Sort Out Your Life, Not Your Diet

[member 2106]

More provocative statements:

You can tweak your diet endlessly, but it will get you nowhere unless you're enjoying your life and are happy and fulfilled, and especially not if you're suffering from mental ill-health.

Yes, it is possible to be happy. Of course it is. It takes some work though. What you eat may have almost nothing to do with it.

Trying to find the perfect diet will not make you happy. There is no perfect diet anyway. It's a wild goose chase.

A calm, relaxed state of mind, a genuine enjoyment of life and sense of purpose, have a more profound effect on metabolism than cutting out starches. There are very happy and healthy people who eat crappy foods all the time.

Happiness and a sense of purpose, and freedom from extreme and constant worry or stress, will make you live longer.

Most gut issues are probably mental/emotional in origin.

It is, as we all know, possible to eat very well and still feel like ***t.

Sort out your life, not your diet.

-

These are really statements to myself. I'm not even sure I'd stand by them all. But it's how I've been thinking lately, and perhaps it will spark discussion. Or perhaps not.

 

[Inaut]

I think there is some validity to your statement. The body is extremely powerful and can do wonderous things given the right state of mind. Spontaneous cancer remission with no treatment comes to mind first with nothing other then a change in perspective/outlook.

I am guilty of exploring supplements/diets as a way to achieving optimal health and still use some but I think it over complicates the matter. I think we have inherent healing abilities, we just have doubt and cloudy thoughts that prevents us from realizing our potential. I seem to be repeating this now more than ever but something simple like rebounding will probably have longer lasting, physiological effects on body chemistry and health more than most supplements. It sounds too simple and silly but I think that’s where it’s always been. Jmo these days and I’m.......probably wrong though—-but it feels right

 

[Cirion]

You're not wrong but the problem is, many positive life changes take energy, energy that a sick person doesn't have. I know this first hand. The trick is to somehow get your body in a "positive feedback loop" then most of the other issues automatically take care of themselves. (IE, once you actually have some energy, you tend to have motivation to affect positive change in your life... Affecting positive change in your life gives you more energy and so forth) However I have never found that "Forcing" myself to make a change I lack the energy or motivation for rarely works... IT is so hard to break the negative feedback loop.

I'd argue that virtually all things that people think makes one "healthy" are in fact only able to be performed when one is healthy, not the other way around. Exercise, researching, creativity, passion, motivation, energy. None of these are possible without good health. And good health cannot be achieved without them. How to solve this dilemma? Maybe one day I'll figure it out. I haven't yet...

And this is why a lot of people stay sick their whole lives. It doesn't help that the process to get healthy can be a very, very complex process and it wouldn't be as bad if there weren't so many incompetent medical "experts". Unfortunately because it is complex, many people don't have the energy to even focus or research effectively. It's not a fun place to be in.

I'd argue though that you can go to as much therapy as you want, go on vacation to hawaii and it won't necessarily make you better either.

Modern life sets us up to be sick to be honest, and it's apparent with how unhealthy people in the West are. Crap food, crap water, crap medical care, crappy jobs, so on and so forth... Really, you have to overhaul EVERYTHING to make head way. Good food, water, better medical care (good luck with that), good job, good environment. Food is certainly but one aspect.

 

[DavidGardner]

For what it’s worth, my grandfather was a huge believer in positive thinking and lived to 93. He was probably the healthiest person in old age I have ever known.

I think the atmosphere of this forum lately has turned bitter with an overly mechanistic view of the body and health where everything has to be “just so” in order to acquire a hidden fountain of youth. It will never be “just so.” But you can get far by believing things are good enough and can get even better.

When I started dabbling on this forum a few years back it seemed like people here were achieving amazing things with their health, and I was the one who was broken and had something to learn. Now I am happy and well and it seems like everyone else here is messed up and complaining. It’s too bad because there is some useful information here that forum members dig up and share with the community. But I think most of us, myself included, are better off reading Ray’s articles, as others have mentioned, or exploring other avenues, including spirituality, philosophy, or whatever one finds mentally engaging.

You don’t have to have the perfect diet to be healthy. Mine isn’t. But I enjoy food and life.

Modern life is underrated. The modern world is corrupt just like every civilization of the past ever was, but it is still better. I’m not even going to argue this point. I think all the time of physical tools and also information that I never could have had at any other time or place in history. Hell, even just music is incredible now.

