PLEASE HELP WITH MY SPECIFIC CONDITION

andrei

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2017
Messages
195
Hello guys! Hope that you are well.

I am new to the forum because I recently found about Ray Peat. I am now implementing his guidelines.
The reason I was looking for alternative approached to nutrition is due to sleep.

I used to sleep very well until 2 months ago, but my food was very anti-Peat. I was eating mainly oatmeal, potatoes, and protein powder. I also ate butter and chicken breast. I was eating apples and some vegetables. I was drinking a lot of water and coffee on empty stomach. I was fasting every day too.

I was peeing a lot and I never thought this was not good. Eventually I found that this was a sign of poor metabolism and I somehow got to Peat. But in spite of all that, my sleep was 10/10. Very restorative.

Now my sleep is 7-8 out of 10. Meaning that I fall asleep, but I wake up not completely restored. And my temples have some discomfort. Not pain, just discomfort. I am not anxious, nor irritable. But I just cannot get back my deep sleep.

Could it be that this is a cumulative effect from the previous diet/lifestyle? Something I thought was good but it actually isn't. My sleep was even slightly worse a bit before Peat. So I upgraded it by a point or so by focusing on sugars and avoiding PUFA. I so desperately want to get to that deep sleep. Otherwise, my bowels are 2 times everyday, I don't pee too much, and I feel warm. Please guys give me some insight!
 

Richiebogie

Member
Joined
May 3, 2015
Messages
969
Location
Australia
Potatoes, butter, fruit, coffee and sugar are fairly Peat.

Peat prefers milk to chicken but I don't digest store milk very well. I do better on parmasan, vintage cheddar, goat and sheep cheese, shrimp and a little tuna in spring water.

I have also replaced potato with OJ, bananas, raspberries, mangos, prunes, dates, dried figs and sweet potatoes.

What time did you used to have dinner / late night snacks when you slept well, and what were you eating?

Probably good to keep the same times and macros if you did well on those, and make small adjustments /substitutions from there.
 
OP
A

andrei

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2017
Messages
195
I drink 1l milk (2.5%) + sugar, 4 oranges or so, prunes and dates, 1 coffee + sugar, 1 egg, some cheese and chicken feet stock.
Now I want to take only vitamin E as a supplement (400mg every 2 days), and glycine (1g).
I used to take vitamin D3 and vitamin K2. I want to stop them to experiment.

My sleep is improving marginally. It went from 6-7 to 8-8.5. I'm doing real Peating only for a week or so.
I am cutting weight now, so I eat only around 2200 calories. It's a moderate deficit. The hunger is bearable.
 

milk

Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2015
Messages
341
Peaty things that seem to improve my sleep quality: raw carrot, gelatin/glycine, taurine.

When I wake up but haven't slept enough: one or two glasses of milk with a generous ammount of sugar and a little salt. Great for falling asleep again. And aspirin. Aspirin always makes me fall back asleep and get some good deep sleep for about another three hours.
 
OP
A

andrei

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2017
Messages
195
Thank you.
I read some bad experiences from aspirin (bleeding etc.) so I don't want to try it yet.
What others supplements do you take?
Is it OK to follow the recommendation of supplementing with vitamin E?
 

tara

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
:welcome andrei

I don't understand why you changed your diet? If I'm reading you right, you say it was because of sleep, but your sleep was 10/10, and now it it is worse?

I don't understand why
I am cutting weight now, so I eat only around 2200 calories. It's a moderate deficit. The hunger is bearable.
That could be it. Insufficient food the day before can wake me up in the night.

For me, I don't find refined sucrose an improvement on potatoes.
 
OP
A

andrei

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2017
Messages
195
@tara Thank you for the message Tara.

Let me explain briefly. I used to live in Netherlands until recently. I was eating as I said back there. Relatively low body temp, frequent urination but 10/10 sleep.
I came back to my home country (a place in Eastern Europe). And I think I was having some nutritional stress from eating that monotonic diet. I started eating a lot. Mainly starches (oats, corn), lots of white cheese (i don't know if this one is good, it's mass produced, cheap and has a lot of protein), and all kinds of sweets (ofc they have pufa etc.). My sleep started to suffer. Decreasing to 6-7/10. That happened for two months or so.

Then I found Ray Peat. It was hard to wrap my head around sugar and milk. But I did. I slimmed down 7 kg in 5 weeks or so. And my sleep improved up to 8-9/10. I still cannot get that 10. That's my biggest goal. I'm trying now to only take vitamin E (400mg), and 1 g glycine. I drink 1l milk, 0.5l OJ, oranges, prunes, sugar and honey.

I'm still eating 250g of that white cheese (mass produced). That was the most consistent food I had been eating since coming back here. Wondering if the amino acid profile of that cheese is bad. It's made of pasteurized milk and bacteria.
 

tara

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
I'm still eating 250g of that white cheese (mass produced). That was the most consistent food I had been eating since coming back here. Wondering if the amino acid profile of that cheese is bad. It's made of pasteurized milk and bacteria.
Chronically eating a calorie deficit of 1000+ would seem a likely to cause stress and catabolism, and maybe sleep disturbance. A seriously unbalanced or limited diet can cause deficiencies in particular nutrients that are omitted or undereaten. Have you tried running a typical current day's food through chronometer or similar to see whether there are any obvious micronutrient gaps? (Don't believe it on calories - it tends to give restrictive prescriptions.) Eg are you getting plenty of magnesium?
Some of us find food timing to make a difference too, so that's another factor you can play with.

Sunlight on skin can really help with sleep and circadian rhythm and mood and energy. If your recent trouble has coincided with winter, that could be a factor that may yield to spring and/or appropriate supplemental lighting in the meantime?
 

Constatine

Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2016
Messages
1,781
I had sleep problems when I first started peating. I came to realize that it was due to a lack of calories. You will simply not sleep well when calories is lacking, especially when the metabolism is raised from peating.
 
OP
A

andrei

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2017
Messages
195
@Constatine Thank you! I agree. I still raised the quality of my sleep, in spite of this caloric deficit.

It is between 8-9 out of 10. I'm noticing that sugar is the nutrient that best predicts the quality of sleep.
I cannot say certainly yet. But that's my intuition.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom