[kritiko]

The slime mold guys are currently testing the hypothesis that the potassium in potatoes is why the potato monodiet works…

The mechanism of diets isn’t understood yet - check out Kevin Hall’s metabolic ward study of low fat high carb vs. high fat low carb for some paradoxical results.

I’d be happy finding a diet that consistently works for people before understanding how.

[CadmiumYellow]

Kevin Hall also did a fascinating study on ultra-processed vs less processed foods which found that people ate more and gained more weight on ultra-processed foods even when the two diets were identical in macronutrient composition! I would guess that the main reason dramatically different diets show similar levels of effectiveness is that all of them involve drastically limiting intake of ultra-processed foods.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7946062/