New To The Forum, But Not New To Peat - My 8 Years On This Journey

Mark2020

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
35
Hi Everyone.

I love discussing health and wellness, and have followed the work of Ray Peat closely since 2012. I figured I would introduce myself, and share some of my experiences and what I've learned along the way.

When I began "Peating", I had a lot of health issues. Anxiety, major digestive issues, brain fog, depression, and uncontrollable anger. I was under the false impression at the time, that diet and supplements could fix all of my issues. That my issues were somehow ALL diet related. Which wasn't true, but this is what I thought back in 2012.

Ray Peat's recommendations made no sense to me at all at the beginning! I was coming off a raw vegan diet, and SUGAR?! Ice cream!? Aspirin?! Milk?! WTF?! But, I was so desperate, that I decided to give it a try. I would have drank cow pee at the time, if it had known health benefits.

In the 8 years since I began implementing certain Ray Peat techniques towards wellness, I have learned a great deal through trial and error. Here's some of them:

1. A little added white sugar is super beneficial. I have tried organic honey, molasses, "sugar in the raw", and all of these so called healthy sugars. NOTHING is as effective as cheap, white refined sugar. The stuff you pay $3 for a 6 lb bag of.

2. Avoiding gums/thickeners is paramount! This was a game changer for me. I didn't realize how many things have added gums or thickeners in them. Reducing them made an instant impact on my digestive bloat.

3. It was very hard for me to find my balance with milk. It took years of trial and error, and experimentation. I've tried every kind of milk, every kind of way. Lactose free, heavily sugared, not sugared, chocolate milk, fat free, 1%, 2%, whole milk, goat's milk, sheep's milk, raw, etc. This is what I learned is the most important thing for me..... heating the milk before consuming. Sounds odd, right? Well, after several years of not having milk totally agree with me, bringing milk to a boil worked like MAGIC. I personally use 2%, but it works with any type. And I usually DON'T sugar my milk at all. Boiled, drank as is.

4. Orange Juice was another one that was VERY hard to find my balance for. What I learned, is what things like Minute Maid are like battery acid in my system. The oranges aren't ripe, so the juice is very acidic. If I consume orange juice, it either has to be fresh, or cold pressed. Otherwise, I don't bother. And I usually always have to add some white sugar to it. Not much. Usually 1/2 teaspoon per 8 oz. I didn't truly understand the power of OJ until I realized how bad the store bought ones were for my body.

5. Go easy on ice cream. I was underweight when I first began Peating, so I was under the impression that I needed all kinds of calories to start gaining weight. I went through a heavy Haagen Dazs phase, and I did not feel my best. I avoid it for the most part these days. I find that it seems to REALLY slow down my bowel transit time, and I just feel better without it. Oh, and by the way, I started gaining a ton of healthy weight (muscle), when my digestive system calmed down, and I began releasing trapped emotions (Read the book "The Emotion Code").

6. I take 1 supplement and 1 supplement only. Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C) Powder. Not a ton, but maybe 1,500 to 2,000 mg a day. I have taken SO MANY supplements over the years. Went through a huge aspirin phase (noticed only negative effects - nothing positive), did the whole Vitamin D/K thing, put Vitamin E oil on my skin. Did that whole thing. The only consistent benefit I've found is from sodium ascorbate in fairly low doses.

7. Don't follow anyone else's advice blindly. We're all unique. What works for you may not work for me. Listen to your body. Stop doing something "Peat recommended", if it makes you feel lousy.

8. The only starch I consume is bread. Brioche french bread. I find that it digests wonderfully, and I buy a brand that has very minimal ingredients. It's made with wheat, but I digest it beautifully, and I feel it nourishes me. Unlike Ezekiel bread, and so many of those "healthy" breads that irritate my gut. I don't consume rice, potatoes, or any other starch. I don't like the taste of them, and I don't like the GI effects they give me. The main thing for me is taste... I just simply do not like starches.

9. Coffee.... this was another one that took me years to get right. This is what I settled on... Cold Brew is what I enjoy the most -- both taste-wise, and the effect on my body. I will drink 1-2 cups a day of coffee. Any more than that, I find it unbalancing. But 1-2 is my sweet spot, and I notice fantastic benefits from it. Contrary to Peat's suggestions, I like consuming my coffee black. 8 years of experimentation lead me to believe black, or with a little warmed milk, is best tolerated by my body and gut.

