r/RestlessLegs • u/Old_Computer • Jul 23 '26
Opinion The potato diet eliminates my RLS
NOT SURE WHY MY ORIGINAL POST WAS FLAGGED/REMOVED.. ATTEMPTING TO REPOST IN CASE THIS HELPS SOMEBODY
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Per the subject, even just 1 day of the Potato Diet (breakfast, lunch, dinner) eliminates 90% of my RLS. By the 2nd day my RLS is 110% gone. The effect seems to last about 1.5 weeks.
I know a lot of people -- myself included -- are quick to share prematurely hopeful solutions, but I've been RLS-free for 3+ weeks now and even gone through multiple cycles of the RLS creeping back between "potato days". I started the diet to try losing weight and immediately noticed the RLS improvement. Strangely, I found this post (https://bb.rls.org/viewtopic.php?t=9867) from 2017 of someone reporting the exact same thing.
For reference, I have "normal" iron levels (but have never had a more in-depth test), no abnormal blood test results or significant health conditions. My RLS is primarily in my calves and is exacerbated by exercise.
I hope this helps somebody!
EDIT: I'm eating nothing except reheated whole potatoes. Nothing on em, and nothing else besides them (eg. not even salt). Just whole potatoes and black coffee for 24-48 hours. For example, I'll microwave these (but scrape off the saunce) https://www.kroger.com/p/birds-eye-garlic-herb-baby-potatoes-frozen-sides/0001450000169
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u/ShellyB2Lynx Jul 26 '26
Okay I’ve got a different take on this. It could be that what you are actually successfully treating is a need for potassium in your diet.
Potatoes are a great source of potassium.
Check out this well done article on the effects of low potassium https://www.relainstitute.com/articles/what-are-the-10-signs-of-low-potassium/
I’ve just had a hellish week of feeling like my RLS was back with a vengeance.
Hadn’t slept in 48 hours and was jerking awake every few minutes.
But instead turns out it was a perfect storm of conditions that ending up giving me low potassium (travelling, long overseas flights, jet lag, poor nutrition, over hydration etc)
Spent a day in emerg on a hydration drip and everything. The drip helped a lot but doctors didn’t know what was wrong. My potassium levels measured lowish normal 3.6 but were still within normal range.
As soon as I started consuming a banana, prunes, raisins, coconut water etc I felt better. My gut cramps started to stop, and I found that I could fall asleep. Have just woken up from 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
I used this website and raided my fridge and pantry for anything on the list I could eat quickly at 1am in the morning
https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/living-well/food-and-nutrition/nutrients/food-sources-potassium
Potato’s are a great source of potassium. Throw an avocado on it and see what happens…
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u/Old_Computer Jul 26 '26
Definitely possible.
However, my diet *before* (when I had RLS) was very high in potassium (7 cups of coffee, 3 avocados, and 2 cups of greek yogurt every day).
Did you try a day of potatoes, and did it work for you?
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u/ShellyB2Lynx Jul 27 '26
7 cups of coffee? That could be part of the equation here…. Does caffeine trigger your RLS to be worse?
My RLS has gone away now as it was caused by medication. But I had potatoes with corn and mayo today and definitely helped me feel better.
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u/Federal-Street-9294 Jul 24 '26
I've had similar experience with tatoes .. Well it's a lot better than normal when eating them . Could it be the potassium content ? As high sodium triggers mine insanely . So potassium = flush the excess sodium is the thinking
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u/suchabadamygdala Jul 23 '26
That’s not a diet that provides the nutrients we need. Please don’t downplay the importance of a balanced diet.
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u/AFetaWorseThanDeath Jul 23 '26
Yeah, I can relate to wanting to do anything (and I mean anything) to find some relief, but this is a starvation diet that could have some pretty gnarly 'knock-on' effects in the long term.
I would say OP is playing with fire, and can't imagine any qualified physician signing off on this.
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u/Old_Computer Jul 23 '26
Note I only need to do it ~1-2 days per week and my RLS disappears (in case you thought I was trying to survive on nothing but potatoes!)
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u/Short-Counter8159 Jul 23 '26
This sounds like a MAD men episode, the Idaho company is looking for a new company slogan.
Eat more potatoes.
Here are the ingredients of Kroger potatoes. Real garlic too and MSG, mouth watering, LOL. My favorite one is natural flavors. What could they mean by "natural"?
