A Thank You To Dr. Ray Peat And Danny Roddy

[lampofred]

I've been following Peat's principles for only about five months now, but within these five months, I feel like I've completely turned my health around.

I'm only 20, but I had thinning hair with a quarter-sized bald spot, was always fatigued and irritable, and had gotten into hard drugs. Now, my hair has completely filled in, and the quality of the hair is unbelievably still getting better day-by-day. I was just hoping to find a way to halt the progression of hair loss and maybe slightly reverse what I had lost, but what's happening is crazy...my hair looks like what it did when I was 14. Next, I no longer get irritated or angry at all. I'm always optimistic and have never-ending, playful, positive energy. The only issue is that my new-found optimism and confidence sometimes border on arrogance, but I'm doing my best to turn any negative, cocky-confidence I have into positive confidence that brings other people up as well. Finally, I had gotten into cocaine and painkillers as an escape and had completely stopped caring about God even though as a kid, I was more religiously-inclined than my peers on average. (Some of you guys might be atheists. I don't mean to imply that not believing in God is bad. Everyone has different viewpoints and beliefs.) Now, I feel like I've rediscovered God and have completely stopped using all drugs, including marijuana and alcohol, even though as a college student I face intense peer pressure to do those two things. I used to want to do drugs to fit in, escape from reality, or because I was told they were the only way to "fit in" in college, but I feel no desire at all to even touch drugs anymore. I feel great.

I don't want to end this with something corny like "if you stick with this long enough, you'll see results" because that's not true. Everyone's body is different. But, Peat's ideas definitely did work for me (they probably worked so quickly because I'm young). So thank you, Dr. Peat!

 

[Mufasa]

Hey, great to hear! How did you implement the ideas of Ray Peat and Danny Roddy? Do you have increased your metabolism, in the sense that you have a higher average body temperature and pulse?

 

[mayweatherking]

hi, can you please tell us everything you are doing? sorry i know it's a lot.. but that is pretty incredible.

 

[TheHound]

ya, more details on the hair loss please

 

[lampofred]

I feel like my body has "turned on" because of my lifestyle change. I definitely have both a higher pulse and a higher temperature. My pulse used to be around the low 60s and my temperature used to be in the low 97s when I started, but my pulse is now in the high 70s and my temperature is in the mid 98s (mid 97s right when I wake up). Also, my hands and feet used to always be freezing, but they are now almost always warm unless it's really cold or I'm hungry.

Essential part of my diet (where I get the majority of my calories and nutrients from):
-a bunch of fat-free milk every day. I go through at least a gallon of milk every other day.
-a bunch of orange juice. I drink at least seven cups of orange juice a day.

Everything else in diet:
-I cook only with butter or coconut oil
-I'm a vegetarian, so I don't eat liver. Instead, I eat eggs every 2-3 days. (When I started Peat-ing, I didn't know eggs had so much PUFA, so I ate six eggs every single day for almost a month. But, I used an enormous amount of butter/coconut oil to make them, so I probably mitigated the effects of the PUFA that way.)
-I avoid PUFA in the form of eating out, but I'm actually not too strict about it. Peat says no beans or fruits with seeds for example, but I gorge on strawberries, blueberries, red kidney beans, etc. If you look on cronometer, the amount of PUFA most beans/fruits have is really not a lot at all. Maybe he's more worried about the endotoxin from the starch/fiber they have, but I do the daily carrot with salt/vinegar/oil thing, and I'm not willing to cut out all beans/fruits from my diet. For me, I think it's enough to avoid eating out at cheap places where everything is drenched in vegetable oil.
-I drink Coke whenever I feel like it, either the glass bottle one or the regular one (although I try to get the glass bottle if I can)
-I don't track my diet on cronometer.com as regularly as I should, but when I started Peat-ing, I could only stomach about 2000 calories a day. Now, I'm hungry if I don't get at least 3,500.
-I eat cereal (I've always loved Cocoa Puffs since I was a toddler) because it's low in PUFA, high in sugar, and has lots of B-vitamins
-I eat a lot of ricotta cheese (no enzymes: the only ingredients are milk, vinegar, and salt)
-I occasionally take Great Lakes gelatin to get something other than milk/cheese protein
-I make sure my sugar-to-protein ratio at any sitting is at least 2:1
-I make sure my calcium-to-phosphorous ratio is greater than 1

In summary, my diet is just basic Peat-ing. However, I go by how I react to any food before I decide if I should keep eating it or not. That's why I have some non-Peat approved stuff like cereal, beans, blueberries, etc. But in general, I follow almost everything Dr. Peat has suggested.

