1-year On Ray Peat/Pro-metabolic Diet With Some Bad Results

[Wagner83]

This seems fair.

Why do you think Peat gets it wrong though? He obviously researched this stuff. Why does he see it this way based on his research? What is he reading the wrong way? His major flawed logic or thinking?

I'm just saying the diet template which he has given countless times to maximize thyroid function, recover health and heal the gut do not work for many people, that's based on the practical evidence available around me and my own experience. Same for thyroid supplements etc.. I'm not blaming him and I do find most of his research interesting, in particular I like the fact that despite my lack of knowledge in the field he does make the subject of biochemistry, the body, how we function, very appealing.

 

[Mito]

I'm just saying the diet template which he has given countless times to maximize thyroid function, recover health and heal the gut do not work for many people, that's based on the practical evidence available around me and my own experience.

Ray has spent a good amount of time counciling people on nutrition and for other health issues. If you and others have problems with his diet template, then it's certain Ray would have seen this same thing with some percentage of his clients. What did he advise those clients? Surely he didn't just tell them his diet won't work for them. Did he make adjustments in his normal recommendations for them? Ray has spent a lot of time thinking about the diet and how it impacts what he considers to be most important, oxidative metabolism. He has also proven to be adaptable (mushrooms for example) when scientific evidence supports it. I would think Ray would have made fundamental adjustments to his diet recommendations over the years he practiced counciling if he saw some of a his clients not being able to tolerate his dietary recommendations.

 

[Dobbler]

There is so much beauty and deeper meaning to this diet / lifestyle that goes beyond understanding. Nothing comes even close. Big thanks to Ray Peat, Haidut and Danny Roddy. You still give me hope that maybe someday i can live without constant stress, anxiety and depression.

 

[opiath]

@nikolabeacon

Let me start off by saying that I appreciate your posts.
At first I was irritated by your antagonistic point of view but it made me reevaluate my thinking.
I am thankful for that.

Your point about the ability of the liver to handle fructose makes sense in my case.
When I first started doing a fruit-and-sucrose-only approach a few months ago I had some great improvements.
My hair became thick for the first time in my life.
However as time went on I felt my liver getting more and more sluggish.
My digestion changed for the worse. Skin became inflamed.
Sugar started feeling like a burden to eat.
I blamed it on PUFA detox for a long time (which might be true to some extent) but looking back I realize I consumed 300g fructose every day (600g sucrose total) for the past 4 months.
I am unable to consume more than 50g of protein per day so this had an effect on my liver ability also.
Even so, your suggestion about limiting fructose to 50g seems too low. Even in the case of a bad liver.
For now I think I will limit myself to 150g (down from 300g).
A healthy liver should be able to handle even more.

I agree with you that we need a bigger portion of glucose from food to lower the burden on the liver. Logically this means starch should be present in the diet.
It sounds good on paper and I think it works good for healthy people.
However I disagree with you that a hypothyroid/stressed-out metabolism can be brought back to balance using starch.
When your stress levels have been high for a long time digestive function becomes worse and worse. This is something I think we can all agree on.
When thyroid goes down, pancreatic output practically disappears, stomach acid disappears, bile flow disappears.
Adrenals can keep up for a while but they exhaust in a matter of months without thyroid.
And without pancreas juice you do not digest starch. Period.
I know it for a fact because I've been in a high adrenaline state for the past 3 years (stemming from a low-carb diet).
During those 3 years I have tried eating starch many many times.
The result is always the same.
I am unable to digest it and it freezes up in my small intestine.
It becomes food for candida in my case (or SIBO in others).
My tongue becomes coated white and my intestines feel glued together.
On top of not extracting any calories from the starch I find myself unable to consume anything else for hours and hours (even water).
And no, you cannot cure something like that with a water fast.
Your body just becomes more and more sympathetic dominant the more time you go without without calories.
It may work for minor SIBO infections but it is a wrong strategy for long term chronic problems.
I am well aware of starch's benefits and I agree with most of the conclusions of @tyw and @Westside PUFAs.
But those conclusions can only be applied to a person that is safely out of a hypometabolic/high adrenaline state.
You should rethink your advice before pushing it so brazenly because a lot of people on this forum are precisely in that context.

As for me, with limiting fructose I am left without calories since I can't handle a lot of protein or fat.
I hope 1800 kcal (1200 from carbs) are enough to slowly bring my sympathetic state down and digestion up.

Also where did you get the idea that glucose spares zinc and fructose wastes it?
This seems illogical to me. I think vegetarians go zinc deficient because of low intake.

 

[BestSinceDAYONE]

Yup, I corrected many issues using Rays suggestions. I was in such bad shape I actually tried to take my life, which thankfully I was unsuccessful at. Shortly after I stumbled on Rays website, learned, paid him for consultations, and years later here I am, at 26 years old feeling about 10,000% better that at 16.

He was paid off to say this!

 

[sladerunner69]

He was paid off to say this!

Lately he complained that he can no longer drink orange juice or fruit because he has some genetic deficiency in his liver that nearly killed him.

 

[tca300]

He was paid off to say this!

I wont say the exact amount, but it was in the 6 figure range.