Speakers

John McDougall, PhD

Heather McDougall

About the series

Potatoes are the pillars of worldwide nutrition and provide the staple for 1.3 billion people. Potatoes are complete nutrition: Individuals, as well as whole civilizations of people, have subsisted on potatoes. This underground vegetable is ideal for losing excess body fat because of the paucity of fat and calories, and the abundance of appetite satisfying carbohydrates. The potato plant produces more nutritious food, quicker, on less land, and in harsher climates than any other major crop. Beef production requires 160 times more land and produces 11 times more greenhouse gases. Thus, this humble root vegetable is an ideal food to help save the planet and the reason the WHO dedicated the 2008 as the International Year of the Potato.