Supplements (I used to go crazy with supplements, but I don't really see any effects from any of them except thyroid and progesterone. I just take them all because Dr. Peat says they are protective against cancer/brain degeneration/etc. in the long-run):
IMPORTANT: supplements, especially thyroid and progesterone, screwed me up whenever I took them without good nutrition.
-I take desiccated thyroid. This is what first made me start Peat-ing. Finasteride, Omega-3 capsules, Vitamin B6, Zinc, I had tried everything and nothing was working for my hair, and I was desperate, so I ordered some thyroid. Just minutes after I took thyroid...I felt like I was ALIVE. Colors were more vivid, the world was warmer, I felt like I was a ghost before I took that pill. That's when I started doing research about thyroid and ended up finding Dr. Peat's stuff.
-I took massive doses of progesterone because I was sure I had estrogen dominance. Inappropriate aggression, irritability, mood swings, excessive arm and body hair growth are all signs of estrogen dominance (arm and body hair is actually a sign of low testosterone/estrogen and low DHT/estrogen ratios). Again, this is another one of things for which I ended up going against Dr. Peat's recommendations, but I'm positive it "reset" my hormonal imbalances. I highly recommend using progesterone once your nutrition is right.
-I take a powder which has both aspirin and caffeine, and I balance the aspirin out with Vitamin K.
-I take Vitamin E and Vitamin A.

Lifestyle:
-I became religious and interested in living a good life, not a hedonistic one, and cut down on casual sex/masturbation. Improving my nutrition causes my personality to change, and my changed personality inspires me to take better care of myself...it's a positive feedback cycle.
-Dr. Peat doesn't recommend exercise, but this is another one of those things for which I don't listen to his recommendations. I try to run a mile when I can. Often times, I go a week without running, other weeks, I'm running every single day, so my exercise regimen is very informal. I don't exercise more than 10 minutes a day. I'm going to start lifting weights, but only once my body has healed even more.
-My sleep cycle is messed up from numerous all-nighters, but I feel noticeably better on days I sleep early and wake up early. Even if I get the same of sleep, I feel worse when I sleep late and wake up late.
-I breathe less. I don't do anything like Buteyko to increase CO2, but I consciously notice when I am breathing more than I need to, and I do my best to stay as relaxed as possible wherever I am.
-I love taking showers, my whole body, especially hands and feet, are very warm for a long time after I take showers, so I'm sure they are good for metabolism.

In summary, I just listen to my body. I keep doing things that make me feel better and stop doing things that make me feel worse.

This is long as hell and took a long time to type, so I hope it helps!

 

[lvysaur]

Sometimes I decide to do a Peat-supported thing that I've been ignoring, and then my life improves

 

[Jayfish]

Cool post!

 

[mayweatherking]

thanks for the post.. im happy for you man.. really happy, thats amazing it worked out for you

can you tell me more about when you had poor nutiritin and thyroid didnt work for you or progesterone didnt work for you? what were the results and how did you know?

did you ever have fungus by any chance? i seem to get out of control fungus CONSTANTLY if my blood sugar goes too high.. it's honestly out of control with and driving me nuts.. i do liver everyday, i cant contain it. i can do the same diet as you, it would not work for me for at all.

also curious: how is your libido on progesterone? you mention you took "a lot" of it, how much do you consider a lot? it seems like progesterone can be bad in higher doses for men, but i'm not sure where the line is or where the estrogen line is, it seems to have helped you, but you do mention you need good nutrition. i tlaked to ray about it, he did say it opposes estrogen, and in smaller doses if it has negative effects can be good.

the progesterone is probably a big part of why your hair grew back.. pretty interesting.. did you ever jump into pregnenlone and DHEA instead of progesterone? i also have a lot of cortisol and estrogen symptoms which is why i am curious.

i'm glad you posted this.. i haven't been dealing with progest/preg/DHEA for a while, but i should with a lot of the progress ive been making.

thanks man.

 

[lampofred]

thanks for the post.. im happy for you man.. really happy, thats amazing it worked out for you

can you tell me more about when you had poor nutiritin and thyroid didnt work for you or progesterone didnt work for you? what were the results and how did you know?

did you ever have fungus by any chance? i seem to get out of control fungus CONSTANTLY if my blood sugar goes too high.. it's honestly out of control with and driving me nuts.. i do liver everyday, i cant contain it. i can do the same diet as you, it would not work for me for at all.

