Speaker 1: Guess what, Mango, what's that? Will? Do you hear about
Speaker 1: this super pizza they invented in England a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago. I was, I was just reading about it again. No,
Speaker 1: but I did get a note from a very sweet
Speaker 1: listener asked me to stop using the word super so much,
Speaker 1: and I was thinking for today's episode, I just used
Speaker 1: the word top notch instead. So tell me about this
Speaker 1: top notch pizza. That's a good word, mango. Well, super
Speaker 1: pizza was developed at Glasgow University and it's this frozen
Speaker 1: pizza that has seaweed baked into the crust and then
Speaker 1: the sauces boosted with nutrients. And the whole idea is that,
Speaker 1: because it has a third of your daily vitamins and minerals,
Speaker 1: you could actually eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner
Speaker 1: and be somewhat healthy. That's pretty cool. But how's it taste? Well,
Speaker 1: I guess top notches, you might say, but now I
Speaker 1: think like pretty good from what I've read online. Anyway,
Speaker 1: reading about it made me wonder if you had to
Speaker 1: pare your pantry down to the bare minimum, what are
Speaker 1: the only foods you'd need to survive? And that's what
Speaker 1: today's episode is all about either podcast listeners, Welcome to
Speaker 1: part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and is always I'm
Speaker 1: joined by my good friend Mangesh Ticketer and sitting behind
Speaker 1: that soundproof booth baking some tiny but delicious pastries and
Speaker 1: his easy bake oven as our producer Tristan McNeil. Where
Speaker 1: did he get that? What is that, Tristan? Or those
Speaker 1: tiny croissans? Yeah, listener, those are tiny croissans. Want a
Speaker 1: tiny Croissan? That's so good? All right? Well, for today's show,
Speaker 1: we decided to do a little thought experiment. Basically, we
Speaker 1: want to know if you were going to limit your
Speaker 1: daily diet only a handful of different foods, ten or
Speaker 1: five or even just one, what should you eat? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I was pretty sure the answer is going to be
Speaker 1: flaming hot cheetos. But apparently the answer is not flaming
Speaker 1: hot Cheetos. I don't think it is, Yeah, because this
Speaker 1: really isn't what snacks you couldn't go without, so much
Speaker 1: as the stuff you couldn't live without plus three times
Speaker 1: a day Cheetos have. It couldn't be that healthy for you.
Speaker 1: Probably not. And you know, I think the idea here
Speaker 1: is to concentrate on building the most restricted diet we can,
Speaker 1: using foods that are nutritious enough to actually keep you alive.
Speaker 1: And along the way, we'll explore the reasons why some
Speaker 1: people actually strive for a lack of variety and what
Speaker 1: they eat, and and we'll also take a look at
Speaker 1: some of the craziest restrictive diets that people have ever
Speaker 1: subjected themselves to. Speaking Wish will also be joined by
Speaker 1: Andrew Taylor. He's the Australian man who declared two thousand
Speaker 1: sixteen to be the Year the Spud and then he
Speaker 1: commemorated it by eating nothing but potatoes for three d
Speaker 1: sixty six days and he chose a leap here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and now he's written a book called The d I
Speaker 1: Y Spud Fit Challenge, and it dares readers to change
Speaker 1: their relationship with food in order to live a healthier life.
Speaker 1: So we'll find out what possessed him to do this
Speaker 1: in the first place, and and why potatoes, of all things.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's so weird. I feel like growing up,
Speaker 1: potatoes were considered a healthy vegetable, or at least healthy enough.
Speaker 1: And then there was the whole anti car movement and
Speaker 1: this this big push to cut potatoes out entirely, and
Speaker 1: now it feels like it's sort of nudging its way
Speaker 1: back in. I know, it's so weird how these things
Speaker 1: go back and forth, Like eggs are the same way
Speaker 1: with all their cholesterol in that debay, and and it's
Speaker 1: just so strange like that we can't decide to just
Speaker 1: do this in moderation. Yeah, and and and the strange
Speaker 1: part is it it almost feels he radical to be
Speaker 1: talking about limiting our food selection. I mean, we've mentioned
Speaker 1: this before, but Americans have never had such a huge
Speaker 1: variety of options as we do today, and the idea
Speaker 1: of purposefully removing choices it kind of runs counter to
Speaker 1: most people's thinking. Yeah, so I know this isn't food related,
Speaker 1: but for a while I was enamored with this idea
Speaker 1: of having a daily uniform. My mother in law gave
Speaker 1: me this book she was reading about willpower and and
Speaker 1: it there's this argument that you only have so much
Speaker 1: willpower and decision making power in a day. And so
Speaker 1: people like Obama when he was president, supposedly had someone
Speaker 1: pick out his clothes for him, and all of his
Speaker 1: shirts and pants were different colors but the same style
Speaker 1: and the size. He liked, the idea being if you're
Speaker 1: not using your brain power for any of those smaller decisions,
Speaker 1: you can actually save it for making swift, important decisions
Speaker 1: later in the day. But I I know a number
Speaker 1: of successful people who just have one basic lunch they
Speaker 1: rely on, and whether that's like a turkey sandwich or
Speaker 1: a PBNJ or ramen from downstairs. Yeah, and they just
Speaker 1: eat that every day because something they like enough but
Speaker 1: don't have to spend any time thinking about. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you know, time and efficiency. That's definitely one aspect of
Speaker 1: narrowing your food choices. But another that I've been thinking
Speaker 1: about is, you know, space travel. How's that? According to
Speaker 1: pops I quote, the impetus of a lot of nutritional
Speaker 1: sciences how do we feed people in space? And so
Speaker 1: a lot of the effort is on how to pack
Speaker 1: more nutritional content into lighter weight foods you know that
Speaker 1: that are easy to carry. Well, well, we'll definitely talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about food science and efforts to pack
Speaker 1: foods with more nutrients. And of course there's also this
Speaker 1: trend of monodiets where people eat from just one food
Speaker 1: group and even just one particular food. People do this
Speaker 1: with bananas or watermelon, or in the magician Penjalette's case,
Speaker 1: he did this with potatoes as well, and it's supposedly
Speaker 1: to shock his body and too weight loss. I have
Speaker 1: to say that it just sounds so miserab doable. But
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess they're all sorts of ways to
Speaker 1: eat a potato, and he's probably not just eating baked
Speaker 1: potatoes all day, at least I hope he's. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I wonder how many people were inspired by the Martian
Speaker 1: to do this diet. But uh, but when I first started,
Speaker 1: you mentioned this topic and this idea of foods you
Speaker 1: can't live without. It reminded me of that German poet
Speaker 1: and philosopher Frederick Schiller, and he'd keep rotting apples in
Speaker 1: a drawer in his desk, and whenever he was getting
Speaker 1: writer's block, he'd open the drawer to take a whiff.
