I think potatoes are disgusting

[Limon9]

Dr. Peat warns against eating starches. . . . Dr. Peat says that white potatoes while starchy, also contain protein which improves their desirability. Hence potatoes.

"Plain white rice, well cooked, with butter is o.k."
"Well cooked potatoes, with butter or cream,are a very good way to get carbohydrate, if you aren't allergic to them, because they contain a good balance of amino acids, too, as well as minerals and B vitamins."
"When starch is well cooked, and eaten with some fat and the essential nutrients, it's safe, except that it's more likely than sugar to produce fat, and isn't as effective for mineral balance."
"Yes, I think those goods [fruit, mushrooms, potato diet] can provide enough protein in a good balance of amino acids."

Straight glucose triggers insulin more than foods that contain fructose. Fructose does not trigger insulin. Therefore, starches have a higher glycemic index than sugars that contain fructose.

Hang on a second. The article you told that ignorant starch-brain to read says:

"as an approach to understanding or treating diabetes, the “glycemic index” of foods is useless. Physiologically, it has no constructive use, and very little meaning."

"Insulin is important in the regulation of blood sugar, but its importance has been exaggerated because of the diabetes/insulin industry. Insulin itself has been found to account for only about 8% of the "insulin-like activity" of the blood, with potassium being probably the largest factor. There probably isn't any process in the body that doesn't potentially affect blood sugar."

[potatoes contain a surprisingly large amount of potassium]

The reason Dr. Peat ultimately stopped eating starch was quite interesting: Volkheimer found that adding caffeine to his tests increased persorption severalfold (probably by inhibiting amylase), and the poison bean is too-valuable a source of niacin and magnesium to abstain from. A whole community where people drink 3, 5, or even more cups of coffee per day, intentionally with food, absolutely cannot tolerate starch without brain-damage. Starch can feed bacteria. So we should eat fruit and milk instead, rich sources of fiber and prebiotics, which have no effect on bacteria.

 

[mostlylurking]

"Plain white rice, well cooked, with butter is o.k."
"Well cooked potatoes, with butter or cream,are a very good way to get carbohydrate, if you aren't allergic to them, because they contain a good balance of amino acids, too, as well as minerals and B vitamins."
"When starch is well cooked, and eaten with some fat and the essential nutrients, it's safe, except that it's more likely than sugar to produce fat, and isn't as effective for mineral balance."
"Yes, I think those goods [fruit, mushrooms, potato diet] can provide enough protein in a good balance of amino acids."

Please understand that "plain white rice, well cooked" would be considered "O.K." from the perspective that there's no fiber to irritate the gut because that and all the nutrients (excluding the starch) have been removed (which makes the rice "white"). All the b vitamins, including thiamine have been removed. Making white rice a major part of the diet is courting beriberi because burning the glucose (from the starch) with no thiamine results in a thiamine deficiency.

Although Peat recommends not eating the potato peeling, this practice of eating well cooked potatoes does not remove the positive attributes of eating potatoes (the protein and trace minerals). However, a point that your quote leaves out is the QUANTITY of potatoes that are needed to fulfill the daily requirement for protein. If memory serves, in a radio interview, Peat said that the people in Africa who rely on potatoes as the major source of their protein eat about five pounds of potatoes per day.

This quote:

"When starch is well cooked, and eaten with some fat and the essential nutrients, it's safe, except that it's more likely than sugar to produce fat, and isn't as effective for mineral balance."

Please note that Peat said "it's safe"; he doesn't say it's a good thing to do. In other words, he said it's OK assuming you aren't relying on it as your sole source of nutrients (unless you're eating five pounds of potatoes daily). There are opposing views that "it's safe". I think that the expert's opinion is based on their experiences. If they have spent years treating people with thiamine deficiencies then they tend to not be as complacent about consuming large quantities of starch because they have witnessed the potential results when it is overdone.

