East West Healing's Metabolic Blueprint Program

[Rayser]

For a little while they experience a raise of body temperature. They feel as if their thyroid gland was working. It comes at a cost and they don't know that. That's what I object to.

I'm not sure that's true. I posted an e-mail from Peat where he says that if your fats are not polyunsaturated, you're likely to recover quickly from the stress from exercise, even long distance running, and not become hypothyroid.

j. - you write it yourself: "likely to recover quickly from the stress from exercise"
Yes, if you are healthy you will recover more quickly from any kind of stress. That's not the point. The point is: You will not get healthier through endurance sports. Something you have to recover from is by definition not healthy for you.
And who doesn't have polyunsaturated fats? I have been trying to avoid them for more than four years and still have some stored in my tissues. It takes years and a strict PUFA-avoidance to get to the state you mention.

Even then you should ask yourself which kinds of sports you want to do and if you want to risk the stress of long distance running.
I don't. But I do concentric exercise every day. On the one hand because it repairs DNA on the other because of course jaketthomas has a point: I don't feel good if I think I look bad. And I feel and look better with some muscles. As long as it doesn't harm me I want to maintain them.

There will always be stress in your life. It comes from living. Why not avoid the unnecessary stress?
Most endurance sports are stress. They are not healthy. You have to recover from them as you write yourself.
But most people who exercise this way don't know that. They think sports are healthy. And that's untrue.

That doesn't mean I think one shouldn't do any sports. I am just saying: Do it if it improves your life. But don't force yourself to run a few miles every morning because you don't want to get cancer or a heart attack.

I didn't say sports would make you "hypothyroid". I said that doing endurance sports comes at a cost.
Ray Peat wrote in many e-mails and said in many interviews that the immediate effect of endurance sports can be experiencing symptoms of hyperthyroidism (like rapid heart beat and raise of body temperature).
He said it would be healthier and have the same effect to take a hot bath.
But of course endurance sports will after a while cause or at least increase hypothyroidism. As it will increase estrogen, cortisol, lactic acid, endotoxins, triglycerides and serotonin ... and by that aging and degeneration.


Mary Shomon: You feel that excessive aerobic exercise can be a cause of hypothyroidism. Can you explain this further? How much is too much?

Dr. Ray Peat: I'm not sure who introduced the term "aerobic" to describe the state of anaerobic metabolism that develops during stressful exercise, but it has had many harmful repercussions. In experiments, T3 production is stopped very quickly by even "sub-aerobic" exercise, probably becaue of the combination of a decrease of blood glucose and an increase in free fatty acids. In a healthy person, rest will tend to restore the normal level of T3, but there is evidence that even very good athletes remain in a hypothyroid state even at rest. A chronic increase of lactic acid and cortisol indicates that something is wrong. The "slender muscles" of endurance runners are signs of a catabolic state, that has been demonstrated even in the heart muscle. A slow heart beat very strongly suggests hypothyroidism. Hypothyroid people, who are likely to produce lactic acid even at rest, are especially susceptible to the harmful effects of "aerobic" exercise. The good effect some people feel from exercise is probably the result of raising the body temperature; a warm bath will do the same for people with low body temperature.

RP: "The HDL lipoprotein is one of these, which protects against inflammation by binding bacterial endotoxins that have reached the bloodstream. (Things that increase absorption of endotoxin--exercise, estrogen, ethanol--cause HDL to rise.) Chylomicrons and VLDL also absorb, bind, and help to eliminate endotoxins. All sorts of stress and malnutrition increase the tendency of endotoxin to leak into the bloodstream. Thyroid hormone, by increasing the turnover of cholesterol and its conversion into the protective steroids, is a major factor in keeping the inflammatory processes under control."
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/ch ... vity.shtml

RP: "Stress, exercise, and toxins cause a rapid increase in estrogen. Males often have as much estrogen as females, especially when they are tired or sick."
http://raypeat.com/articles/hormones/h1.shtml

RP: "Stress, exercise, and darkness, increase the release of free fatty acids, and so promote the liberation of tryptophan and formation of serotonin."
http://raypeat.com/articles/aging/trypt ... ging.shtml

RP: "Mental stress, exercise, estrogen, and serotonin activate both the formation and dissolution of clots."
"Even exercise, mental stress, and aging can increase the tendency of capillaries to leak."
"Blood becomes more concentrated during strenuous exercise, during the night, and in the winter, increasing the viscosity, and increasing the risk of strokes and other thrombotic problems."