Speaker 1: Supposedly it inspired him to keep writing that before I know.
Speaker 1: And then then there's like Ballza who had fifty cups
Speaker 1: of coffee a day to keep them writing. But do
Speaker 1: you have any tricks for retter's block? Uh? I don't
Speaker 1: actually think I do. What about you, well, it's not
Speaker 1: a trick, but I actually hate writing, so whenever I
Speaker 1: have to do it, I have to get like a
Speaker 1: bag of jelly beans as a treat, just to make
Speaker 1: the experience seem more fun. But uh, I know I
Speaker 1: took his off track. Nutritionists definitely worn against mono diets,
Speaker 1: but sometimes that dieting can't be helped. So what do
Speaker 1: you mean by that? Well, it can also be psychological
Speaker 1: like that. There was a story a few years ago
Speaker 1: about that teenage girl in England who had been hooked
Speaker 1: on chicken nuggets. She'd been doubting them since like age
Speaker 1: two or something, and according to the report, she had
Speaker 1: eaten practically nothing but chicken nuggets for like fifteen years. Wow. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember hearing about her. I know what. It sounds
Speaker 1: kind of funny or impressive, even until one day she
Speaker 1: passed out and couldn't breathe. That's a lot less funny.
Speaker 1: So did she did she have a heart attack or something? No?
Speaker 1: Apparently she was so malnourished that she had to receive
Speaker 1: vitamin and nutrient injections. Woh. I mean it's actually kind
Speaker 1: of heartbreaking when you think about it, I know. And
Speaker 1: and the sadder part is that her mother couldn't even
Speaker 1: stop her. Like her words were, quote, uh, it breaks
Speaker 1: my heart to see her eating those damn nuggets. You
Speaker 1: know what, what you're describing sounds way more than just
Speaker 1: hankering for chicken nuggets. I mean, it actually sounds more
Speaker 1: like compulsive behavior. And in some cases people are like
Speaker 1: highly selective about foods they're willing to eat because of
Speaker 1: food addictions. But it can also be about food phobias.
Speaker 1: And in fact, there was this other British woman who
Speaker 1: ate only chicken nuggets for twenty five years, but she
Speaker 1: was also that's with the Brits and their nuggets. I
Speaker 1: have no idea, but in this woman's case, she became
Speaker 1: so accustomed to eating her favorite food at home that
Speaker 1: she developed this serious fear of eating anything else. Like
Speaker 1: when she put in her mouth she gagged. But after
Speaker 1: visiting a hypnotherapist in London for a single hour, just
Speaker 1: an hour, she was totally cured. And she's been feasting
Speaker 1: on a non nugget diet ever since. I'm so happy
Speaker 1: she's off the nuggets, all right, So this is obvious,
Speaker 1: but in general, it sounds like eating only one kind
Speaker 1: of food is a very bad idea. I mean, I
Speaker 1: guess it works for pets. Ruby has this pet bearded
Speaker 1: dragon at school that apparently only eats crickets, and it
Speaker 1: seems to be doing just fine. But but you're right,
Speaker 1: I mean, part of the problem is that, like, they're
Speaker 1: huge parts of the world population, especially in Africa and Asia,
Speaker 1: and they survive on a diet that's made up almost
Speaker 1: entirely of rice. So it's not really by choice. And
Speaker 1: in fact, according to a report from the E. T.
Speaker 1: H University in Zurich, and I'm employing this on now, quote,
Speaker 1: nearly every second person in the world eats primarily rice
Speaker 1: to meet the daily calorie need. A meal of rice
Speaker 1: stops the hunger, but contains only very few or none
Speaker 1: of the essential micronutrients. So, I mean, the good news
Speaker 1: is that researchers have had lots of success with creating
Speaker 1: genetically modified multi nutrient rice to help fight malnutrition, especially
Speaker 1: in those rice dependent regions. You know, I know they're
Speaker 1: economic and political implications of the genetically modified food stuff,
Speaker 1: but it is kind of amazing that you can just
Speaker 1: infuse all these nutrients into rice and and and solve
Speaker 1: this big problem. Of course, whether someone chooses a restricted diet,
Speaker 1: or has it thrust upon them. That lack of dinner
Speaker 1: table variety poses other problems, you know, aside from the
Speaker 1: nutrition of it all, and and mainly that just makes
Speaker 1: meals seem so boring. Really, yeah, I mean, that's my
Speaker 1: biggest gripe with all of this, and that's not just
Speaker 1: our opinion. I mean humans actually experienced a phenomenon called
Speaker 1: sensory specific safety, and that's when we keep eating the
Speaker 1: same thing. So I've never heard of that. What's that mean?
Speaker 1: You know? So basically, the more you eat of a
Speaker 1: specific food, the less appetizing it gets and and the
Speaker 1: less you can stand the thought of eating it, which
Speaker 1: explains why kids always complain when they're full midway through dinner,
Speaker 1: but then miraculously find more room in their stomachs when
Speaker 1: dessert rolls around. That's exactly what's happening there. And researchers
Speaker 1: think sensory specific sayt he might be an evolutionary trade,
Speaker 1: you know it It acts as the body's way of
Speaker 1: telling us to eat something different in order to avoid
Speaker 1: that malnutrition. But of course you don't have to stick
Speaker 1: to just a single food item to suffer this. The
Speaker 1: effects of this even you know, limiting yourself to one
Speaker 1: food group can be unhealthy. And I mean, just look
Speaker 1: at the fruitarians out there. So I grew up vegetarian,
Speaker 1: but I remember when I heard about fruitarians thinking that
Speaker 1: feels like a step too far. I would agree with that. Well,
Speaker 1: it's definitely a more extreme form of vegetarianism. And the
Speaker 1: idea is that sev or more of your daily food
Speaker 1: intakes should be fresh fruit and usually eat and raw.
