Meet Andrew Taylor, an Australian who has battled with his weight for as long as he can remember. Frustrated with his unsuccessful attempts at dieting, Andrew made a radical decision at the end of 2015: he would give up food entirely, except for one humble staple – potatoes.

Australian Andrew Taylor has always had a weight problem. He has often gone on a diet to try and lose a few kilos, but he has never been able to continue the diet for a long period of time. At the end of 2015, he was 35 years old, his weight had risen to 146 kilos and he thought it really was time to try and do something. He chose to give up food – except for potatoes.

Most people thought that he would not survive on the diet for more than a few days. But we are now into April and he is still going strong on his potato diet. In fact, Andrew would tell you that he is doing really well. In January, he did no exercise but managed to lose 10 kilos. From February, he started training for 90 minutes each day. By the end of the month he had lost a further 8.6 kilos. He was also sleeping better, felt full of energy and some pains he used to get in his arms and legs from old football injuries had vanished.

The fact is, the potato is often thought of as being a vegetable you should not eat if you wish to lose weight. The problem with the potato is that it does taste really good when you add to it butter, cream or cheese – three things which are very high in calories and not good for you. Steamed, boiled and baked potatoes with nothing added to them are actually very nourishing. They contain protein, vitamins A and C, iron and potassium.

Doctors and dieticians always tell us that you should eat a varied diet and would never recommend you eat just one food type. But for Andrew, his unusual diet went well. What’s more, he even said that he did not get bored of just eating potatoes. He ate as much as he liked and never allowed himself to go hungry.

At the end of the year, Andrew had lost 55 kilos and he was in excellent health. That’s quite an achievement!

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VIDEO: A Man Says he will eat nothing but potatoes

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