I Tried Out Every Diet Under The Sun. Here I Share What I Learned

[baccheion]

My ancestry (Africa) points to low fat. Pig, chicken, wild game, fish, grains, starches, fruit, etc were all lean. How would such genetic adaptation work out with a higher fat approach?

 

[Hugh Johnson]

Every diet under the sun, eh?

How did you do on Walter Kemper's Rice Diet?

The Willaim Brown No Fat/No PUFA high sugar and skim milk diet?

The MAP Protocol Diet?

Protein Sparing Modified Fasting?

Regular Fasting? Intermittent Fasting?

Slim Fast Diet? Drinking Man's Diet? Pure Carnivore? Raw Vegan? Raw Primal?

The All Milk Diet as described by Bernarr MacFadden?

He is lying. As a med student he is probably under 30, and thus has not had the change to try many things. Even then, it takes a few years to really get any feedback on an approach. He is near graduation, and thus is seeking to get customers. Which is not bad in and of itself, it's just that he does not understand health but must get something out of those years of cramming worthless trivia.

 

[metabolizm]

He is lying. As a med student he is probably under 30, and thus has not had the change to try many things. Even then, it takes a few years to really get any feedback on an approach. He is near graduation, and thus is seeking to get customers. Which is not bad in and of itself, it's just that he does not understand health but must get something out of those years of cramming worthless trivia.

Bullseye.

 

[rei]

You wrote many good points that are often overlooked, but you also stressed points that i would call straight-out invalid. Fruits and sugar used intelligently generally never cause issues and are excellent energy sources. Before you eliminate grains and tubers because of their blood sugar/insulin rollercoaster effect don't even think about limiting fruits/sugar.

 

[S-VV]

It's a nice summary of alt-health "mainstream" views, ie Poliqins "deserve your carbs". Ray goes much deeper than this. Not saying that he is right, but he can blow most of these arguments without breaking a sweat.

You may have picked the wrong forum for this, many people have most metabolic routes committed to memory:)

Also, will you be skipping residency? You'll miss out on the ultimate hormetic experience

 

[Goat-e]

Very low crab?

But I love crustaceans.

 

[metabolizm]

• Stay away from dairy. Most people think bad reactions to dairy are due to the lactose content. In many cases however, it is not the lactose, but the whey and esp. casein protein fraction of the milk. Both whey and casein evolved to have some hormonal activity. Both are quite bad for metabolic health. Besides, many people´s immune system reacts against certain forms of a1-casein.

Can you expand on these claims? I mean, expand on them in detail? You're painting in very broad brushstrokes here.
Some people absolutely thrive on dairy - how do you explain that?

 

[LeeLemonoil]

It's a nice summary of alt-health "mainstream" views, ie Poliqins "deserve your carbs". Ray goes much deeper than this. Not saying that he is right, but he can blow most of these arguments without breaking a sweat.

You may have picked the wrong forum for this, many people have most metabolic routes committed to memory:)

Also, will you be skipping residency? You'll miss out on the ultimate hormetic experience

That comment made me happy

 

[AsAbove.SoBelow]

I am an ex-carnivore (+1yr and did a lot of fasting with it too, at the point of eating 3 times per week.) and many of those claims are straight-up BS. Fat for fuel is very taxing to the body and doesn't provide even near as much energy as carbs do, your claims just throw the hormonal components out of the window (cortisol, adrenaline, T3-4, etc). SFAs are the best FAs, Ray Peat and Haidut have some good references on this. Your claim that "our ancestors" ate low carb is BS, just observe other cultures that eat 60-80% of carbs and they are metabolically healthy. We didn't evolve to eat meat, we evolved because we learned to cook. Not to mention that muscle meat contains a lot of tryptophan, we should prioritize organs, shellfish, dairy, etc over muscle meat. Dairy, especially raw milk is one of the best foods out there, the true superfood, it contains not only the right ratios of C/P/F but also it's pretty much nutrient-dense and pro-metabolic.

 

[corvetteseeker]

I tried all of Ray Peats main suggestions and I’ve come to nearly the same conclusions as the OP. Maybe it’s my Eastern European heritage combined with my very sedentary job. Adding any kind of carbs, especially before night time (even fruit or fruit juice) causes immediate lethargy whereas pure meat provides clear steady energy. Dairy causes immediate excessive urination, fatigue and terrible sleep. Although I admit I probably have leaky gut that leaves me susceptible to the dairy proteins.

