Peating Family, Depression And ADD, Success Story

Nina

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Hi!
I cook for my family (husband, 2 kids 11 and 13) following Ray Peat's approach. I quickly realized that Peating is pretty much an individual experience, a personal choice. I tried to convince friends to Peat, now they all think I'm crazy. So I watch them lose their hair, get depressed, and becoming vegan or paleo in an effort to fix things. Some of my friends are very sick, but what can you do?

But my family doesn't have a choice!
So far, Peating has been a success for me and my family, even if they are not doing it full time.
I don't have time to go into details, but my son was diagnosed with depression at 11. We tried many other things of course, but since peating he's been very happy, laughing a lot, less tense, better sleep, no more eczema, less anxiety, no more OCD-like behaviors. Before that, he was also diagnosed with ADD at 7, and took ritalin (concerta) for almost two years prior to the depression (anybody see the connection? the pediatrician did not). The ADD is under control now. Decaf helped, among others.

My daughter (11) was doing fine before peating, except for one thing. Once a week, she would dress like a boy, and wanted her friends to call her by a boy's name she picked. I didn't worry about it, but it stopped while peating, and I must admit I'm relieved.

Here I was only looking for low-fat meal ideas. (I guess I'll start another thread)

Taking care of a depressed child is hell on earth.
I was a depressed child too. (thank God for survival mechanisms).
A child with depression affects the whole family, and if parents were not depressed before, chances are they will be eventually.
Getting out of there is nothing short of a miracle to me. I attribute it to: an awesome therapist (for me), a very supportive husband, and Peating. Those are the core things that worked. The first two lead to the third, Peating, but Peating alone would have worked I think... (Oh, this includes countless hours of research in books and on the internet over 6+ years... mothers are motivated).

I don't think Dr Peat ever addressed depression in kids specifically, and I wish he would.

Depression and ADD/ADHD in kids are reaching epidemic proportions. Parents are exhausted and helpless. It costs thousands of dollars to families in tests, time off from work, specialists, medication. What adults will they grow out to be? is that tomorrow's society?

As for ADHD, a lot of well-meaning parents blame sugar for hyperactivity, so they restrict it. They give omega3, I did. Kids taking ritalin/concerta get very skinny, so they eat fast food ridden with vegetable oils (because you can eat it without appetite). They take melatonin to help with sleep. They spend a lot of time on video games because parents are exhausted, among others. There are numerous mentions of "brain fog" on this forum, that were taken care of by peating. I think we can safely say that brain fog and ADD are pretty much the same thing.

I have to go now, but i'd like to know if others have been through the same experience?
Any chance Dr Peat wrote or talked about depression in kids? or ADHD?

Anyway, thanks.
 

FredSonoma

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Awesome to hear about, really happy to know about your success with Peating! How long have you and your family been Peating now?
 
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Nina

Nina

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7 months now!
In my son I saw results very quickly.
 

PeatJAM

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Thanks for sharing! Can you share what a day of Peating looks like to you and your family?
 
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Nina

Nina

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For breakfast, we have orange juice, eggs, rice cereals, or gluten-free pancakes, with café au lait. My son (13) sometimes has a decaf with a lot of sugar.

Lunches are very hard to prepare. No sandwiches, and no school cafeteria (if possible), and almost everything is home-cooked. Masa harina muffins (Ark's recipe is great: http://blog.arkofwellness.com/corn-muff ... sa-harina/ with chocolate chips), fruits, orange juice, cheese, left-overs in a thermos, greek yogurt or milk pudding. It'a lot of planning.

We both work from home, so sometimes I'll do an omelet, or I just have fruits, cheese, coffee and ice cream. During the day I often cook bone-broth in the slow-cooker.

When the kids come back from school or day camp, they are greeted with a raw carrot of course, sometimes with hummus or a bunch of fruits. Timing is everything!