Speaker 1: And health and wellness bloggers have helped popularized the diet
Speaker 1: in recent years, so much so that hundreds of like
Speaker 1: ended eaters now gather every year in New York for
Speaker 1: the Woodstock Fruit Festival. The Other wood Stock, I think
Speaker 1: it's probably just a little bit different than the Other
Speaker 1: wood Stock. So it's this week long event where fruitarians
Speaker 1: gathered a mingle with other fruitarians. They attend lectures and
Speaker 1: gorge themselves on the all you can eat fruit and
Speaker 1: vegetable buffet, you know, and that's what they get for
Speaker 1: their twelve hundred dollar tickets. Yeah, it's crazy. And if
Speaker 1: you're wondering how much fresh produce it takes the feed
Speaker 1: close to a thousand hungry fruitarians for an entire week
Speaker 1: the answer is over a hundred thousand pounds. That's so
Speaker 1: much fruit. So it wasn't Steve Jobs a fruitarian. I
Speaker 1: feel like I read that somewhere. And and also that
Speaker 1: he smelled terrible. I I don't know if that was
Speaker 1: because of how his body reacted to the fruits or
Speaker 1: because he didn't use any deodorants. Well, I I can't
Speaker 1: confirm why he smelled. But but Jobs was probably the
Speaker 1: most famous fruitarian in the world, and he kept the
Speaker 1: strict vegan diet for most of his life, went through
Speaker 1: stints along the way where he would only drink smoothies
Speaker 1: and eat raw fruit, all just that kind of strict diet.
Speaker 1: And I guess, oh, it makes sense in hindsight, right,
Speaker 1: Like it's right there in the company name. Well, you
Speaker 1: may be kidding about this, but it's actually true. So
Speaker 1: Jobs came up with the name Apple Computers during one
Speaker 1: of his fruit terry and faces, Yeah, it says it.
Speaker 1: In his biography, he wrote, I had just come back
Speaker 1: from the apple farm. It sounded fun, spirited and not intimidating.
Speaker 1: Apple took the edge off the word computer. That's so crazy,
Speaker 1: Like I always just assumed the Apple was a reference
Speaker 1: to Isaac Newton, although it didn't all that fruit actually
Speaker 1: wind up contributing to Steve jobs illness. Like I I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure I read somewhere that there's a higher risk
Speaker 1: of pancreatic cancer if you consume a lot of fruits
Speaker 1: and juices. Well, some studies have definitely shown a strong link,
Speaker 1: but of course there's there's no real way of knowing
Speaker 1: what brought on Steve's illness, and diet can definitely play
Speaker 1: a role, but it's hardly the deciding factor with something
Speaker 1: like cancer. That said, when Ashton Kutcher took on the
Speaker 1: role of Steve Jobs for that biopick, Kutcher it here
Speaker 1: to a fruit terry and diet for about a month
Speaker 1: as a way of getting into character, but apparently it
Speaker 1: was a disaster and he end up being rushed to
Speaker 1: the hospital with stomach pains, you know, just a couple
Speaker 1: of days before filming began, and the test found that
Speaker 1: his pancreas levels were way off what they should have been,
Speaker 1: which really is kind of frightening given how Jobs passed away.
Speaker 1: And it's kind of counterintuitive, right, like to think of
Speaker 1: something we equate with such health being bad for you.
Speaker 1: I guess it's just another win for like boring old moderation.
Speaker 1: You know, you're definitely not going to find most doctors
Speaker 1: or dietitians that recommend you take up fruitarianism or any
Speaker 1: other highly restrictive diet. And a good general rule of
Speaker 1: thumb for diets is that you know, if it's making
Speaker 1: you sick, it's probably a bad diet advice. But vegetarians
Speaker 1: square off fish and meat, and they tend to be
Speaker 1: pretty healthy in general. How can we can get away
Speaker 1: with dodging some food groups but not others? We tend
Speaker 1: to aim for very diets because that gives us a
Speaker 1: better chance of getting all the different nutrients we need
Speaker 1: to help our bodies function properly, and cutting out whole
Speaker 1: food groups lessons that likelihood to two different degrees. So
Speaker 1: eliminating meat is one thing. I mean, you can make
Speaker 1: up the protein other ways, but eliminating everything except me, honestly,
Speaker 1: that would be about as dangerous as the all fruit diet. Well,
Speaker 1: we should definitely get into what ten foods we've taken
Speaker 1: to space or to a desert island. But now seems
Speaker 1: like a good time to get Andrew Taylor on the
Speaker 1: line and see if we can figure out how he
Speaker 1: beat the odds and managed to survive and even thrive
Speaker 1: on his all potato diet, Samango. I know today we're
Speaker 1: talking about limiting diets to ten foods, and what would
Speaker 1: those ten foods be if that's all we could choose. Well,
Speaker 1: today's guests took that to another level. So and in
Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen, Andrew Taylor was struggling with depression and anxiety,
Speaker 1: and he also weighed more than he'd ever weighed in
Speaker 1: his life. So he decided to take matters into his
Speaker 1: own hands. He took what you might call a pretty
Speaker 1: unusual measure, and that was he decided to eat nothing
Speaker 1: but potatoes for a year. I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: how you've ever decided or thought about approaching a weight
Speaker 1: loss or anything like that, but Andrew Taylor welcomed the
Speaker 1: part time Genius. Thanks for having me on. I'm excited. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're thrilled to have you as well. So, Andrew, you
Speaker 1: said that you were addicted to food at the time,
Speaker 1: and I think I read you wanted to make your
Speaker 1: food as boring as possible, so your mind wasn't consumed
Speaker 1: by food. Why did you decide on the potato. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's exactly right. It was. It was an experiment really
Speaker 1: to say if, uh, if dealing with my own food
Speaker 1: addiction through abstinence would would be a helpful thing. So,
Speaker 1: you know, an alcoholic should quit alcohol, and I think
Speaker 1: it may be a food add it should quit food.
