Peat Diet & Increased Intelligence

CoolTweetPete

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I don't mean to come across as narcissistic -- I'm still a bozo, but I've seen this mentioned on the Ray Peat threads on Facebook, and I wanted to get everyones take.

Has anyone else noticed an increased sense of intelligence on a Peat-style diet? I'm wondering what the mechanisms might be.

It does make sense to me that getting cortisol in check could improve mood, and the ability to think clearly. Also, I've seen Andrew Kim mention that glucose is necessary for LTP (long-term potentiation) in neurons.

I was on a low-carb diet for a long time, and I felt like that had increased my intelligence, but Roddy mentioned to me that it might have just been stress hormones making me feel more alert. My confidence in my cognitive abilities seems generally more available and pronounced. Now when I listen to people, who I know are low-carb, speak -- I feel like I can almost hear the stress in their voice, but maybe I'm just reaching. :geek:
 

Parsifal

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CoolTweetPete said:
post 99973 I don't mean to come across as narcissistic -- I'm still a bozo, but I've seen this mentioned on the Ray Peat threads on Facebook, and I wanted to get everyones take.

Has anyone else noticed an increased sense of intelligence on a Peat-style diet? I'm wondering what the mechanisms might be.

It does make sense to me that getting cortisol in check could improve mood, and the ability to think clearly. Also, I've seen Andrew Kim mention that glucose is necessary for LTP (long-term potentiation) in neurons.

I was on a low-carb diet for a long time, and I felt like that had increased my intelligence, but Roddy mentioned to me that it might have just been stress hormones making me feel more alert. My confidence in my cognitive abilities seems generally more available and pronounced. Now when I listen to people, who I know are low-carb, speak -- I feel like I can almost hear the stress in their voice, but maybe I'm just reaching. :geek:

According to some low carb freaks, ketosis increases CMRO2 level and uncouple it from CBF so might not be all due to stress hormones.

Actually my brain is working better now than on low carb (but I still have ADHD) even if I felt that my musical perception was increased on the low carb in the same fashion as when I used to smoke pot.
 
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CoolTweetPete

CoolTweetPete

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Agreed, I feel there was a bit of give and take, but I do sense overall cognitive improvement on RP over LC. It's almost like I'm generally more confident that my brain will perform while I'm speaking.
 

Milky

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I really think there's a balance to be achieved somewhere in the middle and I'm still chasing it. I felt great many, many times eating along the lines of Perfect Health Diet and getting around 150g of carb a day. When I didn't feel good is when I'd try to drive carbs down under 75g per day for several days at a time. It would lead to cold hands and feet and dizziness every time. Lately I keep experimenting with higher sugar / lower fat and it just doesn't feel right. I'm going to experiment with adding in more protein and not worry too much about fat from butter and cheese (I don't drink milk) and lay off the added sugar and maybe juice for a bit and see where that leaves me. I feel like I'm just not active enough for all the sugar I ingest right now.
 
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CoolTweetPete

CoolTweetPete

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Milky said:
post 100003 I really think there's a balance to be achieved somewhere in the middle and I'm still chasing it. I felt great many, many times eating along the lines of Perfect Health Diet and getting around 150g of carb a day. When I didn't feel good is when I'd try to drive carbs down under 75g per day for several days at a time. It would lead to cold hands and feet and dizziness every time. Lately I keep experimenting with higher sugar / lower fat and it just doesn't feel right. I'm going to experiment with adding in more protein and not worry too much about fat from butter and cheese (I don't drink milk) and lay off the added sugar and maybe juice for a bit and see where that leaves me. I feel like I'm just not active enough for all the sugar I ingest right now.

That's interesting and I think I have a parallel experience in some senses. I was under 30g of carb for 3-4 days at a time when I was on CKD, and I do feel much better on about 150-200g a day. I was drinking Bulletproof Coffee on CKD so I was eating a lot of fat, which I have tried swapping for cheese and milk, but I end up with digestive issues (mainly diarrhea) when I have too much dairy. This is usually accompanied by some brain fog.
 
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