for my stand mixer or I could use the food processor so that's easy enough. The hard part is fighting the temptation to make latkes out of the gratings. Yum!

You make a very good point about the potato's amylose possibly forming a gel when thawed. I think you're right! Okay, so no freezing. Check!

 

[Jennifer]

Thanks Jennifer, that's the one.

So 2000kcal of potatoes has more than 70g of high quality protein. For people who can't drink milk yet, potatoes seem like the ideal replacement. Or as you are both suggesting above, the juice may be even better if it can be extracted fully.

You're welcome! :)

Yeah, if Ray is right, the potatoes are definitely an ideal replacement for those who can't drink milk yet or digest other proteins. In a radio interview he did on Dec. 4th 2013, he said this when asked about casein:

"RP: it’s a good protein, has many good features. An even better protein, is the juice out of the potato. In a few extreme cases where someone had no digestion for any kind of ordinary protein, if they juiced some raw potatoes, and cooked it, they could instantly assimilate it, and got over their sensitivities for other proteins."

Apparently, potato juice is an old remedy for all kinds of stomach ailments such as gastritis and ulcers. Research has been done on it fairly recently and it's been found to have antimicrobial properties and we now know ulcers often stem from h. pylori.

It's also used to treat arthritis due to its anti-inflammatory properties. I find this interesting given that potatoes are nightshades and often associated with joint pain for many. My thinking is better intestinal integrity and antimicrobial properties from the potato juice means less bacterial overgrowths and endotoxins that can cause all kinds of body pain. Minocycline is used to treat both arthritis and Lyme disease (also accompanied by joint pain) so I suspect a possible bacterial component to all kinds of joint pain, back pain etc.

 

[Philomath]

The Rapa Nui (Easter Island) people also live on a largely tuber-based diet (yams, bananas, and potatoes) along with rats for protein content.

I'll bet the rats were more for the vitamin a in the liver.

 

[Ukall]

I was thinking about doing the Potato Diet, however I am kinda worried about bacteria overgrowth.
I realized when I was drinking only OJ, some eczemas had appeared in my body and now that I am not drinking OJ anymore they are slowly disappearing. This must mean something for sure.
Regarding bacteria, is it better to not eat the starch? That's something I still didn't get it. I was thinking about boiling my potatoes, add some veggies and then blend them and make some kind of a soup/puree. But if this feeds bacteria, I'm not quite happy about it :/

I am also concerned about Potato glycoalkaloids (How Deadly Are Nightshades? - Diagnosis:Diet). Should I be worry about these?

 

[tara]

I was thinking about doing the Potato Diet, however I am kinda worried about bacteria overgrowth.
I realized when I was drinking only OJ, some eczemas had appeared in my body and now that I am not drinking OJ anymore they are slowly disappearing. This must mean something for sure.
Regarding bacteria, is it better to not eat the starch? That's something I still didn't get it. I was thinking about boiling my potatoes, add some veggies and then blend them and make some kind of a soup/puree. But if this feeds bacteria, I'm not quite happy about it :/

It probably will feed bacteria in the gut. If you take other measures to reduce the bacteria, there would presumably be less, and if the transit time is not too long that helps prevent the bacteria and endotoxins from becoming so problematic. Cooking well and pureeing probably makes it more easily and quickly digested, so that may help mitigate problems too.
A soup made of well-cooked and pureed potatoes and veges would probably have some good things going for it - some good minerals, protein, and as starches go, relatively easy to digest. Whether the bacterial issues outweigh the benefits for you personally at this time may only be able to be established by personal experimentation. If I were you I'd try some (starting with a small to moderate amount) for a week or so and see how it goes.

I am also concerned about Potato glycoalkaloids (How Deadly Are Nightshades? - Diagnosisiet). Should I be worry about these?

AIUI, they are a problem in large quantities for everyone, and in small quantities for people who are particularly sensitive to them. If you make sure there are no green bits - not even the slightest bit - there should only be small quantities that are OK for most people. Green/poisonous potato tastes bitter and disgusting - discard any potato with bad flavour.