Improvements On A Tsimane-Inspired Diet

[Tenacity]

If you are sick, reconsider everything you're doing as a contributing factor.

A short while ago I read about the diet of the Tsimane, the Bolivian people with the healthiest hearts in the world. I found it fascinating that a group of people consuming mostly starches, one of the most maligned substances on the forum, had such good well-being. Of course, this is unsurprising if you read Peat's quotes in context. Starch is fine for many people, yet he prefers fruit. The fact of the matter is, most of us do not have access to high quantities of fresh, ripe fruit.

Before embarking on my Tsimane-inspired diet, I was repping the high sugar, high dairy Peat life. It wasn't starch free, as I consumed small quantities of rice and potatoes, but it included high quantities of milk and chocolate, 20% of calorie content as fruit, some meat and eggs, table sugar and the aforementioned starches.

Excluding my POTS symptoms (which improve with a lower fat diet and niacinamide, so I suspect free fatty acids are a problem for me), I suffer from acne and difficulty going long between meals, and the associated emotional problems from both of those. I can become very stressed and moody simply by going too long without a meal. My facial acne almost completely disappears with progesterone use, but reappears when it is discontinued. My back acne lingers no matter what I do.

I read about the Tsimane and decided to try an experiment. It seemed logical at the time; high nutrient density from the starches, lack of empty calories from sugar and added fats (excluding maybe honey), lower on the fat side such that free fatty acids are less of a problem, and not too much protein, which we've discussed to be detrimental a few times on this forum.

I also have a few dental issues, so I consume large amounts of dairy products, and try not to eat too much acidic, unripe fruit. I consider this to be the only unTsimane-like thing on this diet.

Anyway, my diet is now as follows. I've been experimenting with the exact proportions for a while, but this seems logical to me for right now.

Occasionally I sub out the meat for cod, for the ocean nutrients. I consume honey as a replacement for good fruit, but I'd sub that out for fruit if I could. Honeydew seems to always be either not sweet at all, almost squash-like, or very sweet, and never acidic, so I see no problem consuming it. I add in the clementines for extra nutrients, but only eat very few because they tend to be very acidic here. The Tsimane diet ratio is 72/14/14 C/F/P. Protein is a little higher than I'd like, with less total carbohydrate than the Tsimane, but that is a consequence of eating as much dairy as I do.

I supplement with progesterone, niacinamide and vitamin D, and have been doing so for a long time, before I began this experiment.

Anyway, onto the improvements:

• Backne is clearing up. At this rate I'll be acne free very soon in the near future, with no lesions or inflammation anywhere.
• I can now go longer between meals. Usually 3 or 4 hours between meals and I'd get pretty crabby, but now it's more like 6. Oddly enough, I don't have never awoken from hunger in the night. I consider this to be a huge win, given the threat of low blood sugar to health.
• I credit both of the above to two things; the fibre content of the diet from potato and fruit, perhaps clearing out more toxins and estrogen, and the increased intake of nutrients such as the B vitamins and magnesium.
• I used to suffer from mild fatigue, but this has significantly improved since beginning a Tsimane-inspired diet.
• I am more regular, with 2-3 BMs a day rather than 1-2.
• Teeth feel cleaner for longer. Plaque formation is significantly decreased. I feel like I could go a few days without brushing if I wanted to. I no longer get a funky sour taste in my mouth, which I have concluded to be from my past chocolate consumption.

In short, things are way better now than they were when I was following a diet that is closer to the common conception of a 'Peat-diet.' I consider tubers a natural human food, up there with fruits in terms of value to human nutrition. I wonder if most people have problems with starch because they are consuming it from other sources, like processed grains. I'm going to tinker with the proportion of potato and dairy in my diet, but I'm very happy with the results so far.

Props to @olive too. I was inspired by your sweet potato consumption to say the least, haha.

 

[jb116]

This has been said many times here. There is a misconception Peat is whole-heartedly against starch. He isn't. And he has been quoted saying he thinks a person should get as much as sugar and starch in their diet as they can. His focus is possibly avoiding it if there are horrific gut and digestion issues. He also emphasizes they should be cooked well and eaten with a little bit of healthy fat. He also acknowledges the tendency for endotoxin but again this becomes more an issue with compromised gut health and/or improperly cooking methods.