For supper, we'll have bone-broth soup twice a week (I do a Pho soup, a potato-sausages soup, and a spinach-brocoli soup). My daughter loves homemade paté on crackers. I do fried rice. Smoked oysters with cream cheese on crackers. Cod with parmesan. mashes potatoes. Arepas.

Before bed, my son always has warm milk and sugar.

The kids do not eat 100% peat-style, and it's ok. They don't have 40+ years of pufa in their system, and I think the focus should be about good taste and good nutrition for now. I do spend a lot of time cooking.
 

HDD

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Hi Pina,
Thank you for sharing your success story! My son has a similar history but is an adult now. I was wondering if your son took thyroid or any other supplements?
 
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The thirteen year old had to go decaf? :shock:
 
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Nina

Nina

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@Such_ regular coffee made him jump up and down! :-D
Decaf makes him very happy. And he's glad to do something "grown up".

@HDD How is your son now?
My son didn't take thyroid. I gave him omega3 for a while at first, and did not see improvements. then he took ritalin and melatonin. At 11 he took mirtazapine for a year and stopped ritalin. The mirtazapine was for a year only, so I did some research about supplements, which led me to try 5-HTP and tyrosine for him.
At the time, I was taking tryptophan supplements at night to sleep better, my son's psychiatrist recommended that. Can't hurt right? it's natural!
So he took 5-HTP and tyrosine for only a week, until I found Matt Stone, Critical Mas and Danny Roddy's articles about serotonin, read Danny's book, and began peating.
 

HDD

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My son's OCD and anxiety began in puberty. ADD not diagnosed by a physician but he complains of brain fog. I began Peating for my health issues. As I read about hypothyroidism, and the posts of many on this forum having anxiety/panic attacks, I suspected this was the root of my son's problems. His pulse and temperature also indicate low thyroid.

When he is eating well, getting sun, and taking thyroid he seems great. Managing blood sugar is a big factor for him. He prefers to get up and drink coffee without eating. I have seen this trigger both anxiety and/or negative/depressed thoughts. He had major panic attacks at work while taking Straterra. This drug killed his appetite so he was dealing with low blood sugar. It has taken some time to figure these things out and he does not fully understand or believe what I believe about his different symptoms. Since he is an adult, he makes the decisions on what will help. As you stated in your first post, it is a personal choice and very hard to convince others who are inundated with so much misinformation. I keep trying since I am convinced that it can all be corrected.

I appreciate your post, it is both a confirmation of what I believe and very encouraging!
 

Nicholas

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this is so inspiring to hear how you have taken Peat and made it work for you and your family
 

4peatssake

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Congratulations Pina and :welcome2 to the forum.
Glad you found RP and all of us!
 
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Nina

Nina

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@HDD it's very nice talking to you. I've been thinking about how to talk about Peating to friends or family. My sister is very sick. However, I think I can't expect friends to do complete changes with their eating habits, and make them stop listening to mainstream health advice altogether, let alone their doctor, just because I told them about this "rebel scientist" I found out about on the internet. I don't have much credibility. However, I'll definitely talk to everybody about the documentary.

It's a detail, but you mentioned your son having only a coffee in the morning without eating, does he take it with milk at least? Café au lait in a bowl, or capuccino could be a nice start. Does your son still live at home?

I'm using the expression "success story" although I don't like it, it implies something like winning the lottery, being happy ever after, when it's more like an ongoing process, daily efforts. Still, I consider this life-changing and will not go back.

I'm planning a week of camping now... what a challenge!
 

HDD

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Nice talking to you, too, Pina! Having people who share common issues and resolving them is such a great benefit of this forum. My son is still living at home. His anxiety has prevented him from keeping a job for very long. I am positive hypoglycemia is a big factor with his anxiety/panic. It is very common in my family. I remind him that he needs to eat with his coffee. Probably too much.

Thanks for the link to the muffins. I made them this morning and I am sure they will be gone by the end of the day. My younger son said they tasted like cornbread with chocolate chips but he ate 3.