But I’ve meandered from the original topic more than I intended. If you endlessly pursue the perfect diet, you will go your whole life and never find it. If you start to focus on what you have that is strong and good, and work one by one on correcting problems as they arise, you will feel a lot healthier. And you will be healthier.

Optimism is underrated. I’ve been at rock bottom multiple times in my life, but I fought tooth and nail to get where I am today. If you have the wrong attitude, all the dietary and physical variables will never align.

This forum has become an increasingly toxic environment as of late. I will try to avoid it from now on, unless idle boredom brings me back.

 

[Inaut]

Great topic and discourse though. Borderline philosophical and spiritual

 

[Runenight201]

I would disagree, as my life situation did not change whatsoever, but I was able to completely overcome depression and anxiety through diet.

People who feel negative mental and physical states just haven’t sorted out their diet yet. The food I eat has such a profound impact on the type of thoughts and moods that i experience. With a sound diet, I would say I’m very happy, even though I make ***t money and live in a city, with little friends and no relationship. I have a lot of energy each and every day to get along with just about anyone, pursue my hobbies, do good work, etc...

Would i be happier making great money living on the beach with many good friends and a significant other? No doubt, but nonetheless I feel good, because the food I eat makes me feel good, and that’s enough to create the impetus to improve my life situation.

I would agree though that it’s important to not just solely focus on diet and focus on the other factors in your life. They for sure go hand in hand, but I am of the opinion that food makes up the larger share of whether one feels good or not.

 

[lampofred]

My guess is that for people who would benefit more from fixing their lifestyle than from fixing their diet, their instincts will tell them to focus first on lifestyle, and for people who would benefit more from fixing their diet than from fixing their lifestyle, their instincts will tell them to focus primarily on diet.

For me, both are invaluable... A good diet increases a certain kind of health (optimism, sensitivity of my senses, etc.) whereas a good lifestyle, such as talking to great people & pursuing fun hobbies, increases another type of health (satisfaction with life, energy to do things, etc.)

 

[Cirion]

I would disagree, as my life situation did not change whatsoever, but I was able to completely overcome depression and anxiety through diet.

People who feel negative mental and physical states just haven’t sorted out their diet yet. The food I eat has such a profound impact on the type of thoughts and moods that i experience. With a sound diet, I would say I’m very happy, even though I make ***t money and live in a city, with little friends and no relationship. I have a lot of energy each and every day to get along with just about anyone, pursue my hobbies, do good work, etc...

Would i be happier making great money living on the beach with many good friends and a significant other? No doubt, but nonetheless I feel good, because the food I eat makes me feel good, and that’s enough to create the impetus to improve my life situation.

I would agree though that it’s important to not just solely focus on diet and focus on the other factors in your life. They for sure go hand in hand, but I am of the opinion that food makes up the larger share of whether one feels good or not.

I agree, once you finally figure out the diet, it does have a big impact. I might not have believed it, if I hadn't gotten to this point once or twice in the past. The problem though is when you're fat like me with a broken metabolism that it seems like nothing you eat matters anymore lol. That's why I finally decided to just start taking T3 because I think my hormones are just too messed up due to excess body fat to get anywhere otherwise. A big slab of body fat is a huge pile of estrogen constantly spewing into your body... Those who don't believe diet matters likely haven't experienced what a proper diet can do for you. It literally can be the difference between night and day. I historically am insanely introverted and insanely anti-social, but in the past a great diet turned me from anti-social to party animal (Okay, maybe a SLIGHT exaggeration, but I did *actively* seek out parties once I was well and become quite social). That is quite the overhaul that simply changing diet can do for you. Sure I made some other life changes too at that time, but I'd say diet was one of the biggest factors.

Can you make positive life changes while unwell? Absolutely. However a lot of times what seems like helpful/healthy changes on the outside are not actually healthful on the inside. Sure, with enough "Grit" and "Willpower" that it's theoretically possible to force yourself to be social, force yourself to go on dates, force yourself to do well at work and go for raises. However, grit and willpower is not to be confused with actual, legitimate, good health. Trust me I know from THREE DECADES of personal experience. I have a LOT of grit. It is NOT the same as having good health, even if to others it seems that way. When you're actually legitimatelly well, no "Grit", no "Willpower" is required. You are social, you are energetic, your are happy, you WANT to be social, you WANT to work hard at work. The difference is, none of it is FAKED. Again, I speak from PERSONAL experience so I know what I'm talking about.