 

[olive]

Diet looks good. Glad to hear I could be of inspiration. Possibly low on vitamin e and potassium, which could be economically remedied with the addition of tomato paste/purée/juice - assuming no aversion to nightshades considering the inclusion of normal white potatoes in your diet laid out above.

 

[Tenacity]

Diet looks good. Glad to hear I could be of inspiration. Possibly low on vitamin e and potassium, which could be economically remedied with the addition of tomato paste/purée/juice - assuming no aversion to nightshades considering the inclusion of normal white potatoes in your diet laid out above.

Thanks for the advice. I use Progest-E, so get vitamin E whenever I use progesterone, and Cronometer tells me I get 10g of potassium from this diet, so all good on those fronts. I also found out that parsnips have a very favourable vitamin E to PUFA ratio as well.

 

[milkboi]

Looks like a great peaty diet to me

 

[dreamcatcher]

Your acne might be the result of insulin resistance and poor liver function. When I cut out added sugars, my skin completely cleared up.
To heal fatty liver, fructose, too much overall fat and PUFAs are advised to be avoided for some time. (I followed this regimen for about 2 months.) Coconut oil is the best for fatty liver. It is the most beneficial of all saturated fats, when it comes to curing it.

 

[brainfog]

This has been said many times here. There is a misconception Peat is whole-heartedly against starch. He isn't. And he has been quoted saying he thinks a person should get as much as sugar and starch in their diet as they can. His focus is possibly avoiding it if there are horrific gut and digestion issues. He also emphasizes they should be cooked well and eaten with a little bit of healthy fat. He also acknowledges the tendency for endotoxin but again this becomes more an issue with compromised gut health and/or improperly cooking methods.

 

[Tenacity]

Your acne might be the result of insulin resistance and poor liver function. When I cut out added sugars, my skin completely cleared up.
To heal fatty liver, fructose, too much overall fat and PUFAs are advised to be avoided for some time. (I followed this regimen for about 2 months.) Coconut oil is the best for fatty liver. It is the most beneficial of all saturated fats, when it comes to curing it.

Thanks for the feedback, that's interesting. I've always suspected I have a liver issue due to the inability to go long without food. Hopefully this is the first step in a long road to healing this issue. Why would added sugars worsen insulin resistance and improve liver function?

 

[dreamcatcher]

Thanks for the feedback, that's interesting. I've always suspected I have a liver issue due to the inability to go long without food. Hopefully this is the first step in a long road to healing this issue. Why would added sugars worsen insulin resistance and improve liver function?

A high fat diet along with regularly consuming added sugars have negative health consequences.
I experienced similar issues- had to eat very often, otherwise I would feel extremely fatigued.
Fructose is one of the worst offenders when dealing with fatty liver, along with PUFAs- according to Chris Masterjohn. He has several articles and podcasts on fatty liver disease and talks about how choline is important.

After 2 months of fruit exclusion and lower fat intake, I eat fruits now as I please, without issues.


https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/blog/2011/04/22/new-fatty-liver-study-shows-tha/

https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/nonalcoholic-fatty-liver-disease/

 

[Tenacity]

A high fat diet along with regularly consuming added sugars have negative health consequences.
I experienced similar issues- had to eat very often, otherwise I would feel extremely fatigued.
Fructose is one of the worst offenders when dealing with fatty liver, along with PUFAs- according to Chris Masterjohn. He has several articles and podcasts on fatty liver disease and talks about how choline is important.

After 2 months of fruit exclusion and lower fat intake, I eat fruits now as I please, without issues.


https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/blog/2011/04/22/new-fatty-liver-study-shows-tha/

https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/nonalcoholic-fatty-liver-disease/

Thanks a lot. This rings true to me in some ways. In the past, eggs have had a beneficial effect on my facial acne, so if what you say about choline is true, it seems like a lot of pieces of the puzzle are pointing in the same direction.

 

[miki14]

.

 

[miki14]

A high fat diet along with regularly consuming added sugars have negative health consequences.
I experienced similar issues- had to eat very often, otherwise I would feel extremely fatigued.
Fructose is one of the worst offenders when dealing with fatty liver, along with PUFAs- according to Chris Masterjohn. He has several articles and podcasts on fatty liver disease and talks about how choline is important.

