Kalera ("Yukon Gold")

My take on the whole seasoning/condiment/beverage thing is that as long as whatever it is isn't a significant source of nutrients, it's good to go... tea, for instance, or coffee, or even ketchup and salsa in "condiment" portions. I think we will know if we're pushing it; for instance, a teaspoon of parsley in your mashed potatoes isn't contributing anything to speak of, nutritionally, but a half a cup is. Likewise with beer and wine, as opposed to hard liquor; both beer and wine contain a high number of nutrients that would SMASH THE SCIENCE right out of our experiment! We'll have to be cautious with our sweeteners and mixers, too. I will probably stick to soda water as a mixer, to avoid the dangerous vitamin C allure of delicious fruit juices.

To address a point that Lori brought up, I also think we may want to make sure we are snacking on cheese, yogurt, kefir, or cottage cheese frequently, because they are high in protein and should help prevent our blood sugar from fluctuating too wildly.

a starchy creamy storm in my brain

stuff to eat/drink/consume in January:

latkes & sour cream
yogurt
hashbrowns
french fries (plain or with cheese: bleu, cheddar, mozzarella, etc)
string cheese
ice cream
potato salad
tater tots with ranch
potato chips
mashed potatoes
baked potatoes with bleu cheese dressing
potatoes au gratin
jojos (seasoned potato wedges)

concerns: what counts as "seasoning"? SOME people (Casey) think that even such a flavoring herb as parsley or dill should not be allowed because they have "significant" or "noteworthy" nutritional value. But, he argues, other flavoring agents such as vanilla do not. What is our scientific analysis of these statements, and what conditions shall we agree upon regarding this subject?

I am Ginny, aka "Russet Burbank"

I never knew how much nutrition could be found in the simple combination of potato and milk, but I'm about to find out. I am always up for an interesting experience, and I have always loved potatoes, so when I heard about this experiment I was eager to try it out.

Baseline vitals:
Sex: Female
Age: 24
Height: 5'10"
Weight: (crap I don't have a scale, I will guess) 170 lbs
Body: not especially fit, cardiovascularly speaking, but kind of strong!
Current diet: really quite erratic, but I take vitamin supplements almost every day. Won't in January, though, for the sake of science.

I'm Kalera, and my Potato Name is "Yukon Gold"

Some time ago, I heard that potatoes were a very nearly nutritionally complete food, and that in combination with dairy, you could survive on them for a very long time without ill-effect. In fact, the Idaho Potato Museum says "The US Department of Agriculture has stated that "a diet of whole milk and potatoes would supply almost all of the food elements necessary for the maintenance of the human body."

Somehow, inexplicably, this very topic was raised at our latkes and sour cream meal, and in fact possibly once before that, at Thanksgiving dinner. I don't exactly remember because I was kind of drunk, but I DO remember that my dear friend Virginia pledged to a full month of potatoes and dairy with me, and now my potato-sister and I will bring this important HIGHLY SCIENTIFIC research project to you in the name of SCIENCE!

We are now less than two weeks from New Year's Eve, and I am mentally and physically preparing myself for this grueling project by getting really stoked to eat a lot of potatoes and cheese. Our diet will be extraordinarily stringent, consisting of absolutely nothing but potatoes, dairy, seasonings, water, and hard liquor. I am looking forward to recording my potato diary, and updates of my physical and digestive condition.

My current physical vital statistics:

36, female, 5'3", 155 lbs, in fair muscular condition.

POTATOES AND DAIRY ... FOR SCIENCE!

One day of Chanukah 2007, we found ourselves heartily enjoying a meal of latkes and sour cream, despite neither of us actually being Jewish. Somehow we decided that, for the sake of Science, we should conduct a dietary experiment by eating only potato and dairy products for an entire month. So for January 2008, that is just what we'll do!

Here we shall document our progress, compile our data, take notes and observations, and report our findings.