Now, we can have a SEPARATE discussion to discuss the merits of having grit. I ABSOLUTELY think having a lot of resilience, grit, willpower is VERY helpful for times of inevitable problems/low metabolism moments in life. I might not even be alive today if I didn't have alot of grit - seeing as how I have suffered from depression MOST of my life and still managed to have the grit to get a perfect 4.0 GPA in engineering school (undergrad). I am definitely proud of that accomplishment considering many times during that the depression was quite bad and distracting. That's while eating bad food, getting horrible sleep, OD'ing on caffeine, horrible social life (I didn't go on my first date EVER until I was 25-26, and never had a girlfriend until 30. These kind of things really mess with your head!!!) Not exercising, etc etc... So trust me when I know all about grit and all about how one can have willpower, as I have more of it than most people probably. And I mean that sincerely. I am just trying to show, that having willpower to "force" oneself to make changes in life is NOT going to fix your health. Am I glad I forced myself through engineering school? Yeah definitely, for the most part. Although I'm starting to realize I think engineering isn't my calling in life after all, but at least it pays pretty well. I didn't even touch a drop of alcohol in undergrad school either for what that's worth. I actually didn't touch alcohol until grad school (That's another story for another day lol). Just relaying that story to prove my point. I was the most unhealthiest in my entire life despite achieving a master's degree in engineering, which to most would argue is one of the best things you could do for your life (and that's not wrong), but it just shows that just making good choices isn't gonna make you feel better.

Luckily, I have hope now that I am FINALLY on the cusp of pulling up so to speak in terms of health since deep down I know that high carb-low fat is the answer (the very last time I actually felt good, was a very high carb low fat diet). I am re-discovering my roots if you will lol. Funny, when that's what Ray promotes all along, and it took me 2 years of posting here screwing around with fats in my diet to realize this fact (At least for me, I know some other people here seemingly thrive with fats in the diet). (This was in fact the diet that turned me into a "Party Animal".) Funny, because the diet was literally Whey and Maltodrexin haha. Just goes to show though that Macronutrients matter more than Micronutrients. Because with just those two foods I went from 3 decades of depression to party animal and feeling amazing. I even would bring a shaker to parties and drink Whey/Maltodextrin instead of alcohol =P I think people DRASTICALLY under-estimate how the randle cycle is one of the top five, top three, if not THE top reason why at least some people feel bad. Mixing fats with carbs just messes you up in sooo many ways. At least if you're currently insulin resistant and metabolically inflexible.

 

[CoolTweetPete]

I think both would be optimal. But I think in you're right in that diet won't budge your health in the right direction without a sense of purpose and a grateful, excited attitude toward each day. The Peat diet improved my mood and energy levels though. This allowed me to pursue these things. I doubt I would have had the mental clarity and energy to do these things while I was eating a keto diet just before I found Dr. Peat's work.

 

[Rafael Lao Wai]

I would disagree, as my life situation did not change whatsoever, but I was able to completely overcome depression and anxiety through diet.

People who feel negative mental and physical states just haven’t sorted out their diet yet. The food I eat has such a profound impact on the type of thoughts and moods that i experience. With a sound diet, I would say I’m very happy, even though I make ***t money and live in a city, with little friends and no relationship. I have a lot of energy each and every day to get along with just about anyone, pursue my hobbies, do good work, etc...

Would i be happier making great money living on the beach with many good friends and a significant other? No doubt, but nonetheless I feel good, because the food I eat makes me feel good, and that’s enough to create the impetus to improve my life situation.

I would agree though that it’s important to not just solely focus on diet and focus on the other factors in your life. They for sure go hand in hand, but I am of the opinion that food makes up the larger share of whether one feels good or not.

I agree, once you finally figure out the diet, it does have a big impact. I might not have believed it, if I hadn't gotten to this point once or twice in the past. The problem though is when you're fat like me with a broken metabolism that it seems like nothing you eat matters anymore lol. That's why I finally decided to just start taking T3 because I think my hormones are just too messed up due to excess body fat to get anywhere otherwise. A big slab of body fat is a huge pile of estrogen constantly spewing into your body... Those who don't believe diet matters likely haven't experienced what a proper diet can do for you. It literally can be the difference between night and day. I historically am insanely introverted and insanely anti-social, but in the past a great diet turned me from anti-social to party animal (Okay, maybe a SLIGHT exaggeration, but I did *actively* seek out parties once I was well and become quite social). That is quite the overhaul that simply changing diet can do for you. Sure I made some other life changes too at that time, but I'd say diet was one of the biggest factors.