RP: "Exercise physiologists, without mentioning functional systems, have recently discovered some principles that extend the discoveries of Meerson and Anokhin. They found that "concentric" contraction, that is, causing the muscle to contract against resistance, improves the muscle's function, without injuring it. (Walking up a mountain causes concentric contractions to dominate in the leg muscles. Walking down the mountain injures the muscles, by stretching them, forcing them to elongate while bearing a load; they call that eccentric contraction.) Old people, who had extensively damaged mitochondrial DNA, were given a program of concentric exercise, and as their muscles adapted to the new activity, their mitochondrial DNA was found to have become normal.
There are probably the equivalents of constructive "concentric" activity and destructively stressful "eccentric" activity in the brain. For example, "rote learning" is analogous to eccentric muscle contraction, and learning by asking questions is "concentric." "No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings." Any activity that seems "programmed" probably stifles cellular energy and cellular intelligence."

http://raypeat.com/articles/aging/bleed ... ncer.shtml

RP: "The idea of the “oxygen debt” produced by exercise or stress as being equivalent to the accumulation of lactic acid is far from accurate, but it’s true that activity increases the need for oxygen, and also increases the tendency to accumulate lactic acid, which can then be disposed of over an extended time, with the consumption of oxygen."

http://raypeat.com/articles/aging/altit ... lity.shtml

 

[Rayser]

First of all I'm sorry for your friend Rayser.
I misinterpreted your words,bc I thougth by what you wrote that she just enjoyed doing those sports and not so much for looks/health.And that was,what I was trying to say,that if a person truly does it for his/her enjoyment&relaxation,just as others migth enjoy crafts,making music etc., than I don't think it's detrimental.
Since the latter is the case,then yes you do have a point

I don't know where you got this from,but I never said eating lots of gluten is ok or healthy. :s
The thing about my father I mentioned,that skinny/exerciser or obese/non-exerciser both can't be unhealthy but that was when I thougth she did it for fun.

Dutchie, I don't think "enjoying" something and feeling relaxed is a good way to determine whether it is good for you.
If that were true life would be so much simpler.
I always loved smoked salmon with mustard and pumpkin seed oil and lots of goitrogenic vegetables. I even ate lots of soy.
And I really, really loved and enjoyed smoking. Nothing ever made me more relaxed. (I later learned that it lowers TSH.)
I agree that it's likely to make you sick if you spend your life not eating and doing what you love. But I think it's safest to know what your life style and choices will do to your health and then to decide which risks you want to take.

You never said that eating gluten was healthy. I didn't suggest that. But I don't think the choice is between being overweight and being skinning. I am talking about endurance sports and that they are not healthy. That doesn't mean I think it's smart to be overweight.

 

[j.]

Any enjoyable activity, or really any activity at all, produces stress. So if one enjoys doing something, if one is able to recover from the stress it produces, even if it's long distance running, it's beneficial to do it.

 

[charlie]

Any enjoyable activity, or really any activity at all, produces stress. So if one enjoys doing something, if one is able to recover from the stress it produces, even if it's long distance running, it's beneficial to do it.

I could be wrong but I do not think that long distance running will be beneficial to health.

 

[j.]

I could be wrong but I do not think that long distance running will be beneficial to health.

There were lots of ifs in my statement. I think it could be beneficial for a very select group of people, though I might be wrong too.

 

[Rayser]

Any enjoyable activity, or really any activity at all, produces stress. So if one enjoys doing something, if one is able to recover from the stress it produces, even if it's long distance running, it's beneficial to do it.

So basically anything that doesn't kill you is good for you?
Have you thought this through?
That doesn't really sound like you.

