Ray Peat’s Thoughts on the Appropriate Amount of Fat in a Diet

ursidae

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I see a lot of contradicting information, this thread is for quotes by Ray Peat regarding the TOTAL amount of fat a diet should have. I know his advice varies from case to case but certain things are fixed like like his stance on emphasising carbs and maintaining a certain calcium to phosphate ratio. His opinion on PUFA is very clear and well known so it’s not necessary to post about that, however when it comes to MUFA things get a bit hazy, so any quotes on that are also welcome.

In short, My question is: are his recommendations for a high, a moderate or a low saturated (total) fat diet?
 
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I see a lot of contradicting information, this thread is for quotes by Ray Peat regarding the TOTAL amount of fat a diet should have. I know his advice varies from case to case but certain things are fixed like like his stance on emphasising carbs and maintaining a certain calcium to phosphate ratio. His opinion on PUFA is very clear and well known so it’s not necessary to post about that, however when it comes to MUFA things get a bit hazy, so any quotes on that are also welcome.

In short, My question is: are his recommendations for a high, a moderate or a low saturated (total) fat diet?


I read this in an e-mail exchange with Ray Peat the other day....

"Sugar helps the liver to make cholesterol, switching from starchy vegetables to sweet fruits will usually bring cholesterol levels up to normal. If the fat is mostly saturated, from milk, cheese, butter, beef, lamb or coconut oil, I think it's usually o.k. to get about 50% of the calories from fat, but since those natural fats typically contain around 2% polyunsaturated fats, I try to minimize my PUFA intake by having more fruit, and a little less fat, maybe 30 to 35%." -Ray Peat
 
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I read this in an e-mail exchange with Ray Peat the other day....

"Sugar helps the liver to make cholesterol, switching from starchy vegetables to sweet fruits will usually bring cholesterol levels up to normal. If the fat is mostly saturated, from milk, cheese, butter, beef, lamb or coconut oil, I think it's usually o.k. to get about 50% of the calories from fat, but since those natural fats typically contain around 2% polyunsaturated fats, I try to minimize my PUFA intake by having more fruit, and a little less fat, maybe 30 to 35%." -Ray Peat
Holy Crap thats a lot of fat! on a 3000 cal diet he'd be eating ~1000cals of fat aka 111g oof fat. That's nuts to me.
 

Rasaari

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I read this in an e-mail exchange with Ray Peat the other day....

"Sugar helps the liver to make cholesterol, switching from starchy vegetables to sweet fruits will usually bring cholesterol levels up to normal. If the fat is mostly saturated, from milk, cheese, butter, beef, lamb or coconut oil, I think it's usually o.k. to get about 50% of the calories from fat, but since those natural fats typically contain around 2% polyunsaturated fats, I try to minimize my PUFA intake by having more fruit, and a little less fat, maybe 30 to 35%." -Ray Peat
Damn I doubt he eats 30-35% fat, thats insane. How and why would he burn it? I walk for a living and eat about 20%.
 
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Damn I doubt he eats 30-35% fat, thats insane. How and why would he burn it? I walk for a living and eat about 20%.

Probably mostly coconut oil and fats you can't avoid in lowfat milk, cheese, chicken wings and beef. I saw something recently where he said he only eats about 1600 calories. I think he use to eat a lot more. I will look around and see what else I can find.
 

OccamzRazer

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I read this in an e-mail exchange with Ray Peat the other day....

"Sugar helps the liver to make cholesterol, switching from starchy vegetables to sweet fruits will usually bring cholesterol levels up to normal. If the fat is mostly saturated, from milk, cheese, butter, beef, lamb or coconut oil, I think it's usually o.k. to get about 50% of the calories from fat, but since those natural fats typically contain around 2% polyunsaturated fats, I try to minimize my PUFA intake by having more fruit, and a little less fat, maybe 30 to 35%." -Ray Peat
Nice find! I eat about 50% of cals from fat and this makes me feel much more okay about it lol. Cheese, butter, dark chocolate, mmm
 

Rasaari

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what do you do for a living that requires walking?
I'm a mailman. Here all the apartments have letter slots individually so it means going to the highest floor with an elevator and putting all in individually. I get about 300km of steps a month, mostly downstairs though. Im lucky to have mostly buildings with elevators. Its pretty excruciating but its the best I got for now. I waste sugar like crazy on the job. Guzzle through sugar milk and coke throughout day.
 
