Common Misinterpretations Of A "Peat Diet"

narouz

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Jul 22, 2012
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As a commentary on another thread here,
"Notes Toward a Handle like a Basic Peat Diet,"
I just wanted to note what for me are
some common misinterpretations:

1. A "Peat Diet" interpreted as something almost like
an old-school "macrobiotic" diet,
with starches forming the basis of the diet.
Such an interpretation would have us eating,
as a legitimate "Peat Diet"
repeated and regular meals
centered around what could be called the Peat preferred starches:
potatoes, masa harina, white rice.
I'm talking about seeing a Peat diet as
one which focuses on those starches just about every meal
and perhaps even constitutes the largest single category of food eaten on a regular basis.

2. A "Peat Diet" centered around meat and seafood
or--incorporating Misinterpretation #1--
a diet centered around meats and starches.
This vision of a Peat Diet could lead to
a diet centered around "meat and potatoes,"
or perhaps a "surf 'n turf" view of a Peat Diet(!) :shock:

3. A "Peat Diet" focused upon "roots, shoots, and tubers."
Peat does frequently note that--after the good fruits--
the best source of carbs are "roots and tubers."
One time, from a source I can't feel perfectly confident about,
Peat supposedly said "roots, shoots, and tubers."
Well...depending upon how one defines "shoots"
--how about all vegetables!?--
we could imagine a Peat Diet centered around
yams, turnips, cassava, sweet potatoes, etc
and then (using "shoots" as a springboard)
one could add just about any vegetable:
kale, collards, lettuces, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.

I don't consider any of those visions of a Peat Diet,
or any combination thereof,
to accurately reflect Peat's overall body of work.

I do think one could make reasonable arguments
for including--to some minor extent--
some of the foods above.
But, personally, I don't see any of them as being staples of
an "Ideal Peat Diet" or "Strict Peat Diet" or "Accurate Peat-Derived Diet."
 

Birdie

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I'm glad you brought it up, narouz.... Seems the tendency is to use one of those 3 example diets when you begin to read Peat. Maybe someone just substitutes in a few things like extra sugar or ice cream and eats in their usual way...

But the problem is that some people just can't understand Peat's writing. So, what can they do if they don't realize what the basic principles are. Peat has said that he doesn't have a specific protocol. But, I think we can use his principles, if we understand what they are, to work out our own protocols. (=worked out in context.)


Principle = theory, ideas
Protocol = guidelines
 

pete

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Aug 31, 2012
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You can't just copy someone else's diet. Too many variables.

But you can learn the ideas behind what another person does to see what works, at least for you.
 

Xisca

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Mar 30, 2015
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Canary Spain
Hello @narouz, old post, I like it! I see a lot of misinterpretation, and maybe I also have some!

- Want to know what Ray Peat eats and eat the same as him. As says @pete, you can't copy.
Tell me what you can eat and I will tell you what you gut flora is. We do not have Peat's.
Some have problem with fructose, others with dairies.

- Live on sugar, orange juice and ice cream.
I see it the same as people endulging a lot on muscle meat in paleo diet.
The mistake is to be soooo happy to discover "you can eat what you were happy to eat but thought your were wrong to eat that much".
I guess Peat has found for the common westerner that hunts in supermarkets and do not live in the tropic, what can replace the best foods.
We are not Bantus or whatever, and few of us can have access to a lot of ripe fruits and good raw natural unhomogenized milk. And just try even at any good butcher, to ask for a pint of fresh blood!

So, what is advocated, is usually the best replacement we can easily find, but is not Peat's first choice.
I have access to what I mentionned, tropical fruits and good dairy, but no way to find masa harina for example. Potaoes and sweat potatoes, yes!

- No vegetable appart from a carrot salad. I know, when you eat sweet stuff, veggies are yucky...
But Peat often speak about greens, especially for broth.
Personnaly, meat, especially fibrous, is hard to eat without some vegs to go with it.
I just see he is not kin on cruciferous veggies because of his focus on thyroid.
But don't forget that some vegs are fruits, and I put all cucurbitaceae, squash, pumkin, courgette... in the best group of digestable and safe vegetables. Peat also has a good opinion of water melon, of the same familly.

At least those 3!
 

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