Speaker 1: And obviously we can't quit food entirely. So I wonder
Speaker 1: if there was one food that I could eate and
Speaker 1: and then quit everything else and getting as close as
Speaker 1: possible to quitting as as you could. Um, So I tries.
Speaker 1: The title is after a lot of race there. I
Speaker 1: spent six weeks studying to figure out what would be
Speaker 1: the best food to choose, and the title has just
Speaker 1: had the most evidence behind them. Basically, most people know
Speaker 1: about the Irish diet. For a couple of centuries, the
Speaker 1: Irish entire population almost only potatoes, and they would maintained
Speaker 1: good fitness and health. And they actually went through a
Speaker 1: population zoom, which wouldn't happen if they weren't kitt and healthy. Um.
Speaker 1: There are tribes around the world. There's the Puppin Pup
Speaker 1: in New Guinean highland of tribe. To this day um
Speaker 1: eat almost only sweet potatoes. UM and there's you know,
Speaker 1: examples in Japan and the Okinawa and getting nearly all
Speaker 1: of their calories from Japanese sweet potatoes and living having
Speaker 1: a very high rate of centenarians as people that lived
Speaker 1: till a hundred years old. Um. Another interesting thing was
Speaker 1: prisoners of war. I read about prisoners of war that
Speaker 1: were fed out the potatoes, and they were the same
Speaker 1: thing they would in great health and in uh, in
Speaker 1: great fitness. And you know, you see photos of prisoners
Speaker 1: of war that have totally malnourished, and uh, that's that's
Speaker 1: not these guys. These guys that were fed only potatoes
Speaker 1: did really, really well. And another great season of information
Speaker 1: I found was there was a study done in the
Speaker 1: twenties and the late nineteen twenties where a marathon running
Speaker 1: couple were supervised by scientists for six months eating only potatoes,
Speaker 1: and again they did really well. They maintained good fitness
Speaker 1: and health, and at the end of six months, I
Speaker 1: actually ran personal best marathon. So there's a lot more
Speaker 1: information that I read that that's the best examples I
Speaker 1: can give you. And and yeah, once I read all that,
Speaker 1: a lot more than my decision was easy. The potatoes
Speaker 1: are the obvious choice. Wow, that's a that's just fascinating.
Speaker 1: And clearly you did your homework on this. I am curious.
Speaker 1: Were you consulting a nutritionist at all through the process. No,
Speaker 1: I've got my personal doctor is a dietician as well
Speaker 1: qualified dietician and doctor. And once I've done all my
Speaker 1: research and made my decision and decided that that's what
Speaker 1: I wanted to do, I went to him and basically
Speaker 1: told him what my plan was. And and yeah, he
Speaker 1: agreed to supervise me and help me, but he didn't
Speaker 1: have any input in the initial planning of it. Now,
Speaker 1: and I heard you mentioned sweet potatoes and and I
Speaker 1: think regular potatoes. Did you mixed potatoes or was there
Speaker 1: just one type of potato you're reading on the stand?
Speaker 1: I had all kinds of potatoes. Yeah, I didn't want to.
Speaker 1: I wanted to be restrictive, but I didn't want to like,
Speaker 1: you know, if I went to the to the store
Speaker 1: and they only had one kind of potato available and
Speaker 1: it wasn't the kind that I was eating, that was
Speaker 1: going to make things hard, you know. So I just
Speaker 1: decided to make it all kinds of potatoes, just the
Speaker 1: logistical reasons. So, yeah, and obviously the potatoes pretty versatile
Speaker 1: to cook. But well, what types of meals did you
Speaker 1: make and and did your art of cooking the potato
Speaker 1: evolved as you continued on this process. Yeah, Well, like
Speaker 1: you briefly mentioned earlier, my I figured that a big
Speaker 1: part of my problem with food was that I was
Speaker 1: relying on it for comfort, enjoyment, emotional support, things like that.
Speaker 1: Like at the end of a bad day, I would
Speaker 1: get home and want to try to make myself feel
Speaker 1: better by eating um, exciting, interesting food. So the idea
Speaker 1: was that I wanted to make my food as boring
Speaker 1: as possible so that I'd have to retrain my brain
Speaker 1: to get that comfort and enjoyment and emotional support from
Speaker 1: other areas of life rather than just from food. So
Speaker 1: for that reason, I kept it for as boring as
Speaker 1: possible on purpose. So per cent of my meals were
Speaker 1: probably mashed potato, baked potato, or um or boiled potato,
Speaker 1: or just playing and m Yeah. Every now and then,
Speaker 1: maybe once a fortnight or even once a month, I
Speaker 1: would do something a little bit more interesting, like, uh,
Speaker 1: they make some oven baked chips or some potato waffles
Speaker 1: or something like that. But really it was it was
Speaker 1: all about learning to be happy with boring food. And
Speaker 1: I got this saying making food boring in your life interesting.