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Rasaari

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Probably mostly coconut oil and fats you can't avoid in lowfat milk, cheese, chicken wings and beef. I saw something recently where he said he only eats about 1600 calories. I think he use to eat a lot more. I will look around and see what else I can find.
I don't think 1600 is possible
 
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Here is from the RPF e-mail exchange. These are some pretty fatty foods.


"Eggs and orange juice, milk and oysters, and a raw carrot. For variety, smoked oysters, crab, cod fried in butter, ox-tail soup, parmigiano reggiano, sapotas, lychees, liver. Completely avoiding unsaturated fats, such as canola and mayonnaise, and minimizing beans, cereals, and vegetables."

"Normally, I usually have around 400 grams of carbohydrate. I have about 3 quarts of milk, varying amounts of orange juice (probably over a quart on average), eggs, and about 200 grams of meat or fish, with other things such as coca cola, cheese, ice cream, cheese cakes, some coconut oil and butter, occasional tropical fruits."

"I occasionally use some powdered gelatin for things like making marshmallows, but usually I get my gelatin from soup, such as ox-tails. lamb shanks, or chicken backs and wings."
 

Rasaari

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Here is from the RPF e-mail exchange. These are some pretty fatty foods.


"Eggs and orange juice, milk and oysters, and a raw carrot. For variety, smoked oysters, crab, cod fried in butter, ox-tail soup, parmigiano reggiano, sapotas, lychees, liver. Completely avoiding unsaturated fats, such as canola and mayonnaise, and minimizing beans, cereals, and vegetables."

"Normally, I usually have around 400 grams of carbohydrate. I have about 3 quarts of milk, varying amounts of orange juice (probably over a quart on average), eggs, and about 200 grams of meat or fish, with other things such as coca cola, cheese, ice cream, cheese cakes, some coconut oil and butter, occasional tropical fruits."

"I occasionally use some powdered gelatin for things like making marshmallows, but usually I get my gelatin from soup, such as ox-tails. lamb shanks, or chicken backs and wings."
Well that seems more reasonable.
 
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Keeping in mind e-mail exchanges are RP recommending to another person a protocol, whether it be gaining weight, recovering from an ilness or just him changing his mind from 30 years ago. Here is another I found....


"Although we can make our own fats from sugars, I think it's good to have some fat in our food, because of its effects on the intestine especially. Experiments on an isolated loop of intestine, measuring the nutrients entering the bloodstream, showed that relatively simplified mixtures of nutrients were poorly digested. Fat, protein, sugars, and minerals, in combination, activated the intestine, increasing the digestion of all of them, when they were present at the same time.
If the fats are mostly saturated, as in butter, coconut oil, or beef or lamb fat, roughly a third of the calories is good, but the ideal proportion probably depends on the specific foods and the person's level of activity. Increasing either fat or sugar can have some specific therapeutic effects, but when more information becomes available about the composition of particular fruits, I suspect that the ideal balance of nutrients will lean toward the sugars, supported by ketoacids and short-chain saturated fats. The polyunsaturated fatty acids, which break down into toxic fragments and free radicals and prostaglandin-like chemicals, are--along with bacterial toxins produced in the intestine--the source of the main inflammatory and degenerative problems. Sugar and the minerals in fruits are fairly effective in keeping free fatty acids from being released from our tissues, and the fats we synthesize from them are saturated, and aren't likely to be stored as excess fat, because they don't suppress metabolism (as polyunsaturated fats and some amino acids do). The minerals of fruits and milk contribute to metabolic activation, and prevention of free-radical damage." -Ray Peat e-mail exchange
 

livesimply

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Here's a short email exchange with RP in August 2021:

ME: "Was listening to your phone interview with Patrick Timpone where you recommend low fat milk. I purchase Maple Hill Grass Milk since raw milk is prohibited where I live. The whole milk is not fortified, but by law the low fat milk is fortified with Vitamin A Palmitate and Vitamin D3. Which do you recommend in this case--whole or low fat?

RP: "If you aren’t very active physically, the fat content of whole milk provides too many calories in relation to the other nutrients. If it isn’t homogenized, it’s easily skimmed."
 

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