 

[pboy]

I think he means it depends on the person and the current set and setting , and their mood and physiological state.....remember the rats that weren't allowed to fight back died of cancer, and the ones that were allowed to lived...of course fighting isn't good and is stressful, but not being able to do something necessary in a unique set and setting is even more stressful. I believe denying oneself something that is appropriate, available, and desirable is a similar phenomenon

 

[Rayser]

I think he means it depends on the person and the current set and setting , and their mood and physiological state.....remember the rats that weren't allowed to fight back died of cancer, and the ones that were allowed to lived...of course fighting isn't good and is stressful, but not being able to do something necessary in a unique set and setting is even more stressful. I believe denying oneself something that is appropriate, available, and desirable is a similar phenomenon

I believe denying oneself something that is appropriate, available, and desirable is simply stupid. Denying oneself something that is inappropriate, available (why the need to deny if it isn't?) and desirable (again - why else deny it?), in fact not healthy but stressful is likely to increase your life span.
I think everything always depends on the context. Some people are so healthy they can do endurance sports and still be healthy. Most of us cannot. There are some activities which are healing and beneficial and other activities have to be recovered from. I wouldn't pursue them. There are (as I wrote before) many stress factors I cannot avoid. So I avoid the once I can and I don't run a few miles every day.
Endurance sports are not good for you. If you read the quotes I posted before ... Ray Peat says that even athletes cannot recover appropriately from running.

About the study you mention. I think you refer to the one where rats where held down on their backs and developed ulcers unless they could chew on a stick? Do you suggest chewing on a stick would be the equivalent of endurance sports? In that case I am afraid you misinterpreted the study and didn't read about concentric and eccentric exercise. (I posted the quotes before? In the post you answered to?)

RP: "Defensive aggression is probably a response intermediate between fearful giving up and confident achievement. When a rat is restrained, held down on its back, it quickly develops ulcers, but if it has a stick to bite, it is very resistant to the formation of the ulcers. The ability to do something with a defensive meaning prevents the excessive production of serotonin and its consequences, such as increased production of cortisol and other stress hormones, and disturbance of circulation and energy production. Endotoxin and prostaglandins activate these same systems, and progesterone and aspirin are among the protective factors that can oppose those effects.”

As you can see from reading the entire article (Endotoxin, stress, depression, 2011) ... I wouldn't say this applies to a situation in which somebody is denied endurance sports. It refers to a prolonged feeling of helplessness and inescapable stress. Not the lack of running a few miles every morning which would mean stress. (It might apply if the person is tied up or locked up.)

I don't really get why there is so much confusion. I am saying that there are activities which are beneficial and activities which aren't. Of course you will not drop dead immediately if you insist on running every day. But in the long run (sorry) it's not good for you, it's not healthy and it would be healthier not to do it. Yes, you can recover from it and if the meaning of your life is running I don't suggest you give it up. But if you do it to stay healthy - don't do it.

I would argue there are lots of things which might feel good for you but are better avoided. Like smoking or drinking or using cocaine or eating PUFA. I could go on for a while. It's just BS to say that basically "What feels good is good". If that were true everybody would know instinctively how to live the best and healthiest life and Ray Peat wouldn't write or receive any e-mails.

Ray Peat:

"Stress has to be understood as a process that develops in time, and the brain (especially the neocortex and the frontal lobes) organizes the adaptive and developmental processes in both the spatial and temporal dimensions. The meaning of a situation influences the way the organism responds. For example, the stress of being restrained for a long time can cause major gastrointestinal bleeding and ulcerization, but if the animal has the opportunity to bite something during the stress (signifying its ability to fight back, and the possibility of escape) it can avoid the stress ulcers.

The patterning of the nervous activity throughout the body governs the local ability to produce carbon dioxide. When the cortex of the brain is damaged or removed, an animal becomes rigid, so the cortex is considered to have a “tonic inhibitory action” on the body. But when the nerves are removed from a muscle (for example, by disease or accident), the muscle goes into a state of constant activity, and its ability to oxidize glucose and produce carbon dioxide is reduced, while its oxidation of fatty acids persists, increasing the production of toxic oxidative fragments of the fatty acids, which contributes to the muscle's atrophy.

The organism's intentions, expectations, or plans, are represented in the nervous system as a greater readiness for action, and in the organs and tissues controlled by the nerves, as an increase or decrease of oxidative efficiency, analogous to the differences between innervated and denervated muscles. This pattern in the nervous system has been called “the acceptor of action,” because it is continually being compared with the actual situation, and being refined as the situation is evaluated. The state of the organism, under the influence of a particular acceptor of action, is called a “functional system,” including all the components of the organism that participate most directly in realizing the intended adaptive action.