Speaker 1: So rather than spending my time and energy on trying
Speaker 1: to make interesting, exciting food, I just tried to do
Speaker 1: interesting and exciting things. It seems like a great way
Speaker 1: to approach. And I'm curious, are you still eating potatoes
Speaker 1: now that you've finished your year of only potatoes? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I had mashed potatoes and rockets. I think you got
Speaker 1: called a rugula mashed the tatoes and a rugula for breakfast. So, Andrew,
Speaker 1: I'm curious. I know, you know, diet experts would probably
Speaker 1: point out the lack of protein that you're getting in
Speaker 1: this diet. So what what would you say to those
Speaker 1: that that would be critical of the diet or be
Speaker 1: concerned that you might not be getting enough protein or
Speaker 1: or you know, other essentials in your diet. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: there there are. I've had lots of input from diet
Speaker 1: experts around the world and since I started doing this,
Speaker 1: and it's it's interesting that potatos. I guess I have
Speaker 1: a bad rat the table of things that they're lacking
Speaker 1: in so much nutrition, but they've actually I was getting
Speaker 1: when I was eating in the potatoes only, I was
Speaker 1: getting idy flops and antigrams of protein a diet which
Speaker 1: is death really well within the recommended daily intake. And
Speaker 1: it's all the all the required essential amino acids getting covered.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I find it a little bit disturbing when
Speaker 1: expert make these claims. We're clearly not knowing what they're
Speaker 1: talking about. And the potatoes, everyone knows they've got a
Speaker 1: lot of carbohydrates, but they've also got the protein. Like
Speaker 1: I mentioned, they've got a small amount of fat, which
Speaker 1: is enough to give the body what it needs, especially
Speaker 1: when you're carrying extra fat like I was. And uh,
Speaker 1: and yeah, they've got a really good balance of all
Speaker 1: the other vitamins and minerals that we need to So
Speaker 1: my blood tests were getting better through the whole year,
Speaker 1: and I was really getting everything I need from from
Speaker 1: this diet. So yeah, no complaints there. So I was
Speaker 1: curious how your marriage was affected by this, and and
Speaker 1: what were you spending more time on instead of just cooking,
Speaker 1: uh and thinking about food. Yeah, my marriage was only
Speaker 1: affected in positive ways. My life was really supportive and
Speaker 1: before I started this, I have now to take to
Speaker 1: say that I gave a hundred percent of everything I
Speaker 1: had to being the best husband I could and being
Speaker 1: the best father I could. Um, but you know, I
Speaker 1: was clinically depressed and hundred and twenty pounds more than
Speaker 1: I am now, and so you know, a hundred percent
Speaker 1: then is not the same as a hundred percent now.
Speaker 1: So I'm able to give more these days, which means
Speaker 1: my marriage and my life is has only been affected
Speaker 1: in positive ways. Yes, so no complaints there, and my
Speaker 1: wife was really supported from the start. It's amazing how
Speaker 1: much time and space food takes up in your life
Speaker 1: for you thinking about it, planning and preparing its, shopping
Speaker 1: for it, cooking and cleaning up after it. All that.
Speaker 1: You don't realize how much time and effort and energy
Speaker 1: that all takes up until your remove it from your
Speaker 1: life basically, So, yeah, I've added a lot into my life.
Speaker 1: I'm doing a lot more exercise and and really I
Speaker 1: guess most of my extra time and attention has just
Speaker 1: gone into having fun with my loss and my boy.
Speaker 1: And you know, at the time I'm used to spend
Speaker 1: thinking about and planning and all that, it's it's just
Speaker 1: spent on enjoying myself with them. I've wrestled with my
Speaker 1: little boy and read books and my jugs, and you know,
Speaker 1: we got walking and playing at the playground and it's
Speaker 1: just all the little things in lot. But just got
Speaker 1: a little bit of extra focus for I mean, that's
Speaker 1: I decided there's one particular thing. It's just across the board,
Speaker 1: I get a little bit more. I'm for each of
Speaker 1: the more positive experiences and loss until that's wonderful. Well, Andrew,
Speaker 1: this has just been fascinating, and congratulations on your success
Speaker 1: with this. I really admire what you've accomplished. And as
Speaker 1: you've put it before, it's it's not about the potato.
Speaker 1: I mean. You can check out Andrew's book, The d
Speaker 1: I Y spud Fit Challenge on Amazon or visit him
Speaker 1: online at spud fit dot com. Andrew, thanks so much
Speaker 1: for joining us today. Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1: It's same fun and you have good luck with everything
Speaker 1: you guys do. You're listening to part Time Genius and
Speaker 1: we're talking about how to get by on the least
Speaker 1: number of foods possible. Okay, Mango, So, after talking to Andrew,
Speaker 1: I think we're in agreement that potatoes belong on our
Speaker 1: list of the only foods you'll ever need. What do
Speaker 1: you think about this? Absolutely? I mean, there are twenty
Speaker 1: amino acids that humans need to survive, and while our
Speaker 1: bodies produced most of those four us there are nine
Speaker 1: essential acids that we only get from foods we eat.
Speaker 1: And although most food supply at least a couple of
Speaker 1: those essential aminoes, white potatoes can actually get you there
Speaker 1: in one go. And it's funny that potatoes don't get
Speaker 1: the coveted super food moniker like some of the others do.
Speaker 1: But I agree with you on this. I mean they
Speaker 1: belong in the card. And of course white potatoes aren't
Speaker 1: enough on their own, since they lack some of the
Speaker 1: much needed minerals and vitamins. You know, we think about
Speaker 1: vitamins A and E, and as Andrew points out, a
Speaker 1: true potato terry and I guess if that's a word,
Speaker 1: they would need to add sweet potatoes to the mix
Speaker 1: in order to survive long term. Yeah, that sweet potato
Speaker 1: footnote really made me wonder how the Irish made it
Speaker 1: through that famine in the eight hundreds, Like roughly a
Speaker 1: third of the population lived mostly on plain potatoes during
Speaker 1: those lean years, But I don't think they were farming
Speaker 1: sweet potatoes. Yeah, I was actually curious about this as well,
Speaker 1: so I decided to do a little digging into this.
Speaker 1: And and the traditional go to meal for the Irish
Speaker 1: peasants has been potatoes, milk, oats, beans, and bread. But
Speaker 1: you know, by the time the famine struck, most peasants
Speaker 1: had to sell their milk supplied just to make rent,
Speaker 1: so their meals dwindled to potatoes, salted fish, and oatmeal,
Speaker 1: and that was enough to keep them going for the
Speaker 1: most part. It actually was. I mean that the fish
Speaker 1: would have been high in protein and calcium, plus some
Speaker 1: of the important minerals and vitamins, but the real saving grace,
Speaker 1: surprisingly was actually the oatmeal. You see, even on a
Speaker 1: diet that included both white and sweet potatoes, you'd still
Speaker 1: be lacking a crucial mineral. And I have a hard
Speaker 1: time pronouncing this mineral, but it's called molybdenum. I've never
Speaker 1: heard of it, nobody has heard of it, and I
Speaker 1: don't think anybody can say it. And it's it's often
Speaker 1: called the most important element you've never heard of. So basically,
Speaker 1: without molybdenum, your body would be unable to break down
Speaker 1: the sul fights and turn them into usable sources of energy.
Speaker 1: And since soul fights are naturally found in so many
Speaker 1: foods we eat, including potatoes, most foods would eventually kill
Speaker 1: you without it, you know, in order to take care
Speaker 1: of the soul fights. But thankfully we really don't need
Speaker 1: all that much of the mineral. In fact, the recommended
Speaker 1: daily allowance for it is only about forty five micrograms,
Speaker 1: so a little oatmeal actually does the trick. And you
Speaker 1: just ask the Irish or the Scots for that matter.
Speaker 1: And while researching, I found that the cornerstones of a
Speaker 1: traditional Scottish diet where potatoes, oatmeal, milk and kale. And
Speaker 1: now I'm actually thinking they all should have a place
Speaker 1: on our list. It's a pretty great comba. I mean,
Speaker 1: you could you could probably get buy on those four
Speaker 1: a loan if you had to. Though, I think you
Speaker 1: could make the case for swapping oats for barley just
Speaker 1: because it has the same essential vitamins and minerals as
Speaker 1: the other grains, but it also helps to manage those
Speaker 1: cholesterol levels. Okay, so we've got a pretty good list
Speaker 1: going here. We've got white and sweet potatoes as well
Speaker 1: as oats are barley, and now we're adding milk and kale.
Speaker 1: And of course I'm kind of sick of hearing people
Speaker 1: talk about kill these days. Yeah, I know, I know
Speaker 1: what you mean on this. So it does kind of
Speaker 1: live up to its reputation though. It can help with
Speaker 1: everything from cardiovascular support to the fight against things like
Speaker 1: arthritis or asthma or diabetes, even cancer. It's been shown
Speaker 1: in some studies. Plus it's super rich and vitamins and minerals.
Speaker 1: I know, us that's super and five, I know, but
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm in a kale ad well, I
Speaker 1: mean mango. A single hundred gram serving of kale contains
Speaker 1: way more than the recommended daily allowance for let's see here,
Speaker 1: vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin K, and you can
Speaker 1: order some using the coupon code kale dot com slash genius.
Speaker 1: So to be clear, that's a fake coupon code. We
Speaker 1: don't not on the Kale Lobby's dual. And while kale
Speaker 1: has plenty going for it, it's not without its drawbacks. Really,
Speaker 1: So why is that? Well, rock hille can be extremely
Speaker 1: tough on the digestive system, and even cooked kale can
Speaker 1: lead to hypothyroidism. That's if you eat too much of it,
Speaker 1: and all that vitamin K you mentioned. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: great in moderation, but too much can lead to the
Speaker 1: formation of blood clots. So if you're already dealing with
Speaker 1: blood clots, or if you're on a blood thinning medication,
Speaker 1: you might want to subdend spinach instead. You know, it's
Speaker 1: weird how it all gets more complicated than you think,
Speaker 1: even with something like kale. But you know, you know,
Speaker 1: still milk seems like a safe bet for the list.
Speaker 1: If if you drink vitamin D fortified whole milk, your
Speaker 1: body is getting a lot of what it needs right there.
Speaker 1: You know, it's got carbs, protein, potassium, all the essential
Speaker 1: amino acids, and of course, as we know, calcium pretty
Speaker 1: much the only thing is missing our fiber. And apparently
Speaker 1: it's so hard for me to say moleb molybdenum. Yes, exactly, alright,
Speaker 1: So so grains and greens and potatoes would still need
Speaker 1: to be on the menu to get your nutrition fixed.
Speaker 1: But it really is amazing how close any one of
Speaker 1: these foods can get you to a pretty healthy diet.
Speaker 1: It is, and I know we already debunked the mono diet.
Speaker 1: But there actually is one food that succeeds that, delivering
Speaker 1: the complete nutritional package all on its own. And that's
Speaker 1: better than an all potato diet and way way better
Speaker 1: than the all chicken nugget diet. Do you like chicken nuggets? No?
Speaker 1: I'm curious. Sorry, So, so what's this amazing mystery food?
Speaker 1: Milk or specifically human milk. So, according to Joanne Hattner,
Speaker 1: a nutrition consultant at Stanford and former national spokesperson for
Speaker 1: the American Dietetic Association, mother's milk is a complete food
Speaker 1: that means it's calorically sufficient and contains a little bit
Speaker 1: of all the vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that we need. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you're talking about for babies though, right, Like adults
Speaker 1: couldn't survive on breast milk, could they. Well, that's the catch.
Speaker 1: Even though all the vital nutrients are in there, they
Speaker 1: don't occur in high enough amounts to sustain an adult.
Speaker 1: In fact, that that's why we ultimately add solid foods
Speaker 1: to infant diet so that we can eef up the
Speaker 1: amount of iron and other nutrients that they receive. And technically,
Speaker 1: though anyone could survive solely on mother's milk, provided they
Speaker 1: were able to you know, source enough of it. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's going to happen, thank God, exactly.
Speaker 1: So our best bed is to stick to other mammal
Speaker 1: milks like cows or goats. And if the milks for
Speaker 1: mintage or you know, like a yogurt, that's all the
Speaker 1: better because the added bacteria can do wonders for our
Speaker 1: doguestive tracks. Welcome back to part time Genius Now. Earlier
Speaker 1: we harped on fruitarians quite a bit, so I do
Speaker 1: want to make sure we give fruit its to and
Speaker 1: include at least one on our list. The problem is,
Speaker 1: there's so many tasty fruits and pretty much all of
Speaker 1: them are good for you. So I'm going to leave
Speaker 1: it to you Mega. What's your pick? Well, everyone knows
Speaker 1: by now that I have a soft spot for bananas,
Speaker 1: and thanks to their high level a potassium and fiber
Speaker 1: and lack of fire or salt, they're not a bad choice.