On days that I didn't have time to cook or go to the grocery store, I would pig out on fast food and pizza and take a lot of supplements to try to mitigate the anti-thyroid effects of the food I ate. But no matter how much thyroid I took on days I didn't eat right, my temperature/heart rate wouldn't increase at all, and I wouldn't feel right. Progesterone also normally relaxes me, makes my hair feel better, and makes me a bit more emotional, but on nutritionally-poor days, it gave me headaches and just made me feel very off.

Also, I did have fungus. It isn't there on days I barely eat, and it isn't there on days I eat extremely well. It's only there when I eat lots of carbs (especially starches like white rice) without supporting vitamins/minerals. I think you somehow stress your body/immune system when you push your metabolism up too high with sugar without supporting micronutrients or if you have too much of endotoxins.

 

[mayweatherking]

On days that I didn't have time to cook or go to the grocery store, I would pig out on fast food and pizza and take a lot of supplements to try to mitigate the anti-thyroid effects of the food I ate. But no matter how much thyroid I took on days I didn't eat right, my temperature/heart rate wouldn't increase at all, and I wouldn't feel right. Progesterone also normally relaxes me, makes my hair feel better, and makes me a bit more emotional, but on nutritionally-poor days, it gave me headaches and just made me feel very off.

Also, I did have fungus. It isn't there on days I barely eat, and it isn't there on days I eat extremely well. It's only there when I eat lots of carbs (especially starches like white rice) without supporting vitamins/minerals. I think you somehow stress your body/immune system when you push your metabolism up too high with sugar without supporting micronutrients or if you have too much of endotoxins.

thanks. what supporting vitamins/minerals are you referring to? i'm also starting to realize i have the same problem, but i think the thyroid might not be letting those minerals stay, im not sure yet.

i also added this to my last post if you could talk about this:

also curious: how is your libido on progesterone? you mention you took "a lot" of it, how much do you consider a lot? it seems like progesterone can be bad in higher doses for men, but i'm not sure where the line is or where the estrogen line is, it seems to have helped you, but you do mention you need good nutrition. i tlaked to ray about it, he did say it opposes estrogen, and in smaller doses if it has negative effects can be good.

the progesterone is probably a big part of why your hair grew back.. pretty interesting.. did you ever jump into pregnenlone and DHEA instead of progesterone? i also have a lot of cortisol and estrogen symptoms which is why i am curious.

i'm glad you posted this.. i haven't been dealing with progest/preg/DHEA for a while, but i should with a lot of the progress ive been making.

thanks for all the responses. really interesting stuff about your case. really interesting. i have been doing better myself, i just took 10mg of progestene just to try it after reading this because i havent used it in probably 3 or 4 months when i was doing way worse, i did feel very relaxed and i noticed my nipples went down in size a lot and i feel very calm all of a sudden.

 

[mangoes]

Congrats man those are great results! About the hair loss, was it more of a diffuse thinning with a bald spot rather than the typical male pattern baldness?

I took massive doses of progesterone because I was sure I had estrogen dominance. Inappropriate aggression, irritability, mood swings, excessive arm and body hair growth are all signs of estrogen dominance (arm and body hair is actually a sign of low testosterone/estrogen and low DHT/estrogen ratios).

This is really interesting and an idea I've wondered about. Did you notice a reduction in body/arm hair since correcting the estrogen dominance? I'm sure I can recall reading somewhere Peat saying he noticed a shedding of body hair.

 

[Ukall]

I used to go crazy with supplements

That's a interesting thing you said here, because sometimes I really don't like to see how people here seem to prioritize supplements more than foods. I think the order should be just the opposite and taking supplements only when it is really necessary. Not simply using them as a fast shortcut, because it's easier or we need less efforts. I'm pretty sure that a slow adaption of the body to a new metabolism is much more healthier than a rapid adaption. Also, being dependent on supplements all the time doesn't seem healthy at all for me. Then we have those cases that feel really bad when they forget to take Supplement X, or taking Supplement X+Y. Basically, it means that you're completely dependent from a drug.

excessive arm and body hair growth are all signs of estrogen dominance (arm and body hair is actually a sign of low testosterone/estrogen and low DHT/estrogen ratios).

Wait, what? In my ignorance knowledge, I always thought that a guy with more hair would indicate testosterone dominance,
I myself am a little monkey, so to speak. I always hated it since I was a child.. But thinking that was a sign of masculinity made me thinking I was more "manly than other men".
But, for example, my father has no hair at all, but he is fat and has some t!ts. I always guessed he had estrogen dominance, however if what you said about body hair is true, it contradicts everything.