I think that's all for now.
Cheers!
 

charlie

Admin
The Law & Order Admin
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
14,359
Location
USA
:welcome2
 

GreekDemiGod

Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2019
Messages
3,325
Location
Romania
Valuable post, thanks for writing.
2. Avoiding gums/thickeners is paramount! This was a game changer for me. I didn't realize how many things have added gums or thickeners in them. Reducing them made an instant impact on my digestive bloat.
What would you say are common products / foods that contain gums/thickeners?
heating the milk before consuming.
Legit. Warm milk feels so much better.
I began releasing trapped emotions (Read the book "The Emotion Code").
Has it worked? Was this a physiological approach? Like breathing work?
 

Max23

Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2018
Messages
490
Welcome Mark!
How about you share with us your story how this book "The Emotion Code" has helped you, how you utilized it, since you are so eager to recommend it?
 
OP
Mark2020

Mark2020

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
35
Welcome to the forum Mark!
did you try to go under 4g of PUFAs since 2012 too?

No. I have noticed zero benefit of overly scrutinizing my PUFA intake. Went through a several year period of doing that. I don't consume any food rich in PUFA. That works for me. I don't use any oils at all. Butter or ghee, if I need added fats.
 
OP
Mark2020

Mark2020

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
35
Welcome Mark!
How about you share with us your story how this book "The Emotion Code" has helped you, how you utilized it, since you are so eager to recommend it?

Sure, Max.
Like I said, I came into this whole Peat world because of health issues. While going Peat DID help my overall health, it was minor stuff. Sure, it has helped me feel my best, but what really helped HEAL me were two things: reading The Emotion Code and working with a practitioner to get trapped/unresolved emotions out of my energy field. And supplementing that with plenty of self-love that I was able to learn about through the work of Louise Hay.

Ray Peat's dietary approach didn't heal me. It just simply gives me the fuel I need to live my best life. What healed me, was freeing up the blockages in my energy field through the emotion code work, and preventing them from occurring again, by loving myself and others unconditionally.
 

Atman

Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2016
Messages
393
What are your protein sources besides milk? Any cheese, meat, eggs, organs?

Where do you come from? I ask because I've never seen brioche bread in a store without crap added to it.
 
OP
Mark2020

Mark2020

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
35
i guess what everyone wants to is...did you put on any weight??

Yes. I went from 149 lbs to 181 lbs. I gained 32 lbs over several years. I was lifting weights also, so it wasn't just all food. But, I was lifting weights prior to that, and was incredibly thin.
 
OP
Mark2020

Mark2020

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
35
What are your protein sources besides milk? Any cheese, meat, eggs, organs?

Where do you come from? I ask because I've never seen brioche bread in a store without crap added to it.

I am a big fan of eggs. I have at least 4 a day. Cheese, yes. Organs, not really. I don't like the taste, and I never found much value in them over the long haul. That's not to say they're not valuable. I just find choking them down wasn't worth the struggle for me. I also eat lean beef, oysters and shrimp.

I live in Louisiana, and I get the brioche from a local bakery. Ingredients are: wheat flour, sugar, whole eggs, butter, water, yeast, salt, herbs, spices, vitamin c.
 

Lollipop2

Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2019
Messages
5,267
Great post @Mark2020! And welcome :welcome

I think the balance you describe is exactly what Peat writes and talks about, think and experiment and find your sweet spot. You seem to have done exactly that.
 
OP
Mark2020

Mark2020

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
35
Great post @Mark2020! And welcome :welcome

I think the balance you describe is exactly what Peat writes and talks about, think and experiment and find your sweet spot. You seem to have done exactly that.

Thank you!

And yes, it took a lot of trial and error for me. The main reason why it took so long, was because I kept sticking to rigid beliefs that worked for somebody else. I kept getting results that I didn't want to get, yet I continued doing those things anyway.

Drinking cold milk out of the fridge, for example, always made me feel cold, and didn't work with my digestion. Then I thought about it... milk doesn't come out of a mammal cold. A cow's body temperature is 101.5 degrees on average. So the milk comes out at least that. Drinking 40 degree milk didn't make so much sense anymore. After I began heating my milk, BOOM, it was now warming, nourishing, and easy to digest.

Just simple stuff like that. Awareness, and listening to your body is so key.
 

Lollipop2

Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2019
Messages
5,267
Thank you!