Speaker 1: They are pretty sugary, though, and and a little week
Speaker 1: in the calorie department. For example, have you heard of this, uh,
Speaker 1: this YouTube phenomena Freely the Banana Girl. I can't say
Speaker 1: that's in my list channels. Yeah, she's this Australian social
Speaker 1: media darling and she practices a monodiet of just bananas,
Speaker 1: and since the average banana only contains a hundred calories
Speaker 1: or so, really scarves down fifty plus bananas every day
Speaker 1: to keep her energy every day. Oh my gosh. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So of course we'd be supplementing our fruit with other
Speaker 1: things on our list, so we wouldn't have to eat
Speaker 1: quite as many. But if we're trying to stick to
Speaker 1: just one kind of fruit, there are probably better options.
Speaker 1: Well why don't we go the other way for a
Speaker 1: minute and maybe choose a high calorie fruit like avocados.
Speaker 1: I mean they have fiber and potassium like bananas do,
Speaker 1: plus vitamin E plenty of healthy fats that that helped
Speaker 1: keep inflammation and cholesterol in check. They're just overall healthy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that definitely works. And avocados are great for breakfast or
Speaker 1: lunch or dinner, and and they're more versatile than bananas
Speaker 1: I guess. But another strong choice would be some kind
Speaker 1: of berry, and any kind really. Blueberries and pomegranates are
Speaker 1: popular choices because they're all packed with antioxidants and tons
Speaker 1: of vitamin c. But I actually read this article and
Speaker 1: Business Insider that ranked the nutritional value of a bunch
Speaker 1: of berries, and the one that topped the list was
Speaker 1: one I never would have thought elderberries. Elderberry never, never
Speaker 1: would have thought if you ever had an elder actually
Speaker 1: haven't had an elderberry, but a fairly elderberries surpassed their
Speaker 1: cousins and potassium and iron and fiber and also vitamin
Speaker 1: B six and see. And the only problem is that
Speaker 1: eating too many raw ones can actually make you sick,
Speaker 1: so you'd have to cook them down into a syrup.
Speaker 1: But if you want to go with the second best berry,
Speaker 1: that happens to be the BlackBerry. I have had that
Speaker 1: type of berry, and they're very good. And it's definitely
Speaker 1: easier to find blackberries too. I'm actually not sure I've
Speaker 1: ever seen an elderberry in a grocery store. All right, So,
Speaker 1: so fruits, veggies, grain, starch, and dairy are covered on
Speaker 1: our list, And and now we need a dedicated protein.
Speaker 1: And it's tempting to go with something like a decadent steak,
Speaker 1: but you know, anything besides an ultra lean cut is
Speaker 1: going to provide more saturated fat and cholesterol than you
Speaker 1: really want when we're trying to come up with a
Speaker 1: list like this, so I don't know. Instead, I say
Speaker 1: we take another page from the Irish and opt for
Speaker 1: maybe surf instead of turf. Yeah that sounds smart. So
Speaker 1: what are you thinking? Well, any fish is going to
Speaker 1: offer protein and healthy fat, but you really can't do
Speaker 1: much better than salmon. I know, we talked about kale
Speaker 1: earlier in the greens category, and much like that, salmon
Speaker 1: has been the it thing within its category. It's been
Speaker 1: the it fish for a while now, but it's loaded
Speaker 1: with high quality protein, not to mention vitamin B twelve
Speaker 1: and minerals like potassium and selenium. You know, while salmon
Speaker 1: is a fattier fish, most of that comes from Omega
Speaker 1: three fatty acids, and those help promote healthy brain function,
Speaker 1: they produce joint inflammation, and they strengthen your heart. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: salmon is a strong pick. But in case any vegetarians
Speaker 1: are listening, we should point out a few guilt free
Speaker 1: alternatives for protein, and thankfully there are a ton of them,
Speaker 1: like being pulses, nuts, and seeds. They're all fantastic protein
Speaker 1: choices and they're much easier to carry, store or even
Speaker 1: prepare than animal proteins, assuming that you pair them appropriately
Speaker 1: to make a complete protein, like in the case of beans,
Speaker 1: pairing them with rice. All right, so what would you
Speaker 1: say are the best of the best for the plant
Speaker 1: based proteins? Well, and this might be biased according to
Speaker 1: the Bean Institute, which apparently is a thing. Beans contained
Speaker 1: between protein by weight, and since that's much higher than
Speaker 1: other sources of vegetable protein, you know, the nut or
Speaker 1: seed options. I'd go with beans and different beans packed
Speaker 1: different amounts of protein and other minerals, with black beans,
Speaker 1: kidney beans, pinto, and soy tending to provide the most.
Speaker 1: But that's the beauty of beans. No matter which one
Speaker 1: you go with, it's going to be a good source
Speaker 1: of protein and fiber, and it will also be fat free,
Speaker 1: sodium free, and cholesterol free. Looks like beans for the wind.
Speaker 1: I feel like you said beans a lot that I
Speaker 1: do want to mention though, that it just like with
Speaker 1: eating too many fruits or something like kale, there is
Speaker 1: such a thing as too much protein. It's actually called
Speaker 1: protein poisoning, or some people call it rabbit starvation. I've
Speaker 1: never heard of this, but just saw in the research
Speaker 1: and it occurs when or more of your calorie intake
Speaker 1: is derived from protein. And the nickname actually has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with malnourished bunnies or anything like that. He
Speaker 1: comes from the early North American explorers who sometimes survives
Speaker 1: solely on lane proteins such as rabbits, And this would
Speaker 1: happen for weeks at a time, and that I had
Speaker 1: often led to starvation because a person's liver it can
Speaker 1: only process so many calories from lan proteins. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: so remember, no matter where you get your protein, don't
Speaker 1: overdo it. The bulk of your calories should be coming
Speaker 1: from fats and carbs and not protein. Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: good tip. So there you have it. There are two
Speaker 1: kinds of potatoes on our list, oats or barley, kaylor spinach,
Speaker 1: milk or yogurt, avocados or berries, and salmon or beans.