 

[lampofred]

thanks. what supporting vitamins/minerals are you referring to? i'm also starting to realize i have the same problem, but i think the thyroid might not be letting those minerals stay, im not sure yet.

i also added this to my last post if you could talk about this:

also curious: how is your libido on progesterone? you mention you took "a lot" of it, how much do you consider a lot? it seems like progesterone can be bad in higher doses for men, but i'm not sure where the line is or where the estrogen line is, it seems to have helped you, but you do mention you need good nutrition. i tlaked to ray about it, he did say it opposes estrogen, and in smaller doses if it has negative effects can be good.

the progesterone is probably a big part of why your hair grew back.. pretty interesting.. did you ever jump into pregnenlone and DHEA instead of progesterone? i also have a lot of cortisol and estrogen symptoms which is why i am curious.

i'm glad you posted this.. i haven't been dealing with progest/preg/DHEA for a while, but i should with a lot of the progress ive been making.

thanks for all the responses. really interesting stuff about your case. really interesting. i have been doing better myself, i just took 10mg of progestene just to try it after reading this because i havent used it in probably 3 or 4 months when i was doing way worse, i did feel very relaxed and i noticed my nipples went down in size a lot and i feel very calm all of a sudden.

I don't know specifically what vitamins/minerals... That's why I get most of my sugar from fruit/fruit juice and the rest of my calories from very nutritious and dense foods instead of refined starches and table sugar/coca-cola like Peat sometimes recommends.

Progesterone didn't impact my libido at all when I had symptoms of estrogen dominance. I took like 100 mg a day, which is a tremendous amount... But once my estrogen symptoms went down, the high doses progesterone made me more interested in the emotional and love-y aspects of relationships than the physical aspect. This went down in hours after I stopped supplementing, however. It had no effect at all on erection quality/size/etc.

I never tried pregnenolone or DHEA.

 

[lampofred]

Congrats man those are great results! About the hair loss, was it more of a diffuse thinning with a bald spot rather than the typical male pattern baldness?


This is really interesting and an idea I've wondered about. Did you notice a reduction in body/arm hair since correcting the estrogen dominance? I'm sure I can recall reading somewhere Peat saying he noticed a shedding of body hair.

Haha, I would say "is it more of a diffuse thinning with a bald spot" instead of "was it" because it's not permanently gone... I screwed around last night and partied/smoked/drank/had sex/ate loads of PUFA/barely slept (basically did every single thing Peat is against which I used to do before I found his work) to see if my body was completely healed and somehow became "resistant" now to stress like how kids are completely resistant because they have no PUFA. Bad idea... I woke up this afternoon with hair everywhere on my pillow, limp hair, a slight thin area on my crown. Worst of all some of the newly grown hair on my hairline was gone... I guess this strict Peat thing has to be a permanent lifestyle change, not something I do temporarily to heal and then forget about. Anyway, to answer your question, it was a combo of thinning all over the top of my scalp with slightly receding hairline and a bald spot. Isn't that classic MPB?

I haven't noticed any shedding of body/arm hair, but the hair that grows is a lot finer and less dark than it used to be. Whenever I feel symptoms of estrogen-dominance, I look at the hair, and it is darker and thicker-looking, so I'm relatively sure that at least in my case an increase in body/arm hair isn't a good thing overall for my metabolism.

 

[lampofred]

That's a interesting thing you said here, because sometimes I really don't like to see how people here seem to prioritize supplements more than foods. I think the order should be just the opposite and taking supplements only when it is really necessary. Not simply using them as a fast shortcut, because it's easier or we need less efforts. I'm pretty sure that a slow adaption of the body to a new metabolism is much more healthier than a rapid adaption. Also, being dependent on supplements all the time doesn't seem healthy at all for me. Then we have those cases that feel really bad when they forget to take Supplement X, or taking Supplement X+Y. Basically, it means that you're completely dependent from a drug.

Wait, what? In my ignorance knowledge, I always thought that a guy with more hair would indicate testosterone dominance,
I myself am a little monkey, so to speak. I always hated it since I was a child.. But thinking that was a sign of masculinity made me thinking I was more "manly than other men".
But, for example, my father has no hair at all, but he is fat and has some t!ts. I always guessed he had estrogen dominance, however if what you said about body hair is true, it contradicts everything.