Hang on a second. The article you told that ignorant starch-brain to read says:
[potatoes contain a surprisingly large amount of potassium]

So? Peat considered white potatoes a pretty good food because they have some nutrients (trace minerals (potassium) and some protein). But they still contain a lot of starch which will affect blood sugar. White rice, on the other hand, does not have these redeeming nutrients because they have been refined out with the husk. But refining the grain does remove the gut irritants which make white rice "OK" as far as not irritating the gut is concerned.

"Insulin is important in the regulation of blood sugar, but its importance has been exaggerated because of the diabetes/insulin industry. Insulin itself has been found to account for only about 8% of the "insulin-like activity" of the blood, with potassium being probably the largest factor. There probably isn't any process in the body that doesn't potentially affect blood sugar."

Eating starch raises the blood sugar (glucose). The act of burning the glucose via oxidative metabolism lowers the blood sugar back down. HOWEVER, oxidative metabolism requires thiamine (and thyroid hormone) to work. If you are consuming a bunch of starch (like white rice), you will run out of thiamine to successfully burn the glucose because the white rice doesn't have any thiamine. So this will result in high blood sugar. The high blood sugar triggers insulin release. The insulin lowers the blood sugar by parking the blood sugar into storage as fat.

Ray Peat has blamed PUFA for contributing to diabetes. PUFA gums up the works; it is inflammatory, it is said to block thyroid function, AND interestingly, I've also heard Dr. Chandler Marrs say that PUFA blocks thiamine function. All diabetics have thiamine deficiency/functional blockage. One thing that happens in diabetes is that more thiamine is excreted by the kidneys that normal which exacerbates the problem of thiamine deficiency/functional blockage.

The reason Dr. Peat ultimately stopped eating starch was quite interesting: Volkheimer found that adding caffeine to his tests increased persorption severalfold (probably by inhibiting amylase), and the poison bean is too-valuable a source of niacin and magnesium to abstain from. A whole community where people drink 3, 5, or even more cups of coffee per day, intentionally with food, absolutely cannot tolerate starch without brain-damage. Starch can feed bacteria. So we should eat fruit and milk instead, rich sources of fiber and prebiotics, which have no effect on bacteria.

Persorption of Particles: Physiology and Pharmacology
Caffeine increases persorption. Coffee also blocks thiamine. Thiamine is needed to maintain gut integrity. Thiamine and magnesium are needed to heal leaky gut. I stopped drinking all coffee (and black tea) when I developed a thiamine deficiency/functional blockage (from long term lead poisoning topped off with Bactrim antibiotic) because I immediately reacted very badly to the coffee. I don't miss it.

People carry different loads of toxins in their bodies which cause them to have different nutritional needs and vulnerabilities. Each person needs to carefully evaluate their particular needs and reactions to different foods and nutrients.

 

[Limon9]

<blahriblahri, insulin>

Many Bioenergeticists suffer from Westside Amyloidosis¹, a state of insulin-resistance consequent of pounding down suspect lipids such as butter and coconut oil. These free fatty acids partially block oxidation too, raising the amount of insulin release required to suppress lipolysis. At least they don't melt you from the inside-out due to their saturation. But... this is sophistry, equating eating white rice with eating white rice as a staple, with eating any kind of starch, these being assigned equal thiamine-depleting power, and this being given extensive control over blood sugar in lieu of considering meal fat, protein, and overall health. I certainly hope people aren't taking Peat's emails as a green-light for eating 5 pounds of potatoes daily. Even the famously long-lived and undiseased Okinawans only managed two!

In Peat-World, everything is upside down: starch is a luxury food, tolerated only by the healthy, and fruit is the staple of the infirm.

I did like Drs. Londsale and Marrs' book, but the thiamine-people are usually totalizing monomaniacs. I've seen enough failed attempts to silver-bullet every disease to not orient my whole lifestyle around one vitamin. But for you, a senior who has been poisoned by metals and medicine, it makes sense.

¹ Vaccination available on request from Florida Orange Growers Association