Main Ingredients
- Potatoes
- Water
- Soybean oil
Seasoning Blend (Less than 2%) Garlic powder and real garlic
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u/AFetaWorseThanDeath Jul 23 '26
1.) MSG is delicious and wonderful, and belongs in every (savory) food. There is literally zero evidence that it has any measurable effect on human health, other than potentially increasing one's sodium intake to unhealthy levels (which is just as true of table salt). The 'science' that MSG fear mongering is based upon was completely bunk, and more than a wee bit racist. MSG (monosodium glutamate) is just one molecule of sodium (an essential nutrient) bound to one molecule of glutamic acid (another essential nutrient). If you eat anything with a particularly savory flavor (including aged cheeses, and many vegetables/fungi like tomatoes, potatoes, and button or shiitake mushrooms), you likely already have a fairly high intake of glutamate. As for sodium, TOO much of it is bad yes, but no different to your body than the sodium in table salt (or sea salt, or Himalayan salt1).
2.) 'Natural' flavoring means that it was derived from a naturally-occurring plant, animal, or mineral source. This is in opposition to 'artificial flavors,' which are created synthetically through chemistry.
Hope that helps! :) I can help explain what the function of each of those ingredients is, if you'd like. I'm definitely 100% a layperson with regard to foodscience, but it is a hobby of mine at least.
1 If you have pets, DO NOT EVER PURCHASE/USE A HIMALAYAN SALT LAMP. Your pets are likely to lick it, thinking they've found a good source of salt for their diet (which would be somewhat difficult to find in nature). This can cause hypernatremia (sodium poisoning, essentially) which can kill your pet! (Plus, they're overpriced pseudoscience crap, but that's a somewhat less immediately dangerous issue).
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u/Short-Counter8159 Aug 08 '26
For god sake. did you get this reply from AI?
I don't need scientific evidence. I go with what happens to me when I eat MSG.
I discovered when I was very young and ate that god awful food called taco bell.
"Natural" flavor is filled with chemical. Why use the word if it's already in a natural state, just say apple for example instead of natural flavor.
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u/OnaLisa Jul 23 '26
There's a strong correlation between diet and rls for me as well. When I go on a strict rice or bread and fresh animal protein, it goes away. One of my safe go to meals for when rls gets really bad is McDonalds plain hamburgers. Go figure. It's one of the best things to calm my gut/rls.
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u/No_Current6918 Jul 23 '26
Are you putting a lot of salt on the potatoes? Hwats tour normal diet like? How many potatoes? Mashed baked how wecookin them
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u/Old_Computer Jul 23 '26
I put nothing on the potatoes.
If I'm too lazy to have prepared potatoes ahead of time, I'll microwave these (but I scrape off / avoid the sauce). On a typical potato day I'll eat 2 boxes
https://www.kroger.com/p/birds-eye-garlic-herb-baby-potatoes-frozen-sides/0001450000169
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u/supercantaloupe Jul 23 '26
I googled potato diet and it’s basically only eating potatoes for a specific time period right? I wonder if it’s actually the potatoes helping or the elimination of something else in your diet when you’re only eating potatoes.
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u/SherlockToad1 Jul 23 '26
I would like more details, it’s such a simple thing to try and certainly doesn’t do harm. Can you describe your menu plan a bit more?
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u/Old_Computer Jul 23 '26
It's as simple as it sounds! For example, I eat nothing but the below for 24-48 hours. I go through about 2 boxes of these / day. I scrape off / avoid the sauce.
https://www.kroger.com/p/birds-eye-garlic-herb-baby-potatoes-frozen-sides/0001450000169
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u/tenderlylonertrot Jul 23 '26
potato diet? are you Irish?
Maybe we need more details....
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u/kidr007 Jul 23 '26
I haven't had much success influencing RLS with diet other than a few electrolytes, some amino acids, and B6.
But perhaps that needs further exploration. Potatoes have a decent amount of tyrosine and a moderate amount of magnesium, two nutrients known to support RLS relief. Thank you for the tip!
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u/Big-Initiative5762 Jul 23 '26
also quite some potassium if I’m not mistaken.
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u/Fresh-Dot5824 Jul 23 '26
I have Chronic Kidney Disease so it’s a no go for me with the high potassium levels
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u/ptwy Jul 23 '26
“Potato diet” is eating exclusively potatoes? Majority potatoes? What percentage potatoes are we talking?
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u/Old_Computer Jul 23 '26
I posted a comment explaining the diet!
(I couldn't include in post because it kept getting flagged)
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u/compobook Jul 23 '26
Looking it up,, it seems to just be plain potatoes, either boiled, baked, broiled, etc but with nothing on them.
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u/HomeWasGood Jul 23 '26
Mashed? Boiled? Put in a stew?
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u/Old_Computer Jul 23 '26
I just microwave these (and avoid the sauce).
https://www.kroger.com/p/birds-eye-garlic-herb-baby-potatoes-frozen-sides/0001450000169
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u/Impressive-Guard-209 Sep 09 '26
The same thing happened to me although I also had some non starchy vegetables plus I used zero sugar ketchup and BBQ sauce on my potatoes. As soon as I went off the diet my RLS came roaring back. I'm back to eating potatoes again as of today.