Sex hormone levels and body hair growth in !Kung San and Kavango men from Namibia. - PubMed - NCBI

^^^Last sentence of the abstract says that T-to-E2 and DHT-to-E2 ratios correlate negatively with arm and body hair development and that low amounts of DHT mean more body hair. So the more estrogen you have relative to androgens, the hairier you are. This actually makes a tremendous amount of sense because when I was reading about hair loss and it's relationship with body hair before I found Peat, I read a study that women were more attracted to hairless men than hairy men when ovulating/fertile. Also, just intuitively, guys grow hairier with age, and people with really hairy bodies are often bald. It doesn't make sense to say that hairier males have more testosterone and less estrogen when most guys in their teens and 20s barely have body hair and body hair develops mainly in middle-aged men.

 

[Ukall]

I haven't noticed any shedding of body/arm hair, but the hair that grows is a lot finer and less dark than it used to be. Whenever I feel symptoms of estrogen-dominance, I look at the hair, and it is darker and thicker-looking, so I'm relatively sure that at least in my case an increase in body/arm hair isn't a good thing overall for my metabolism.

That's very interesting actually. When I was doing the Wai Diet, my body, arm hair and even from my groins started to be really thin. In fact, I lost some hair from my hands (but I am still not sure if it was due to bad circulation) and from my groins too. Before I used to hate all my body hair, I even did depilation several times (both wax and photovoltaic light). But suddenly, I started to love how smooth and soft my hair was and I didn't want to get rid of them for sure.
I didn't know it was associated to high estrogen levels.

But for example, my hair is really strong and it is associated to be a 'good hair' (now I can't really remember if it was thinner after changing the diet, but I think it was). And the thin ones are associated to loss of hair and being fragile.
I'm quite confused right now :S

guys grow hairier with age

That's true. For example, old people usually start getting hair on their ears, etc. Still, I don't understand why my father (who is 58 years old) is fat and doesn't have any body hair at all. Not even in his legs.

And what about facial hair? Does this mean those guys that still don't have beard at 20s have less estrogen and are more manly? But, it's interesting because they have less hair overall too, normally. If that is true, I have been told the opposite all my life . For me it was always: the more hair you have, the more testosterone you produce.

20s barely have body hair

That doesn't apply for me for sure :S

I read a study that women were more attracted to hairless men than hairy men when ovulating/fertile.

I can relate that with my (un)success with women :')

 

[lampofred]

That's very interesting actually. When I was doing the Wai Diet, my body, arm hair and even from my groins started to be really thin. In fact, I lost some hair from my hands (but I am still not sure if it was due to bad circulation) and from my groins too. Before I used to hate all my body hair, I even did depilation several times (both wax and photovoltaic light). But suddenly, I started to love how smooth and soft my hair was and I didn't want to get rid of them for sure.
I didn't know it was associated to high estrogen levels.

But for example, my hair is really strong and it is associated to be a 'good hair' (now I can't really remember if it was thinner after changing the diet, but I think it was). And the thin ones are associated to loss of hair and being fragile.
I'm quite confused right now :S

That's true. For example, old people usually start getting hair on their ears, etc. Still, I don't understand why my father (who is 58 years old) is fat and doesn't have any body hair at all. Not even in his legs.

And what about facial hair? Does this mean those guys that still don't have beard at 20s have less estrogen and are more manly? But, it's interesting because they have less hair overall too, normally. If that is true, I have been told the opposite all my life . For me it was always: the more hair you have, the more testosterone you produce.

That doesn't apply for me for sure :S

I can relate that with my (un)success with women :')

I think there are two ways being hairless can go: either feminine or masculine. Feminine: more progesterone, less estrogen, and less androgens (but less estrogen relative to T and DHT because of so much progesterone) which leads to almost no body hair. Masculine: less progesterone, less estrogen, more androgens (which leads to less estrogen relative to T and DHT because there is so much T and DHT) which also leads to little body hair.

Hairy means less progesterone, more estrogen, and less androgens in contrast to feminine and masculine.

This is all just me theorizing though...

 

[tara]

Hi lampofred - nice story.

 

[InChristAlone]

Yeah I have really thick hair on my legs and just dark hair all over my body even longer fuzzy hair on my lower back that I detest. When I was pregnant hair became more sparse it was great. Wish it would last!

 

[DaveFoster]

I think spirituality is a natural result of a high metabolism. An appreciation of intrinsic order comes with the maintenance of an internal order.

I'm glad you're finding positive results; keep up the good progress and share your knowledge with the people around you.