Eat only potatoes for 60 days, anyone? The benefits of a high-carbohydrate diet

Many people avoid high-carbohydrate foods, but an executive who followed a potato-only diet and a prize-winning bodybuilder show their power

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High-carbohydrate foods, as opposed to highly processed carbohydrates, do not cause spikes in blood sugar or trigger weight gain, and contain vital nutrients and antioxidants, experts on nutrition say. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 12:45pm, 24 Jul 2024Updated: 1:26pm, 24 Jul 2024

To raise public awareness of the nutritional value of potatoes, in 2010 American Chris Voigt ate nothing but potatoes for 60 days – 20 of them a day, for a daily intake of 1,600 to 2,200 calories.

He added nothing to the potatoes except small amounts of canola and olive oil and seasoning – and did not take additional nutritional supplements.

At the end of the 60 days, Voigt – the executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission – had a medical check which revealed how much his health had improved.

He had lost 9.5kg (21lbs), and his cholesterol and blood sugar levels had fallen to much healthier levels.

“I want to show … that the potato is so healthy that you could live off them alone for an extended period of time without any negative impact on your health,” Voigt wrote on his website.

Chris Voigt, the executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, ate nothing but potatoes for 60 days – and saw his health improve dramatically. Photo: Washington State Potato Commission

In 2023, then-52-year-old Mark Taylor won the Mr Universe Masters Over 45 title at the annual Universe Championships bodybuilding event in northern England. In an interview with BBC Scotland News, the gym owner credited his win, which he had sought desperately for years, to a high-carbohydrate diet which included plenty of white and sweet potatoes and oat porridge.