After 2 months of fruit exclusion and lower fat intake, I eat fruits now as I please...

You're making things up!
Chris Masterjohn never blamed fructose for fatty liver, do you confuse him with Dr Funny (I ment Dr Lustig) maybe?
Masterjohn considers choline deficiency as the biggest cause for fatty liver as you hint to the end.
His opinion on pufas has recently shifted more to the mainstream, promoting its benefits.

 

[dreamcatcher]

You're making things up!
Chris Masterjohn never blamed fructose for fatty liver, do you confuse him with Dr Funny (I ment Dr Lustig) maybe?
Masterjohn considers choline deficiency as the biggest cause for fatty liver as you hint to the end.
His opinion on pufas has recently shifted more to the mainstream, promoting its benefits.

Read his articles then..as you haven't.

 

[dreamcatcher]

You're making things up!
Chris Masterjohn never blamed fructose for fatty liver, do you confuse him with Dr Funny (I ment Dr Lustig) maybe?
Masterjohn considers choline deficiency as the biggest cause for fatty liver as you hint to the end.
His opinion on pufas has recently shifted more to the mainstream, promoting its benefits.

"So does fructose cause fatty liver? Kind of. I'm not suggesting fructose is harmless or that you should go out an eat a bowl of fruit loops with your liver and eggs, but the loss of cholesterol-rich foods like egg yolks and organ meats as a result of cholesterol paranoia seems to be at the bottom NAFLD thus far."
Chris Masterjohn

https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/blog/2010/11/23/sweet-truth-about-liver-and-egg-yolks/

 

[jb116]

"So does fructose cause fatty liver? Kind of. I'm not suggesting fructose is harmless or that you should go out an eat a bowl of fruit loops with your liver and eggs, but the loss of cholesterol-rich foods like egg yolks and organ meats as a result of cholesterol paranoia seems to be at the bottom NAFLD thus far."
Chris Masterjohn

https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/blog/2010/11/23/sweet-truth-about-liver-and-egg-yolks/

Chris is saying there is a displacement of cholesterol rich foods due to industrialized sugary foods. The "harm" is that people will skip out on eggs or liver for a bowl of cereal. Also he would totally refer to choline and protein deficiency regarding NAFLD first before saying a blanket statement like "fructose is bad."
He has in turn, in a certain context, also questioned that is it necessarily healthy for example to stop eating enriched, refined flour or a cereal and he said not necessarily since that might be a source of certain nutrients like folic acid that a person may not otherwise get. He isn't super mainstream or black and white as people may perceive him to be. Also regarding the PUFA, Chris is actually pretty vocal about them being sensitive to peroxidation and unstable. He even said that to somebody the other day asking why he said to be cautious with omega3 intake.

 

[Tenacity]

I've looked up some past Cronometer inputs to try and figure out what exactly is going on and why I have experienced such improvements on this diet. It could be the addition or removal of food from the diet, but I do wonder if macronutrient intake is a factor in my case as well.

In general:

• Fibre intake is increased, especially from tubers.
• Starch intake is increased, especially from tubers.
• Total sugar intake is down.
• Sucrose intake is down, especially from sources of white sugar and some fruits.
• Total fructose intake is down (free fructose and the fructose in the above sucrose).

The rest of the diet is similar in all other parameters.

 

[dreamcatcher]

Chris is saying there is a displacement of cholesterol rich foods due to industrialized sugary foods. The "harm" is that people will skip out on eggs or liver for a bowl of cereal. Also he would totally refer to choline and protein deficiency regarding NAFLD first before saying a blanket statement like "fructose is bad."
He has in turn, in a certain context, also questioned that is it necessarily healthy for example to stop eating enriched, refined flour or a cereal and he said not necessarily since that might be a source of certain nutrients like folic acid that a person may not otherwise get. He isn't super mainstream or black and white as people may perceive him to be. Also regarding the PUFA, Chris is actually pretty vocal about them being sensitive to peroxidation and unstable. He even said that to somebody the other day asking why he said to be cautious with omega3 intake.