The actions of nerves can be considered anabolic, because during a stressful situation in which the catabolic hormones of adaption, e.g., cortisol, increase, the tissues of the functional system are protected, and while idle tissues may undergo autophagy or other form of involution, the needs of the active tissues are supplied with nutrients from their breakdown, allowing them to change and, when necessary, grow in size or complexity.

The brain's role in protecting against injury by stress, when it sees a course of action, has a parallel in the differences between concentric (positive, muscle shortening) and eccentric (negative, lengthening under tension) exercise, and also with the differences between innervated and denervated muscles. In eccentric exercise and denervation, less oxygen is used and less carbon dioxide is produced, while lactic acid increases, displacing carbon dioxide, and more fat is oxidized. Prolonged stress similarly decreases carbon dioxide and increases lactate, while increasing the use of fat.

Darkness is stressful and catabolic. For example, in aging people, the morning urine contains nearly all of the calcium lost during the 24 hour period, and mitochondria are especially sensitive to the destructive effects of darkness. Sleep reduces the destructive catabolic effects of darkness. During the rapid-eye-movement (dreaming) phase of sleep, breathing is inhibited, and the level of carbon dioxide in the tissues accumulates. In restful sleep, the oxygen tension is frequently low enough, and the carbon dioxide tension high enough, to trigger the multiplication of stem cells and mitochondria.

Dreams represent the “acceptor of action” operating independently of the sensory information that it normally interacts with. During dreams, the brain (using a system called the Ascending Reticular Activating System) disconnects itself from the sensory systems. I think this is the nervous equivalent of concentric/positive muscle activity, in the sense that the brain is in control of its actions. The active, dreaming phase of sleep occurs more frequently in the later part of the night, as morning approaches. This is the more stressful part of the night, with cortisol and some other stress hormones reaching a peak at dawn, so it would be reasonable for the brain's defensive processes to be most active at that time. The dreaming process in the brain is associated with deep muscle relaxation, which is probably associated with the trophic (restorative) actions of the nerves."

 

[pboy]

I agree...I don't think anyone actually enjoys endurance running do they? Just say you were at a family reunion and your nephews wanted you to kick a soccer ball with them or throw a football, should you say ..."no, its too stressful to my body" or would you say some light activity that is enjoyable, emotionaly building, and appropriate in the set and setting is a bad idea? Even if so, I'd still do it just because whats really the point in life, to be a bubble boy and live a neutral life or to have memorable and enjoyable experiences? I guess that's just a personal decision though

 

[j.]

I don't think anyone actually enjoys endurance running do they?

Lots of people who do it actually do enjoy it. For someone who never did it, it's probably impossible to understand that it could be enjoyable.

 

[Rayser]

I agree...I don't think anyone actually enjoys endurance running do they? Just say you were at a family reunion and your nephews wanted you to kick a soccer ball with them or throw a football, should you say ..."no, its too stressful to my body" or would you say some light activity that is enjoyable, emotionaly building, and appropriate in the set and setting is a bad idea? Even if so, I'd still do it just because whats really the point in life, to be a bubble boy and live a neutral life or to have memorable and enjoyable experiences? I guess that's just a personal decision though

That's how I see it, pboy. I think playing a game is another category anyway. It stimulates the brain, too.

 

[Dutchie]

I agree...I don't think anyone actually enjoys endurance running do they? Just say you were at a family reunion and your nephews wanted you to kick a soccer ball with them or throw a football, should you say ..."no, its too stressful to my body" or would you say some light activity that is enjoyable, emotionaly building, and appropriate in the set and setting is a bad idea? Even if so, I'd still do it just because whats really the point in life, to be a bubble boy and live a neutral life or to have memorable and enjoyable experiences? I guess that's just a personal decision though

That's how I see it, pboy. I think playing a game is another category anyway. It stimulates the brain, too.

Kinda unrelated but you mentioned you do concentric Exercises? everyday.....what exercises do you do exactly? (Are you possibly a trainer for a living?)

Btw,did I see correctly that you live in Germany? :)
I visit a certain German city a lot,bc I live close to the border,has a couple of organic food supermarkets.