 

[InChristAlone]

That works for healthy young males. Take a 35 yr old woman and your ideas are going to reveal themselves as a recipe for binge eating. CARBS SAVE LIVES.

 

[NodeCerebri]

I tried all of Ray Peats main suggestions and I’ve come to nearly the same conclusions as the OP. Maybe it’s my Eastern European heritage combined with my very sedentary job. Adding any kind of carbs, especially before night time (even fruit or fruit juice) causes immediate lethargy whereas pure meat provides clear steady energy. Dairy causes immediate excessive urination, fatigue and terrible sleep. Although I admit I probably have leaky gut that leaves me susceptible to the dairy proteins.

Tbh this sounds like a systemic stress on the body to me. It depends on the context and on the speed you are implementing changes. Lethargy after eating carbs is IMO a hint that you need it big time and that this will get better over time. Eating proteins only releases stress hormones which can give a feeling of steady energy, which IMO also points to HPA axis dysregulation/stress. I also read the articles about hormones and hormone replacement and cortisol of OP on his blog and I appreciate the work but I think the very foundational hormonal and biochemical processes are just missing or misinterpreted.

 

[Amazoniac]

Sugar/fructose in high quantities

raises uric acid

- Fructose Increases Uric Acid Contributing to Metabolic Syndrome-Herbal, Nutritional and Dietary Strategies to Reduce Uric Acid
- Serum urate as an antioxidant for ascorbic acid (tanka's work)
- An Anti-oxidant You Actually Need
- Ray Peat On DHAA In Meat: No Need For Ascorbic Acid Supp?

i tried out literally any type of diet under the sun

That's better than leaving the food alone degrading by light only to take pictures for social media.

Spoiler

 

[schultz]

Our ancestors never had the fast-spiking carbs we have now.

Who says?

We evolved as meat-eaters.

Who says? Personally I think we evolved as fruit eaters.

In many cases however, it is not the lactose, but the whey and esp. casein protein fraction of the milk.

Casein is anti-inflammatory. Do you disagree?


I agree with the others. You have obviously not read Ray's work, plus I suspect you didn't even write your post but copied it from somewhere, which is why I am not going to bother responding in a meaningful way.

My father and brother are both physicians. So, who cares? They are both very smart, but doctors don't even learn anything about nutrition at school. Although my brother leans towards the type of diet you've laid out. He did mention recently that adding more carbs in made him less tired. You think? Lol.

 

[TheBeard]

I am a med student in my last year. About to become a functional medicine doctor. In the last few years i tried out literally any type of diet under the sun. I want to share with you some things I learned along the way.

There are many diets out there. Nutrition is like religion, people protect their diet with their lives. Different diets work for different people. But there is a diet you can´t go wrong with.

Different diets work for different people. But there is a diet almost everyone does well on (that does NOT mean people don´t do well on other diets as well). This is the diet we evolved with over the last couple hundred thousand years or so.

A few points about a diet literally everyone does well on:

• Your main energy source should be good fats. The rest should come from good fats (almost everyone does well on MUFA; SFAs are ok).
  
  
• You need to deserve your carbs. The more insulin sensitive (i.e. lean and active) you are, the more carbs you can tolerate. Keeping carbs between 100–200g carbs works well for most people. The leaner and more active, the more carbs you tolerate and even need.
  
  
• Avoid high-glycemic loads. Our ancestors never had the fast-spiking carbs we have now. Intense spikes in insulin are bad. (Whole books can be written -and in fact, are written — about the science).
  
  
• Cycling into ketosis occasionally keeps you metabolically flexible. Metabolic flexibility is incredibly important. Just as our ancestors likely were, throwing in the occasional fast (cycling in and out of ketosis) keeps your cells great at oxidizing fats while remaining good at burning glucose.
  
  
• Very low crab? A diet very low in carbohydrates is great for becoming metabolically healthy (e.g. fatty liver, insulin resistance, adiposity), but if you are already lean and active, going too low in carbs for too long periods of time can screw with hormonal health.
  
  
• Do not only look at macros and micros. Calories are just as important. Perhaps THE most important factor when it comes to diet is simply the number of calories you eat. We are heterotrophic creatures. Energy intake is one of the most important things animals do. For adequate health and function (esp. hormonal health), sufficient caloric intake is required.
  
  
• Protein intake. Around 1.5g protein/kg body weight.
  
  
• Eat meats. We evolved as meat-eaters. Meats are highly nutritious and contain many nutrients (e.g. minerals, carnitine, carnosine, creatine, choline, CoQ10, etc.). Too bad, meat is bad for the environment.
  
  
• Stay away from dairy. Most people think bad reactions to dairy are due to the lactose content. In many cases however, it is not the lactose, but the whey and esp. casein protein fraction of the milk. Both whey and casein evolved to have some hormonal activity. Both are quite bad for metabolic health. Besides, many people´s immune system reacts against certain forms of a1-casein.
  
  
• Sugar/fructose in high quantities is bad. Not only does it elevate intrahepatic lipogenesis (fatty liver), but it also raises uric acid, which has a host of adverse effects itself. What is more, sweetness hooks you and you become addicted to it.
  
  
• Avoid excessive Omega-6 intake. Stay away from most vegetable oils (esp. soy, corn, sunflower). Not only are they precursors to pro-inflammatory eicosanoids, but they also screw with the different PPARs.
  
  
• From a health perspective, not much variety is needed. If vitamins and micronutrient intakes are adequate, we can eat the same foods and meals over and over again (and every other mammal out there animal does this). Do you think our primate ancestors had varied buffets available 24/7, 365 days per year? Hell no, they ate the exact same stuff over and over again. In fact, people in blue zones, in general, eat the same 20 or so ingredients for their whole lives.

Don´t miss the forest for the trees. Following these few points gives you 80% of the benefit for 20% effort. Overfocusing on tiny details is pointless.

I am a med student becoming a functional medicine doctor in a year. I tried out every diet under the sun and found paleo to be best and healthiest (not just based on personal experience).

I wrote a short guide about a diet that literally everyone does well on.

Enjoy.

A Diet That Works For Everyone

I am open for any criticism, feedback, different opinions. Humanity is all about collective learning :)

Dude, you are in your 20s, you haven't had time to properly try "every diet under the sun".
Even if you did, you probably wouldn't have had the chance to see how they work on anyone else than yourself.

What you did is build a "knowledge" based on blogs suck as Chris Kesser's and Mark Sisson's, and paroting them in the hope of getting some sort of validation because deep down you are unsure of what actually works.

You trump no one here, this is a forum to share what works in real life.

 

[Nicole W.]

Dude, you are in your 20s, you haven't had time to properly try "every diet under the sun".
Even if you did, you probably wouldn't have had the chance to see how they work on anyone else than yourself.

What you did is build a "knowledge" based on blogs suck as Chris Kesser's and Mark Sisson's, and paroting them in the hope of getting some sort of validation because deep down you are unsure of what actually works.

You trump no one here, this is a forum to share what works in real life.

Exactly.

 

[Cloudhands]

Whats your take on the calcium:phosphorus ratio? How do u get adequate calcium on said diet?

 

[Ignoramus]

Your dietary recommendations are nowhere near autistic enough for me

 

[thingsvarious]

• Stay away from dairy. Most people think bad reactions to dairy are due to the lactose content. In many cases however, it is not the lactose, but the whey and esp. casein protein fraction of the milk. Both whey and casein evolved to have some hormonal activity. Both are quite bad for metabolic health. Besides, many people´s immune system reacts against certain forms of a1-casein.

Can you expand on these claims? I mean, expand on them in detail? You're painting in very broad brushstrokes here.
Some people absolutely thrive on dairy - how do you explain that?

Dairy certainly seems to be a very individual thing. Many do great on it, many others do great once they cut it out. Seems to be partially an immunological thing. Lactose (intolerance), whey (insulin potentiation), casein (IGF1protuction; immunological reaction) could all be a reason why some have no issues with it, while others feel just so much better once they cut it out.

 

[thingsvarious]

To me it seems that eating too much dairy protein (esp. casein in cheese) kills my sleep