XPlus said:You have an interesting train of thoughts, narouz. I wouldn't call it faulty.
It's a diet if you would like to look at it as such.
Perception sets the basis of how we approach things.
I've been overwhelmed with Peat's writing when I started studying his work.
The saying that "Peat isn't a diet" encouraged me to challenge myself to understand the complexity of how he lays out things.
The preaching that "This is a diet" - though not incorrect - automatically shuts down the investigative instincts of the reader.
It discourages them to take responsibly for their health and, simultaneously, does not add up to their self-development.
Eventually, we might fail to realise that the answer to any health challenge starts from within.
We start looking to others for answers.
We blame Peat and those who gave us advice when things go wrong.
Telling someone to have 2 litres of OJ - for example, as part of a diet - is similar to telling someone, with possibly impaired liver function, to start burning fat for fuel.
People reading the first statement start gulping orange juice in hopes to warm up, fix hormones, blood sugar and digestion.
Because the perception is already set to "a diet", that's exactly how it's approached.
In comparison, someone who understands insulin sensitivity, PUFA damage, Ph balance, thyroid's function, SIBO and overall hormone balance, knows better when and when not to take the orange juice as well as how much to take.
Take another example: Peat emphasizes that coffee is good and caffeine is vitamin-like.
Looking around the forum, you'll find quite few dieters reporting to have problems with coffee.
This is likely because liver function (and therefore digestion) is impaired; and thyroid isn't optimized - there might have a lot of PUFA to deal with, and estrogen along with it.
Tackling this problem requires an understanding of the issue.
Understanding leads to proper experimenting with coffee: gradual amount build up, steeping in milk, having it with buffers (i.e. sugar and/or cream), improving thyroid, possibly vitamin A increase and E in needed against estrogen and to counter PUFA damage, all while avoiding other potential intestinal irritants and using gut sweepers.
Add insulin sensitivity to that, and the number of variables increases.
I found this post extremely helpful. I would love to know your opinion then on how to go about improving liver function on a peat diet if this was the case or even insulin sensitivity with the reccomendations he gives? I understand what you are saying though that people need to apply peats principles to there situation and in whatever context it fits.