Well..., the weather forecast for at least the next week is for dry and sunny weather..., so I planted a couple rows of spuds on Thursday. About all I can do for a while is watch and wait for some green vegetation to show up. Glad I did it yesterday when it was cool and overcast..., I would have been working up a real sweat in the sunshine and 70 degree day today.
- Carbohydrates: Primarily starch, providing quick energy.
- Potassium: Contains more potassium than a banana.
- Vitamin C: Acts as an antioxidant, supporting immune health.
- Fiber: Found mostly in the skin, aids digestion.
- Antioxidants: Contains compounds like flavonoids, carotenoids, and phenolic acids.
- Cooking Methods: Baking, boiling, or steaming preserves nutrition. Deep frying (chips, crisps) significantly increases fat and calorie content.
- Glycemic Index (GI): Potatoes generally have a high GI, but cooling them after cooking increases resistant starch, which lowers the GI and improves digestive health.
- Nutrient Retention: Cooking with skin on retains maximum vitamin C and B6.
Potatoes are often highlighted as a top contender for survival food. They are rich in carbohydrates, provide some protein, and are a good source of vitamin C and potassium.
- Nutritional Profile: Potatoes contain a variety of amino acids, and while they are not a complete protein source, they can sustain an individual for several weeks, if not months, when prepared in sufficient quantities.
- Historical Context: During the Irish Potato Famine, many people relied heavily on potatoes for sustenance, underscoring their viability as a survival food.
- Variety: Potatoes can be consumed in numerous forms—baked, boiled, or mashed—making them a versatile choice.
However, while potatoes can keep you alive for a while, they lack certain nutrients, particularly fats and some essential vitamins, so relying on them long-term would lead to deficiencies.
In February 1928 a Canadian Arctic explorer called Vilhjalmur Stefansson walked into Bellevue Hospital in New York City and announced, to a committee of distinguished physicians who had been waiting for him, that he and his colleague Karsten Anderson were going to live on nothing but meat for the next year, under their direct medical supervision, and they could measure whatever they liked.
The committee was thrilled. They were going to watch a man kill himself in the name of science.
Stefansson had spent eleven years in the Arctic living among the Inuit. He had eaten what they ate, which was meat and fat from caribou and seal and fish, with effectively no plant matter, for the entire duration. He had not died. He had not got scurvy. He had, in fact, been rather well, and had come back to a country that did not believe him about any of it.
So he had offered himself as the experiment.
The committee included some of the most prominent nutrition researchers of the era. They were, by their own admission, expecting Stefansson to develop scurvy within weeks, kidney damage within months, and various nutritional collapses across the rest of the year.
Stefansson and Anderson spent the year eating beef, lamb, veal, pork, chicken, the occasional fish. They ate the fat with the lean, in roughly the proportion of an Arctic seal, which is to say very fat indeed. They ate organs. They ate marrow. They drank water and coffee. No vegetables, no fruit, no grain, no sugar.
At the end of the year both men were in better health than at the start.
No scurvy. No kidney damage. No vitamin deficiencies. Stefansson's blood pressure had dropped slightly. His cholesterol had dropped slightly. He had lost a small amount of weight and reported feeling better than he had in years. The committee published the results in the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 1930.
There was one short period early on when the supervising physicians, trying to be helpful, gave Stefansson lean meat without sufficient fat. He immediately developed the symptoms the Plains Indians had called rabbit starvation: nausea, weakness, the feeling of being unable to eat enough. He politely explained the problem. The committee, slightly chastened, increased the fat ratio. The symptoms vanished within forty-eight hours and never returned.
The experiment was the cleanest possible test of the hypothesis that humans require plant foods to survive, conducted under hospital supervision, by sceptics who expected the subject to fail.
The subject did not fail.
The subject thrived.
Almost nobody has heard of it.
It is not in the textbooks. It is not in the dietary guidelines. It is not mentioned by the nutritionists who confidently assert that a varied diet including all food groups is essential for human health, despite the existence of a hospital-supervised year-long experiment that demonstrated otherwise nearly a century ago.
When the data does not match the model, you have two options. Revise the model, or ignore the data and hope nobody looks too closely.
We chose option two.
The paper is sitting in the library.
Waiting for option one.
- High Fiber Content: Unlike white flour, which removes the fiber-rich bran, whole wheat bread helps maintain regular digestion and provides a feeling of fullness, which aids in weight management.
- Stable Energy Levels:It has a lower glycemic index, causing a slower, more gradual increase in blood sugar compared to white bread, providing sustained energy and supporting insulin sensitivity.
- Nutrient-Dense: It is a good source of vital nutrients, including B vitamins (folate, niacin, riboflavin), iron, zinc, and antioxidants that are removed during the refining process of white bread.
- Heart Health: Regular consumption is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers, largely due to the fiber and nutrient content.
It is important to check the label to ensure it is "100% whole wheat" or "100% whole grain" as the primary ingredient. Some breads labeled "wheat" or "multigrain" are actually refined white flour with minimal whole grains added.