 

[Rayser]

This is what I got from Ray Peat: Dumb bells and knee bends, for about a minute at a time are good, to strengthen muscles without getting out of breath; this helps to lower cortisol.

 

[Dutchie]

This is what I got from Ray Peat: Dumb bells and knee bends, for about a minute at a time are good, to strengthen muscles without getting out of breath; this helps to lower cortisol.

Is that basically a dumbbell squat?....I rarely use dumbbells bc the gym I'm at,has these large plump dumbbells which makes it hard to work with for me since I have small hands

 

[charlie]

Grab some 5 or 10 lb plates then. That will also help strengthen your hands.

 

[jaa]

The concentric stuff kinda confuses me. Are there any resistant training exercises that are not concentric?

 

[mariange]

I have to admit I'm also confused about concentric exercises (and it seems googling for more info has only added to the confusion - use of the word "concentric" is not at all consistent.

If you're holding the dumbells and then bend (squat), do you then drop the dumbells before you come up? (guess I'd better find a padded surface)

If you are trying to push a heavy weight forward (similar to a prowler sled), is that concentric?

Thanks for any input!

 

[Mastemah]

Yes pushing a prowler or any sled work is concentric as are short sprints especially uphill %50-60 effort is enough. Throwing is concentric. Olympic lifting can be very concentric depending on the choice of the lifts in a program. And so on.
The main thing is to avoid eccentric emphasis that is lowering the weight slower to make it harder. A controlled fall, a relaxed eccentric removes a lot of the trauma. Emphasize the concentric. For more hypertrophy you end up doing more total sets in order to do enough volume to increase muscle. Don't train for the burn, don't train to total failure. You'll have to train longer for changing the body's appearance but hey, you'll have all that extra time you are no longer wasting on endurance work :)

Sleep lots during the dark. Up when light. Good thyroid function tends to favor short naps. Use aspirin and gelatin especially when training to limit stress. Even though you are lifting a lot try not to get out of breath-recover.

 

[whitnatchee]

I guess that no one here has done the Metabolic Blueprint program as the original topic was lost long ago.
I think that most authors would write a book and capitalize off of that. Having a program like the Metabolic Blueprint does not get the message out to the mass public, but it also keeps others from doing as the authors do. I have searched around the internet for years and have not found anyone that speaks like Ray Peat, or is so openly against our current medical, political and big pharma- farm-ma system. Eugene Oregon is an interesting town, supportive of real people like Ray Peat. I'm really glad to have run across Josh Rubin on Youtube. He has lead me to Ray Peat and this website, all the audio's and etc and I am grateful for that.
Back to the off topic, I have done hardcore mountain biking, windsurfing, skiing and etc, and I have experienced lots of lactic acid events. In my late 50's now and I have learned from Ray Peat that my experiences were all catabolic to my entire system. Heck, lots of my friends are gone now, and I look back and can see why.

 

[maximus]

Sorry I was going through the forum and this is old but thought I'd state my opinion as this bothers me. You look at programs like this and others of the sort, and there are a bunch of people making money off Ray Peat's work to line their own pockets. I don't know Ray personally or what his moral code is, however I really don't think it is right using his work as reference to create programs and sell ebooks. In my opinion they are abusing the things that many of Ray's article seem to be against. I have no idea what Ray once charged for his nutritional consultation's when he offered them, however I am sure it wasn't geared towards overcharging people or expanding his business.

Many people who are ill are taken advantage of and are willing to try anything as well as pay through the nose. As a caution to those who are thinking about buying such programs, don't. All the information is available on the web, through forums and more detailed science is available through journal articles and in academic libraries. I have no problem with anyone helping them in coaching situations but I think there is an abuse with many of these Ray Peat leeches; using his knowledge and foundations to create wealth and over charge people for health related concerns. Reeks of unethical behavior. A Ray quote that I pinched from visionandacceptance the only difference being medical professionals charge for incompetence these others take from Ray's Work for free and sell it as a commodity and copyright their books

"Knowledge isn’t a commodity, especially not a fungible commodity, as the medical business sees it. Consciousness and culture are part of the life process. It is exactly the commoditization of medical knowledge that makes it dangerous, and generally stupid. Doctors buy their knowledge, and then resell it over and over; it’s valuable as a commodity, so its value has to be protected by the equivalent of a copyright, the system of laws establishing the profession".