Enjoy your camping trip! I guess you will have to do quite a bit of planning to eat well. Maybe you can share a "Peaty Camping Menu"? :D
 

dd99

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Pina, that's great! Thanks for sharing your story. Glad it's working so well for you and your family.
 

charlie

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Pina, this is most excellent. Thank you for sharing. :hattip
 
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Nina

Nina

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HDD said:
https://raypeatforum.com/forums/posts/91563/
Enjoy your camping trip! I guess you will have to do quite a bit of planning to eat well. Maybe you can share a "Peaty Camping Menu"? :D

I prepared a very satisfying beef stew in the slow-cooker before leaving. It took me a lot of trials and errors with the slow-cooker, most recipes just had no taste. This stew was awesome especially in the context of camping!

We had gluten-free crêpes with shredded cheddar and maple syrup for lunch. I'm very happy with my crêpes recipe, I'll post it here later on.

We also ate arepas, omelet, oatmeal, cod with rice.

It was a lot of preparation and planning. We were very lucky with the temperature. It went well but the kids don't enjoy camping as much as they used to, and I don't enjoy all this packing!
 
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Donmar

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Hi Pina,
Thank you so much for your family story. My family story somewhat resembles yours. I have a 16 year old daughter who has been depressed for years. She has been on a few medicines. Your story makes me very hopeful . I am hopeful that my daughter follows my lead with the food. I just feel overwhelmed with the food and what to feed my 2 daughters and husband. Would you be able to give a brief overview of what they eat on a typical day. I know you mentioned a few things, but I am having such a hard time. I don't know why I seem to be making it so hard. And I would love the crockpot recipe please!!
 
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Nina

Nina

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Donmar said:
https://raypeatforum.com/forums/posts/96729/...Would you be able to give a brief overview of what they eat on a typical day. I know you mentioned a few things, but I am having such a hard time. I don't know why I seem to be making it so hard. And I would love the crockpot recipe please!!

It's okay if the changes you are doing with the food take some time. It IS overwhelming at first, and your family might not appreciate a complete change of menus and habits in a short time.

I made things very complicated at first. If I were to start again simply, I would begin by introducing/encouraging:

  • coffee/decaf with milk/cream
    raw carrot 20-30 minutes before supper
    Ice cream for dessert or at bedtime
    Spending time in the sun
    Orange juice/oranges
    butter

Those are easy and make a difference.
Then I would go on with the rest.
Removing gluten made a huge difference in my family, but I had experience on this so it was easy.

First of all, most commercial gluten-free products are not worth it, except some rice pasta and flour mixes. Bread tastes like cardboard and has oils in it. The texture is not appetizing. It's so expensive. And eventually your goal would be to limit starches as much as possible. So don't try to substitute bread, think differently.

Bread is mostly an issue for breakfast and lunch. For dinner, it's easier to do without.

So for breakfast, I know some people here have Rice Krispies, even if it's not ideal. It works. I'm looking for an organic, non-iron-fortified version... but in the meantime we love Rice Krispies.

When I stopped cooking my eggs in olive oil, it struck me how good they taste in butter! with salt! scrambled eggs, fruits, fruits, and more fruits. Cheese. Juice.

Actually, to make things simple you could focus on those keywords/ideas:


  • Snacks (as opposed to heavy meals)
    Fruits
    Soups (with bone broth)
    meat/fish with white rice-butter-salt (can be a family meal life-saver)
    don't go for "ideal" : aim for "good enough", or "better"
    Did I say snacks?

Commercial Jell'o is probably not ideal but it's a staple in my fridge!

Potatoes fried in coconut oil... (the refined oil - has no taste). Mucho appreciated.

I'll be back with the stew recipe.

Peating is more difficult when you are the family's cook! when I'm alone, I don't even think about food, I just snack and go on with my life.