And yes, it took a lot of trial and error for me. The main reason why it took so long, was because I kept sticking to rigid beliefs that worked for somebody else. I kept getting results that I didn't want to get, yet I continued doing those things anyway.

Drinking cold milk out of the fridge, for example, always made me feel cold, and didn't work with my digestion. Then I thought about it... milk doesn't come out of a mammal cold. A cow's body temperature is 101.5 degrees on average. So the milk comes out at least that. Drinking 40 degree milk didn't make so much sense anymore. After I began heating my milk, BOOM, it was now warming, nourishing, and easy to digest.

Just simple stuff like that. Awareness, and listening to your body is so key.
+1

You know what is interesting? In India (I lived there) they always heat their milk. It is even in their “scriptures” from yogis. I also remember a forum member @Such_Saturation who used to post a lot always saying that it is better to drink milk room temperature than cold. That always made sense to me.

Anyway, thanks for your effort to post your example that will help others.

Cheers!
 

LUH 3417

Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2016
Messages
2,990
+1

You know what is interesting? In India (I lived there) they always heat their milk. It is even in their “scriptures” from yogis. I also remember a forum member @Such_Saturation who used to post a lot always saying that it is better to drink milk room temperature than cold. That always made sense to me.

Anyway, thanks for your effort to post your example that will help others.

Cheers!
Makes sense to me too. This post got me thinking about how...when I would go to Europe during the summer as a child and we had milk in Tetrapaks, I would end up eating corn flakes with room temperature milk most of the time, and how much I loved that.
So I warmed up milk and had it with cornflakes just now, and I realized that when I eat cereal with cold milk I get a feeling of cold or stuck energy moving through my legs, it’s as if my blood is coagulating, but when I have warm milk, it’s like a warm flowing sensation through my body. I think Chinese and Indian medicine is very sophisticated, and they really emphasize ice cold food as being a problem.
 
OP
Mark2020

Mark2020

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
35
Yes! See, I think we instinctively know what's good and bad for us. But "knowledge" gets in the way too often. Milk is a beautiful food and for years, it struggled to nourish me. Drinking cold milk out of the fridge did the same thing to me.... it clearly restricted my blood flow and qi. Yet, I did it for YEARS, wondering why all the different milks I drank did the same thing to me. Even the $11 per gallon raw milk. I drank them all cold (35 degrees is a normal refrigerator setting).
 

lampofred

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
3,244
Doesn't ordinary white sugar have glyphosate? Or do you mean regular table sugar (but still organic) vs raw sugar, brown sugar, all the fancier stuff?
 
Last edited:

Arnold Grape

Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2017
Messages
601
Location
Upstate
Interesting! And welcome to the forum: I was wondering if you experimented with gut health things and/or carrot salad? For some reason this did not actually click with me until I added coconut oil and distilled white vinegar as opposed to eating a carrot raw with a little co.

Also, your advice to listen to your own inner workings is invaluable — especially in this context. Keep it going and wish you well.
 
OP
Mark2020

Mark2020

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
35
Interesting! And welcome to the forum: I was wondering if you experimented with gut health things and/or carrot salad? For some reason this did not actually click with me until I added coconut oil and distilled white vinegar as opposed to eating a carrot raw with a little co.

Also, your advice to listen to your own inner workings is invaluable — especially in this context. Keep it going and wish you well.

Carrot salad really did nothing beneficial for me. Oh, the amount of carrot salad I consumed!! It was one of those things, just like liver, that I had to "choke down", and I noticed no benefits from. Neither did bamboo shoots, charcoal, or any of the other popular gut suggestions. I suppose those things are helpful for some, but weren't for me. I followed the Peat guidelines to the letter for years. I have taken all of the Peat approved supplements, aspirin, gelatin, thyroid, etc. That was the main point of my post... listen to your body and your own inner wisdom.

My diet is really simple. I eat a lot of fruit (pineapple, grapes and honeydew melon are my favorite), eggs, milk, beef, coffee, occasional bread. I eat cheese a few times a week, as well as 70% chocolate. Not much else beyond that. I will have an occasional treat. I'm on this earth to enjoy life! Ice cream, beer, wine, cheesecake, a hot pretzel. But I treat those things like holidays. Too often consumed, and they become a big problem for your digestive system.

I eat a very simple diet, simple to digest.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom