The Potato Hack

The Potato Hack (aka The Potato Diet) is an extremely effective method for losing weight without experiencing hunger.

The Potato Hack works by filling the belly with low-calorie nutrient-dense boiled potatoes. One gets full on a low number of calories. This results in a calorie deficit and fat loss.

Unlike other diets, the dieter does not experience hunger and thus the brain does not see the weight loss as a threat. This greatly reduces the odds of regaining the weight, which is a problem with all willpower diets.

potato

🚀 Getting Started

A quick overview to get you started on your Potato Hack.

Red and yellow potatoes work the best, because after they are boiled they keep longer than Russet potatoes, which tend to get mushy quicker. However, Russet potatoes do work. Try all potato types.

Sweet potatoes are not potatoes. They can work for some people, but not nearly as well. If you can not handle nightshades, purple yams with white flesh can be a substitute. Weight loss is likely to be slower when you don't use regular potatoes.

Potatoes get a bad reputation as a fattening food when in reality they have the highest satiety rating of any food on the planet. The only way to make the potato fattening is to process it and cook it in oil. So avoid fries and chips.

For the potato hack to work the potatoes need to be cooked only in water. Boil, steam, or pressure cook.

When cooked potatoes are cooled overnight in the refrigerator they develop something called resistant starch. Resistant starch is beneficial to our gut flora, balances blood sugar, and other additional health benefits. These resistant starches are not digested in the same manner as regular calories, so they have the effect of reducing the calories of potatoes.

Refrigerating cooked potatoes overnight will reduce the calories by about 17%. The potatoes can be reheated before eating without losing any of the resistant starch.

The potato hack will still work if you don't refrigerate the potatoes, so although this step is encouraged, it is optional.

Eat the potatoes plain. Salt if you must. You can add a splash of malt or red wine vinegar if a blood sugar spike is a concern, although cooling the potatoes will reduce the glycemic response.

To get the full benefit of the potato hack, it is strongly advised to eat the potatoes plain. You are teaching your brain how to get full without flavor. This is the opposite approach taken in dieting where one continues to get flavorful food but in a restrictive manner.

With the potato diet, do not walk away from the table hungry. Eat until full.

How many potatoes should one eat? It all depends on how much weight you want to lose and how important it is to you. There are several popular strategies.

A classic potato hack is 3-5 days. That could be done once or twice a month. Another popular potato hack is to only eat potatoes before dinner.

📂 Resources

Articles, news stories, and other resources for the Potato Diet.
FTA Podcast #3 - Tim Steele Talks The Potato Hack The Hacker's Hangout - The Blog for Potato Hackers The Potato Hack – Quick Start Guide The Math Behind the Potato Hack The Potato Diet is a Calorie Savings Account Potato Hacking For the Reluctant The Five Stages of (Potato Hack) Grief The Potato Diet – 4 Years Later How to Achieve Long Term Success on the Potato Diet This Man Ate Only Potatoes for One Year and Lost 117 Pounds How Magician Penn Jillette Lost 100 Pounds on the Potato Diet

📗The Book

Get all your potato diet questions answered in The Potato Hack: Weight Loss Simplified by Tim Steele.

Potato Hack book
Amazon USA Amazon Canada Amazon UK Barnes & Noble Goodreads