High Fat & Low Carb Vs. Low Fat & High Carb Experiment

Douglas Ek

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Hi guys!
Thought I would document an experiment im about to make where I do 2 months high fat eating meat, vegetables and small amounts of fruits vs low fat eating 2 months of ray peat style fruits, juice, skimmed milk and lean meats cooked in small amounts of coconut oil. Ill do blood testd after both diets and see how they will affect my results. Appreciate any help and suggestions. I will keep the thread up tp date.
 

Soren

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One thing I would say is that doing the high fat before doing the high carb could create misleading results. By eating high fat and low carb for 2 months you are likely to lower your bodies ability to process sugar efficiently. So when you start your low fat eating Ray Peat style diet it could lead to blood sugar spikes, weight gain and other problems but that could be down to the previous 2 months of metabolic damage rather than the diet itself.

Perhaps you are better off doing the 2 months of Ray Peat first followed by the high fat.
 
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D

Douglas Ek

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One thing I would say is that doing the high fat before doing the high carb could create misleading results. By eating high fat and low carb for 2 months you are likely to lower your bodies ability to process sugar efficiently. So when you start your low fat eating Ray Peat style diet it could lead to blood sugar spikes, weight gain and other problems but that could be down to the previous 2 months of metabolic damage rather than the diet itself.

Perhaps you are better off doing the 2 months of Ray Peat first followed by the high fat.

Ive seen people get results fast within 2-3 weeks of switching. Bot regarding cholesterol and blood glucose. I know what a high metabolism feels like because i have one right now. Im eating 40 40 20 carbs fat protein.
I think 2 months will be enough to see what happens and how it makes me feel.

Its as simple as providing your body with only fat to burn or glucose. It has to burn something and the efficiency of that wont get compromised. What im interested in is cortisol and other hormones on the diets like testosterone. I believe testosterone is highest on a combination diet since when i eat that i have really high test on blood test.

And if in fact high fat increases cortisol which in turn would lower cortisol is true than that would be seen after 2 months. And if sugars inhibit cortisol release a reduction of cortisol will also be shown.
 
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tara

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One thing I would say is that doing the high fat before doing the high carb could create misleading results. By eating high fat and low carb for 2 months you are likely to lower your bodies ability to process sugar efficiently. So when you start your low fat eating Ray Peat style diet it could lead to blood sugar spikes, weight gain and other problems but that could be down to the previous 2 months of metabolic damage rather than the diet itself.

Perhaps you are better off doing the 2 months of Ray Peat first followed by the high fat.
+1

It has to burn something and the efficiency of that wont get compromised.
I think there are people here who have had contrary experience.

Good luck.
 
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Douglas Ek

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+1


I think there are people here who have had contrary experience.

Good luck.

Thanks for the advice. Well there are quite a few examples of diets where they get proof relatively quickly. For example the super size me eating mcdonalds for 1 month was pretty obvious he felt ***t and it affected his blood values within just 3 weeks. Probably from PUFA. I can already tell you that going my first day eating only 30 gram carbs yesterday was quite hard. Also for the first time in a long time I woke up at 03:00 AM and couldnt fall asleep. Was sweating a bit. Sorta reminds me when you overexercise in the gym late in the day then go to bed. So probably already a spike in cortisol and adrenaline. Only positive was that waking up today ive noticed a dramatic increase in libido. But thats probably because of all the SFA i ate yesterday and zinc from meat. Probably not completely depleted my glucose stores yet aswell. Take a day or two more untill i go into ketosis and then ill feel the cortisol. I cant say im a big believer in keto diet. Only reason im doing this is because I want to feel and conpare the diets.
 

