First, a bit of background: I discovered Ray Peat through Danny Roddy’s work probably around 2015. By this time I’d been doing paleo and low-carb with intermittent fasting and intense weight training for about 3 years. I was eating a ton of whey protein, fish oil, and lots of fish and nuts. I was also consuming way too much alcohol, telling myself the wine and whiskey was heart healthy with all the antioxidants and polyphenols. But when not working out I was tired and cold all the time, had near constant feelings of stress and anxiety, and my hair was falling out like crazy. That’s how I came across Danny and Ray’s ideas about hair health. It took me a couple years of reading Peat’s articles and listening to his YouTube clips to start to buy in and abandon my sacred cows, for example sugar being bad and omega 3s being good.
Luckily with my paleo ideas (Mark Sisson was my guy), I was at least already a big fan of coffee and coconut oil and things like organ meat and oysters, but I really started implementing a lot of Peat’s ideas in 2017 - eating more fruit/sugar/carbs, cutting out PUFA, cutting back booze, drinking more milk, stopping the intermittent fasting (also eating more frequently throughout the day), getting red light exposure, taking aspirin and niacinamide, and reducing my intense weight lifting.
Like a lot of early Peat folks, I felt good making these changes - increased body temperature and heart rate, better sleep, better energy. I also lowered my blood pressure and cholesterol. But I also gained a ton of weight - probably around 30 pounds over a two year period. I knew this part was expected, but it did give me doubts, thinking that perhaps I should go back to my old intermittent fasting ways. My sleep was also better than before, but not consistent. I would still deal with occasional days where I was depressed or had no energy. Last, my hair shedding was still a problem.
So what’s gotten me dialed in within the last year to lose 15 of the 30lbs I gained, stop my hair shedding, sleep better, and feel generally awesome most of the time?
Luckily with my paleo ideas (Mark Sisson was my guy), I was at least already a big fan of coffee and coconut oil and things like organ meat and oysters, but I really started implementing a lot of Peat’s ideas in 2017 - eating more fruit/sugar/carbs, cutting out PUFA, cutting back booze, drinking more milk, stopping the intermittent fasting (also eating more frequently throughout the day), getting red light exposure, taking aspirin and niacinamide, and reducing my intense weight lifting.
Like a lot of early Peat folks, I felt good making these changes - increased body temperature and heart rate, better sleep, better energy. I also lowered my blood pressure and cholesterol. But I also gained a ton of weight - probably around 30 pounds over a two year period. I knew this part was expected, but it did give me doubts, thinking that perhaps I should go back to my old intermittent fasting ways. My sleep was also better than before, but not consistent. I would still deal with occasional days where I was depressed or had no energy. Last, my hair shedding was still a problem.
So what’s gotten me dialed in within the last year to lose 15 of the 30lbs I gained, stop my hair shedding, sleep better, and feel generally awesome most of the time?
- Cutting down on alcohol: yes, even after adopting Peat’s ideas, I still let myself drink, a habit which increased after the Covid-19 pandemic. I still have a drink a couple nights a week, but I make sure it’s tequila, vodka, or gin with some kind of sugar, e.g fruit juice, Coke, or ginger ale. Beer, especially hoppy craft beer, makes me feel awful. While I don’t think alcohol has given me any benefits, cutting back has.
- Some exercise is better for me than being totally sedentary: I do light/moderate weight lifting about 2-3 days a week for maybe 15 or 20 minutes
- Benadryl or cyproheptadine a couple nights a week, as needed: If I’m feeling like I need sometime to calm me for sleep (e.g. the Sunday scaries), these work great for me, but I avoid using them on consecutive nights if possible.
- Calcium: I thought I was getting enough from milk and cheese, but when I started supplementing daily eggshell calcium the weight loss increased and I do believe I felt better overall.
- Vitamins A/D/K: I started doubling my winter intake of Vitamin D to 10,000 iu, taking Vitamin A more regularly (I had previously avoided it over toxicity concerns), and scaling up my K2 intake whenever using aspirin, which is about 4-5 days a week.
- Thyroid: I take Haidut’s TyroMix (t4/t3 combo) in the morning with some NDT and then small amounts of t3 throughout the day (about 3mcg) - this year, I’ve increased my thyroid usage, especially during winter, and it’s made a huge difference.
- To deal with hair shedding, I gave myself a buzz cut: not quite shaved, but short enough that it allowed me to apply topicals like caffeine and progesterone much easier and cleaner. Hair thickness has improved noticeably, but I also found that when my hair was this short and I could no longer hide the thinning, it inadvertently all but stopped my frequent ruminating about my hair loss. This has helped my life outlook immensely.
- Addressing general stress or low energy: if I’m not feeling that pep in my step that’s started to feel normal, I will take some B vitamins and thyroid with some caffeine and sugar (maybe a Red Bull these days). Sometimes a pregnenalone and DHEA combo. If I’m still not feeling great, I’ll also take an aspirin. It’s rare that a stack like this doesn’t make me feel good.
- Addressing high stress (e.g. adrenaline) or anxiety: all of the above mentioned, but also throw in cyproheptadine, progesterone, and maybe some l-theanine.
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