Also, I found it useful to take notes. some kind of journal of symptoms, changes, improvements.
 
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LucH

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Pina said:
I have to go now, but i'd like to know if others have been through the same experience?
Any chance Dr Peat wrote or talked about depression in kids? or ADHD?
Hi,
An underlying cause, not often suspected is a methylation defect.
95 % of autism and most depression are due to a lack of neurotransmitters.
30 - 50 % persons are suffering from this defect (up to 70 %, partially).

Exerpt:
“Our bodies contain enzyme machinery to perform a vast array of chemical reactions necessary for life. Scientists often organize these chemical reactions into metabolic pathways that involve a series of reactions that occur together in a sequence. We have metabolic pathways to burn sugar for energy, to detoxify harmful chemicals that we ingest, to make DNA for cell reproduction, to make important brain chemicals like serotonin and dopamine and many others. Many of these metabolic pathways require a methylation reaction. Stated simply, a methylation reaction takes a portion of a chemical molecule called a methyl group and moves it from a donor to a recipient. The recipient molecule has to have the methyl group as part of its structure to function normally.
There are over 200 different chemical reactions in our metabolic pathways where methylation has to occur. Methylation is occurring trillions of times a day throughout all of our cells and tissues. When our bodies do not methylate with ease, we suffer from immune system problems, hormone balance problems, digestive problems, energy problems, brain problems including moods and memory just to name a few. Abnormal methylation blocks normal function of almost all our cells and tissues!”
Wally Taylor MD

Schema of a methyl group: CH³
=> One single atom Carbon and 3 atoms Hydrogen are added onto a compound.

Which compound?
[highlight=yellow]Within our bodies, there are countless compounds which require methylation in order to be built, stopped or eliminated.[/highlight] One such compound is arsenic.
If one has reduced capacity to methylate a compound, such as arsenic, then this allows arsenic to bioaccumulate. The more arsenic one has in circulation, the more likely it is going to disturb other biochemical compounds - such as thyroid peroxidase (TPO).
I took arsenic as example, since it’s common in our foodstuff, combined to pesticides. Water, rice, chicken, apples and apple juice, to name a few, are other sources.
If your intake magnesium and selenium is good enough, it won’t cause much trouble, for most people. If you eat algae and / or fish (iodine), you will probably be spared … if you are producer of methyl. Of course, fish mustn’t contain too much mercury (another endocrine disruptor).
Note: As the mercury / selenium ratio does not exceed 1, homeostasis can occur. Except for shark, swordfish, and Floridian + Mexican mackerel (king mackerel) there is no excess mercury. Not yet ;)

Why is this important?
TPO’s job is to add iodine to a protein called thyroglobulin which is a fairly important step in creating thyroid hormones. If TPO cannot do its job of putting iodine onto thyroglobulin, then thyroid hormone levels drop.
Arsenic is especially harmful in people when they are unable to eliminate it from their body - and arsenic is not easy to eliminate.
In order for your body to eliminate arsenic, one must have adequate methylation.

Statistics
Statistics show that between 30 – 45 % of Americans have some sort of MTHFR dysfunction, inhibiting the methylation cycle and causing a countless variety of health conditions. Worse yet: 98% of Autistic children have a MTFHR genetic mutation.
So just what is MTHFR?
“MTHFR is a gene that acts somewhat like a light switch activating various body processes by either turning them on or off. In this case, MTHFR takes folate (vitamin B9) and methylates / converts it into methyl folate (5-methylTHF). This is one of the most important functions in the body. If the body is not getting enough of this usable folate at the cell level, a dangerous cycle begins and leads to deficiencies and a multitude of health issues”.
Dr Rodney Russell

Part two: Case report
Excerpt from “The Thyroid Madness II”, by By Benjamin Lynch, ND. - Methylation, MTHFR and Thyroid Dysfunction. Chapter 12. 2015
To be continued, if interested ;)
:hattip
LucH
 

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