Interestingly, Chris Masterjohn himself eats one apple a day and a small amount of berries. That's all for fructose.

 

[miki14]

Read his articles then..as you haven't.

Post the quotes from his article that support you claims or shut up!

 

[jb116]

Interestingly, Chris Masterjohn himself eats one apple a day and a small amount of berries. That's all for fructose.

He does have a malabsorption issue he's trying to work out recently

 

[jet9]

If you are sick, reconsider everything you're doing as a contributing factor.

A short while ago I read about the diet of the Tsimane, the Bolivian people with the healthiest hearts in the world. I found it fascinating that a group of people consuming mostly starches, one of the most maligned substances on the forum, had such good well-being. Of course, this is unsurprising if you read Peat's quotes in context. Starch is fine for many people, yet he prefers fruit. The fact of the matter is, most of us do not have access to high quantities of fresh, ripe fruit.

Before embarking on my Tsimane-inspired diet, I was repping the high sugar, high dairy Peat life. It wasn't starch free, as I consumed small quantities of rice and potatoes, but it included high quantities of milk and chocolate, 20% of calorie content as fruit, some meat and eggs, table sugar and the aforementioned starches.

Excluding my POTS symptoms (which improve with a lower fat diet and niacinamide, so I suspect free fatty acids are a problem for me), I suffer from acne and difficulty going long between meals, and the associated emotional problems from both of those. I can become very stressed and moody simply by going too long without a meal. My facial acne almost completely disappears with progesterone use, but reappears when it is discontinued. My back acne lingers no matter what I do.

I read about the Tsimane and decided to try an experiment. It seemed logical at the time; high nutrient density from the starches, lack of empty calories from sugar and added fats (excluding maybe honey), lower on the fat side such that free fatty acids are less of a problem, and not too much protein, which we've discussed to be detrimental a few times on this forum.

I also have a few dental issues, so I consume large amounts of dairy products, and try not to eat too much acidic, unripe fruit. I consider this to be the only unTsimane-like thing on this diet.

Anyway, my diet is now as follows. I've been experimenting with the exact proportions for a while, but this seems logical to me for right now.

View attachment 13640

Occasionally I sub out the meat for cod, for the ocean nutrients. I consume honey as a replacement for good fruit, but I'd sub that out for fruit if I could. Honeydew seems to always be either not sweet at all, almost squash-like, or very sweet, and never acidic, so I see no problem consuming it. I add in the clementines for extra nutrients, but only eat very few because they tend to be very acidic here. The Tsimane diet ratio is 72/14/14 C/F/P. Protein is a little higher than I'd like, with less total carbohydrate than the Tsimane, but that is a consequence of eating as much dairy as I do.

I supplement with progesterone, niacinamide and vitamin D, and have been doing so for a long time, before I began this experiment.

Anyway, onto the improvements:

• Backne is clearing up. At this rate I'll be acne free very soon in the near future, with no lesions or inflammation anywhere.
• I can now go longer between meals. Usually 3 or 4 hours between meals and I'd get pretty crabby, but now it's more like 6. Oddly enough, I don't have never awoken from hunger in the night. I consider this to be a huge win, given the threat of low blood sugar to health.
• I credit both of the above to two things; the fibre content of the diet from potato and fruit, perhaps clearing out more toxins and estrogen, and the increased intake of nutrients such as the B vitamins and magnesium.
• I used to suffer from mild fatigue, but this has significantly improved since beginning a Tsimane-inspired diet.
• I am more regular, with 2-3 BMs a day rather than 1-2.
• Teeth feel cleaner for longer. Plaque formation is significantly decreased. I feel like I could go a few days without brushing if I wanted to. I no longer get a funky sour taste in my mouth, which I have concluded to be from my past chocolate consumption.

In short, things are way better now than they were when I was following a diet that is closer to the common conception of a 'Peat-diet.' I consider tubers a natural human food, up there with fruits in terms of value to human nutrition. I wonder if most people have problems with starch because they are consuming it from other sources, like processed grains. I'm going to tinker with the proportion of potato and dairy in my diet, but I'm very happy with the results so far.

Props to @olive too. I was inspired by your sweet potato consumption to say the least, haha.

Tenacity hi! Are you still having good results with this diet?