What If I Only Ate Potatoes for a Week?

You'd survive. You might even feel fine. Potatoes + butter/dairy can sustain humans for months (historically documented in Irish and Andean populations). But you'd eventually develop deficiencies without variety.

You'd get enough vitamin C Scurvy prevention: immediate

Potatoes are an excellent vitamin C source — 100g provides 9.6mg (11% DV). 2kg potatoes = 192mg vitamin C (213% DV). This is why potatoes prevented scurvy in historical populations. Most people don't realize potatoes have meaningful vitamin C.

Potassium would be excellent BP reduction within 1-2 weeks

Potatoes have more potassium than bananas (535mg vs 358mg per 100g). 2kg potatoes = 10,700mg potassium (228% DV). This would dramatically lower blood pressure if you're not adding excessive salt.

Protein would be low but surprisingly adequate Muscle loss would begin within 2-3 weeks if this is all you ate long-term

Potatoes are only 2.5% protein (25g in 2kg). But potato protein has an excellent amino acid profile — better than most plant proteins. It's not "complete" but it's close. You'd get 25-30g protein/day from 2kg potatoes — enough to avoid deficiency but not optimal for muscle maintenance.

You'd miss B12, vitamin A, vitamin D, and omega-3 B12 stores last months/years. Vitamin A stores last weeks. Deficiency symptoms: weeks to months.

Potatoes have ZERO B12, almost no vitamin A or D, and no meaningful omega-3. After 2-3 weeks: fatigue (B12), night blindness (A), immune decline (D), dry skin (omega-3). These deficiencies are what eventually make a potato-only diet dangerous long-term.

📋 Verdict

A potato-only diet for 1-2 weeks is not dangerous for a healthy person (potatoes + some fat source like butter is historically documented). Long-term: deficiencies in B12, A, D, omega-3 would develop. The Irish potato famine wasn't about nutrition — it was about starvation (the potatoes were GONE, not inadequate). Potatoes with dairy (butter, milk) are actually a reasonably complete diet for months — this is how many populations survived.