Voigt shares diet experiences at conference
Chris Voigt address attendees of the 2011 Washington-Oregon Potato Conference.
KENNWICK - Even with the barrage of publicity it attracted, there are some details about Chris Voigt's potato diet that weren't widely shared.
That's until he gave a presentation about the popular media campaign Wednesday to about 400 growers attending the Washington-Oregon Potato Conference.
On a global level, the media and the public were fascinated with his diet.
The public's reactions ranged from infatuation to hate.
Voigt, the executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, also gained an online stalker and a death threat from a possible rice grower, he said.
The diet, which ended in December, also brought on health questions about effects on his libido and digestive system, he said.
He was a little reluctant to talk about the diet.
"It got kind of big," he said. "It was just interesting there were so many people interested in this little diet. It was strictly just potatoes. It allowed some seasonings and some oil for cooking."
He lost 21 pounds, with reductions in his cholesterol, blood sugar and triglycerides.
Voigt said he was not encouraging anyone to go on this, because at some point, he would have suffered a vitamin A deficiency. There's no one single food that can meet all nutritional needs.
The diet came about because he was tired of potatoes being blamed for all that was bad, such as childhood obesity and high carbohydrates.
The final straw was when the USDA allowed WIC participants to buy fruits and vegetables, but not potatoes.
There's also a proposal to remove potatoes from the school breakfast program and greatly reduce them to possibly once a month in the school lunch program.
"I started this diet as sort of a personal protest," he said. "I was a lousy evangelist (for potatoes). I wasn't talking to people about potatoes."
It was hard for him to make time to promote the industry.
What he neglected to realize is one's plate will fill up with other issues because people don't understand your industry.
During his first week of his diet, he bought 7.5 pounds of potatoes on sale at the grocery store.
"After the first week, some growers graciously donated product to me. I appreciate that," he said.
The cost of the entire media campaign was $1,185, to pay for a domain name, Web site software, video props and promotional clothing.
He encouraged the audience to visit www.20potatoesaday.com, to send letters electronically to the USDA and congressional members.
The letters ask leaders to reverse their positions on allowing potatoes into the WIC and school meal programs.