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Comment by scandox | Hacker News Reader

A cousin of mine only eats "white" food: pasta, potatoes, bread. They've never knowingly eaten a vegetable, or anything green or yellow. They're now in their 40s and still one of the most vibrantly healthy and energetic (appearing) people I know.

Edit: This is NOT a recommendation, nor intended as a diminishment of the suffering alluded to in the article. I just find this relative's bad diet and excellent health an interesting curiosity. They do eat chicken and eggs also, but not the yoke of eggs.

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Potatoes are vegetables.

And as far as I know contain a pretty decent amount of vitamin C at the very least.

Until you cook them? Vitamin C is not very heat resistant.

That's what I thought too until I actually looked into the matter, don't have source at hand but apparently 1 hour of cooking causes about a 30% drop in Vitamin C. Not that bad.

Do you know if leaving the skin on helps?

I was researching usage of pure vitamin C powder in cooked foods and tea. Don't think the skin matters much if the powder can survive.

They also contain a huge amount of potassium. Even more so than bananas.

Good point. I can only say that where I come from they are seen as something distinct, perhaps a category of food entirely their own.

There are also places in America, particularly the south, where macaroni cheese turns up on the vegetables list. I think that everyone kind of agrees that mac-n-cheese is a side, but not a vegetable.

This story from 2010 shows that it is possible to live on nothing but potatoes[1].

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11864290

Seems like an outlier to me.

Yeah I agree. But it is an extraordinary thing to observe over a lifetime.

It's the potatoes that are saving them. Potatoes have basically everything you need to be healthy, in the proportions you need them. Carbs, protein, vitamins - you name it.

There are people who have lived for years on nothing but potatoes without seasoning. Their health is outstanding. I'm on mobile but you can google it easily - potato diet.

There's a 107 year old woman in Iceland who says her long life is thanks to never eating fruits or vegetables.

Do they it any meats?

Chicken breast. No red meat.

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