# Potatoes, anyone?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potatoes-anyone/564029
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 13, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potatoes-anyone/564029 "2010-12-13T20:25:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potatoes-anyone/564029/1 "2010-12-13T20:25:14Z")
Speaking of only eating one thing for the rest of your life, I saw a woman on TV the other night that hadn’t eaten anything but french fries for 23 years. Since she had a child, and hadn’t died of scurvy, I got curious about just how good for you potatoes are.
Protein … 6 %
Vitamin C … 50 %
Thiamin … 8 %
Riboflavin … 2 %
Niacin … 10 %
Iron … 8 %
Vitamin B6 … 15 %
Folacin (folic acid). 8 %
Phosphorus … 8 %
Magnesium … 8 %
Zinc … 2 %
Copper … … 8 %
Pantothenic acid … 4 %
Iodine … 15 %
Assuming she got fats from the oil, what needed nutrients are missing besides B12 and E? Could you thrive on a diet of french fries?
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potatoes-anyone/564029/2 "2010-12-13T20:30:48Z")
No thanks. I’ve eaten so many potatoes for the last 3 weeks it will be months before I can stand them again.
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### Author:  [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potatoes-anyone/564029/3 "2010-12-13T21:30:49Z")
I once had a stint of extreme poverty in college and had a diet that was about 85 percent potatoes and 15 percent ramen noodles in the middle of winter. I actually stopped menstruating after 3 months of that. Thankfully that point coincided with me getting a new job, so I was only six weeks late (and no, I wasn’t pregnant–had to go to PP twice for tests just to make sure). That’s the only time in my life I have ever missed a period. I hope that lady takes a multivitamin.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potatoes-anyone/564029/4 "2010-12-13T21:34:37Z")
Don’t know if it’s true, but I read once that at one time practically all the people of Ireland lived on nothing but potatoes cooked in skim milk, or maybe it was buttermilk.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potatoes-anyone/564029/5 "2010-12-13T22:58:02Z")
[Cecil to the rescue](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2828/could-i-survive-on-nothing-but-potatoes-and-milk). It doesn’t directly answer your question; his column is potatoes-and-milk diet. Presumably that means that some stuff in milk, like Vitamin D, is deficient in potatoes. Both lack molybdenum.
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### Author:  [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potatoes-anyone/564029/6 "2010-12-13T23:02:23Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#):
>
> I once had a stint of extreme poverty in college and had a diet that was about 85 percent potatoes and 15 percent ramen noodles in the middle of winter. I actually stopped menstruating after 3 months of that. Thankfully that point coincided with me getting a new job, so I was only six weeks late (and no, I wasn’t pregnant–had to go to PP twice for tests just to make sure). That’s the only time in my life I have ever missed a period. I hope that lady takes a multivitamin.
Were you very thin? I understand that you need a sufficient amount of body fat to have periods. Some athletes have their periods stop. And I do know you also need sufficient fat in your diet too. Did you eat french fries or have your potatoes in another form?
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potatoes-anyone/564029/7 "2010-12-13T23:02:51Z")
Yeah, I noticed calcium was missing off that list, too. If the lady in question dunked her fries in ketchup, though, that would up the nutritional value of her diet a bit! 🙂
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potatoes-anyone/564029/8 "2010-12-13T23:35:13Z")
I don’t know about “thriving,” but it would suit the hell out of me to have Outback cheese and bacon fries at every meal every day. I’d probably want a little variety some point, but I think I could go every day with that, at least until my bypass surgery.
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potatoes-anyone/564029/9 "2010-12-14T21:33:46Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> Don’t know if it’s true, but I read once that at one time practically all the people of Ireland lived on nothing but potatoes cooked in skim milk, or maybe it was buttermilk.
I think they drank the buttermilk separately. I don’t imagine it was ever practically all the people though.
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### Author:  [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potatoes-anyone/564029/10 "2010-12-15T00:13:43Z")
I ate nothing but homemade French Fries (with skins on) every other day while on an alternate-24-hour-period-fast for about six weeks. I lost 15 pounds, but one of the lymph nodes under an arm became swollen and painful. I was also walking at least 40 miles per week, and sometimes more than twice that. After this experience, however, I began testing my blood sugar daily and consulted with my GP who read several time my blood pressure at around 120/70 or so (can’t remember exactly).
I wouldn’t recommend this diet, based on my personal experience. At least I changed my diet quickly to include more varied vegetables and the occasional animal protein.