Speaker 1: And if you have extra room, maybe a package of
Speaker 1: flaming hot cheetahs. Yeah, that would cover all of your
Speaker 1: nutritional bases. But again, whether you want to or even
Speaker 1: whether you should stick to a limited diet like this,
Speaker 1: that's a whole different matter, maybe for a different episode
Speaker 1: one day, totally, because while it makes sense on paper,
Speaker 1: that we can restrict our diets, that's not really how
Speaker 1: things play out in real life. So for for example,
Speaker 1: there was a study in two thousand two where researchers
Speaker 1: took data from fifty nine thousand women and found that
Speaker 1: those who alternated sixteen to seventeen healthy foods through the
Speaker 1: diet had a forty two lower mortality rate than those
Speaker 1: who regularly ate between zero to eight healthy foods. So
Speaker 1: even if you're eating mostly healthy foods like the ones
Speaker 1: we listed today, you'll still be at a disadvantage if
Speaker 1: you aren't varying what you eat. Yeah, and that actually
Speaker 1: tracks with an article I read by a dietitian at
Speaker 1: Glasgow Caledonian University. Her name is Jenny Jackson, and she
Speaker 1: openly it meants that while we know a diet that
Speaker 1: includes a variety of vegetables is healthier than eating just
Speaker 1: a few, we actually don't know exactly why that's the case.
Speaker 1: As she puts it, quote, we don't really know which
Speaker 1: foods are causing which effects. So while you could workout
Speaker 1: exactly what you needed from macro nutrients, you don't know
Speaker 1: exactly what you might be missing. Yeah, I'd say the
Speaker 1: real strength of a thought experiment like this is that
Speaker 1: it reminds us of the practical purpose food serves. I mean,
Speaker 1: humans have evolved to value the taste of food and
Speaker 1: the experience of eating way more than any other species,
Speaker 1: which of course I'm grateful for. But that focus on
Speaker 1: the sensory can distract us from food's true purpose as
Speaker 1: fuel for our lives. Yeah, I think that's exactly right.
Speaker 1: And you know, at a time when people are so
Speaker 1: wrapped up with food as a social experience or as
Speaker 1: a form of entertainment instagramming What's on your plate or
Speaker 1: writing reviews on yell, but it is a little sobering
Speaker 1: to think about food is this basic necessity. But picking
Speaker 1: apart the pros and cons of individual foods, it it
Speaker 1: does give you a sense of not only what we're
Speaker 1: putting in our bodies, but but why we're doing it.
Speaker 1: That's definitely true. But you know, one thing you can
Speaker 1: always safely consume without having to overthink it. I'm really
Speaker 1: hoping this is not about breast milk again, they're part
Speaker 1: time gene is fact off and and what do you say,
Speaker 1: because we're both surprised by how nutritious the potato is,
Speaker 1: we turned this into the potato edition. All right, sounds
Speaker 1: good to me, m m so. According to a history
Speaker 1: of Greece I found, there's an often told story that,
Speaker 1: in order to popularize potatoes, in eight new governor Johnny
Speaker 1: Cappadistas tried to give potatoes away, but the people were
Speaker 1: totally uninterested. So we've placed armed guards in front of
Speaker 1: a shipment as they were loaded off docks to make
Speaker 1: them seem more important. And when the guards turned away
Speaker 1: or left their positions, people just stole the potatoes. And
Speaker 1: that's how the potatoes popularity spread there. But what strange
Speaker 1: is that it isn't the first time leaders tried to
Speaker 1: convince people to eat potatoes. According to an article and
Speaker 1: mental floss quote, in the late seventeen hundreds, in an
Speaker 1: effort to inspire their starving subjects to plant the newly
Speaker 1: introduced vegetable, Marie Antoinette wore potato flowers in her hair,
Speaker 1: and her husband, King Louis the sixteenth wore them in
Speaker 1: his buttonholes. And while the move launched a new fad,
Speaker 1: convincing French nobility to start wearing potato flowers, the plant
Speaker 1: didn't have the intended effect. The lower classes resented the
Speaker 1: propaganda and spurned the plant. So did you know that
Speaker 1: potato parties used to be a thing in Japan and
Speaker 1: South Korea? Like teenagers would go into McDonald's, ordered two
Speaker 1: hundred dollars or more of fries and then just spread
Speaker 1: them out on tables to eat while they hung out. Actually,
Speaker 1: that sounds pretty delicious to me. I want to admit that. Well,
Speaker 1: did you know that Mr Potato had was the first
Speaker 1: toy advertised on television? I had forgotten that. The craziest
Speaker 1: part to me was that you actually provide your own potato. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: since you knew that fact, how about this one? Did
Speaker 1: you know that gardeners will sometimes put rose cuttings into
Speaker 1: a potato, then plant the potato and the ground. Why
Speaker 1: is that? Well, the potatoes full of nutrients so it
Speaker 1: can actually help the rose grow. That's insane. Do you
Speaker 1: know that uh Garbachev's life once tried to impress a
Speaker 1: British minister by telling him that the Soviets had more
Speaker 1: than three hundred ways to cook potatoes, and when he
Speaker 1: doubted her, she sent him a cookbook of five dred
Speaker 1: ways to cook a potato showed him all right, Well,
Speaker 1: I mean I guess, with five hundred recipes from Russia alone,
Speaker 1: we don't have to worry about pendil Lad and whether
Speaker 1: he gets his variety anymore. But all right, I think
Speaker 1: because of that fact, I'm gonna let you take home
Speaker 1: the championship belt this week. That's it for today's Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius. If you enjoy the show, feel free to
Speaker 1: drop us a line on our seven fact hotline. That's
Speaker 1: one eight four four pt Genius. You can also send
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