Dino D

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Thanks for the advice. Well there are quite a few examples of diets where they get proof relatively quickly. For example the super size me eating mcdonalds for 1 month was pretty obvious he felt ***t and it affected his blood values within just 3 weeks. Probably from PUFA. I can already tell you that going my first day eating only 30 gram carbs yesterday was quite hard. Also for the first time in a long time I woke up at 03:00 AM and couldnt fall asleep. Was sweating a bit. Sorta reminds me when you overexercise in the gym late in the day then go to bed. So probably already a spike in cortisol and adrenaline. Only positive was that waking up today ive noticed a dramatic increase in libido. But thats probably because of all the SFA i ate yesterday and zinc from meat. Probably not completely depleted my glucose stores yet aswell. Take a day or two more untill i go into ketosis and then ill feel the cortisol. I cant say im a big believer in keto diet. Only reason im doing this is because I want to feel and conpare the diets.
How did all of this went, or maybe you made a post about that but i cant find it?
 

Cirion

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I wouldn't do it but that's just me, but I will say I'm curious to see results from it.

+1 on high fat high carb.

Though, I've come to realize high fat is tricky to keep PUFA low. Been making coconut oil basically my main fat source now to avoid them.
 

Waremu

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Good luck with your experiment. I’ll say that, as with many people on the forum, going high fat high carb was probably one of my biggest mistakes I made when I first began Peating. It’s an easy thing for people who are newbies to Peating to do because they hear about how great saturated fat is over PUFA, which is true, but in the end, it really leads to a lot of fat gain for many. Many people are already coming from a stressed state or KETO so they’re already able to handle fat better than sugar, so when they add sugar to the high fat it just leads to more problems for them.

If I had to don’t it over again, I would have began ‘Peating’ with a very very low fat diet to kind of push my metabolism into favoring carb over fat for energy and limit weight gain and then slowly increase the fat intake to moderate while monitoring my weight. I generally eat low fat but will have one or two higher fat cheat days per month or every other week. Works best for me as I try to stay lean. And I also notice that calories burned on a lower fat diet seem to increase and are less likely to be stored as fat. Very similar to how many can eat more calories on a very low carb high fat diet. It seems when I try to go even on the fat and carbs then that’s when bad things happen. It seems the ‘magic’ happens at one or two extremes. But I notice that I can eat 3500-4000 calories and not gain fat on a low fat diet but on the same calorie amount, if I go above very low fat I start gaining fat weight. I’m PUFA ‘depleated’ by now, since I have been strictly limiting my PUFA since 2012. So I do know this plays a role as well because before that when I would cut up I would have to eat like 25000 calories to lose weight. So definitely an increased metabolism.

For some I have found that it takes longer to see the bad results on higher fat diets as well. Some may see fast results, but it likely depends on how much bad shape your metabolism is in from prior dieting and stress. It may take longer to benefit from higher carb intake if you come from such a stressed state. But some people do see some benefits sooner, like better sleep, etc.

For me, I made a list of objective measurements of better health and in my experience, it really helped put things in perspective. It helped me see how much my health improved and which was best for me — Better sleep, better energy levels, better blood tests (lower prolactin, lower TSH, lower cortisol, lower serotonin, better thyroid, etc.). But experiment on self is the best thing one can do.
 
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Cirion

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I'm well aware of the theories behind going low fat, and glad it worked for you.

I keep wanting to try to do it but it just never works for me, the appetite becomes out of control as well as stress response if I go without eating for even an hour. I do acknowledge that probably means I have poor glucose retention though. But is the answer really just throwing more sugar at it?

Better sleep? I wish... when I tried it, I would wake up just about every hour with an urgent need to eat. Again, glad it worked for you though. I know you note that your markers improved, but keep in mind that losing or gaining weight is not a guaranteed marker of health one way or the other. I just want to make that distinguishment because so many here are scared to even gain a few lbs and think weight loss = health.
 
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youngsinatra

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I know many bodybuilders who eat like that. I used to eat like that too, but eating so low-fat is detrimental to gallbladder function in the long term. A very-low-fat or no-fat diet impairs gallbladder contraction, increases bile saturation and makes the bile more sludgy which greatly increases gallstone formation. This is similar to the detriment of fasting in regards to gallbladder health.

At least 10g of dietary fats are required per meal to fully contract the gallbladder. However eating 3-4 meals per day with 10g fat each is still a pretty low fat diet.
 

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