Can you make positive life changes while unwell? Absolutely. However a lot of times what seems like helpful/healthy changes on the outside are not actually healthful on the inside. Sure, with enough "Grit" and "Willpower" that it's theoretically possible to force yourself to be social, force yourself to go on dates, force yourself to do well at work and go for raises. However, grit and willpower is not to be confused with actual, legitimate, good health. Trust me I know from THREE DECADES of personal experience. I have a LOT of grit. It is NOT the same as having good health, even if to others it seems that way. When you're actually legitimatelly well, no "Grit", no "Willpower" is required. You are social, you are energetic, your are happy, you WANT to be social, you WANT to work hard at work. The difference is, none of it is FAKED. Again, I speak from PERSONAL experience so I know what I'm talking about.

Now, we can have a SEPARATE discussion to discuss the merits of having grit. I ABSOLUTELY think having a lot of resilience, grit, willpower is VERY helpful for times of inevitable problems/low metabolism moments in life. I might not even be alive today if I didn't have alot of grit - seeing as how I have suffered from depression MOST of my life and still managed to have the grit to get a perfect 4.0 GPA in engineering school (undergrad). I am definitely proud of that accomplishment considering many times during that the depression was quite bad and distracting. That's while eating bad food, getting horrible sleep, OD'ing on caffeine, horrible social life (I didn't go on my first date EVER until I was 25-26, and never had a girlfriend until 30. These kind of things really mess with your head!!!) Not exercising, etc etc... So trust me when I know all about grit and all about how one can have willpower, as I have more of it than most people probably. And I mean that sincerely. I am just trying to show, that having willpower to "force" oneself to make changes in life is NOT going to fix your health. Am I glad I forced myself through engineering school? Yeah definitely, for the most part. Although I'm starting to realize I think engineering isn't my calling in life after all, but at least it pays pretty well. I didn't even touch a drop of alcohol in undergrad school either for what that's worth. I actually didn't touch alcohol until grad school (That's another story for another day lol). Just relaying that story to prove my point. I was the most unhealthiest in my entire life despite achieving a master's degree in engineering, which to most would argue is one of the best things you could do for your life (and that's not wrong), but it just shows that just making good choices isn't gonna make you feel better.

Completely agree.

 

[HealingBoy]

THIS. I know people with execrable diet but living a fulfilling and meaningful life, they're happy like no one. Especially one of them I know personally is an artist manager, he brings new artists to the opera, concert halls, he's always in contact with artists and lives his life fully, is talented, has no problem with women. Yeah, of course, like everybody, he can have difficult moments but his resilience is strong.

I'm "peating" and still want to cut my throat open, ressuscitate and kill myself again just to be sure I'm dead, "lol".

 

[opson123]

As someone with severe OCD and depression, I agree. Of course life would be wonderful, if I could live it worry and anxiety free, have a sense of purpose and just be happy.

But once you're deep in the rabbit hole, getting out of there takes a lot of effort, which requires a lot of energy, which most don't have. So what you're saying sounds simple, but it's not.

"Just be happy, living is wonderful" - said by every ******* person who has no clue what depression is like.

 

[Cirion]

But once you're deep in the rabbit hole, getting out of there takes a lot of effort, which requires a lot of energy, which most don't have. So what you're saying sounds simple, but it's not.

"Just be happy, living is wonderful" - said by every ******* person who has no clue what depression is like.

+1

There is hope though. I've gotten out of the hole, so it's 100% possible, and I plan to again. From personal experience I know that depression is actually primarily a physical, not a mental, disorder. IMO it is indeed primarily a mechanical problem in the body, and not some weird metaphysical or emotional problem that can't be classified and so "must be in their head".

Nathan Hatch has an excellent chapter on depression that speaks 100% what I think about the subject. He says how he did EVERYTHING - Therapy, "thinking positive thoughts", journalling, meditation, yoga... etc etc etc... NONE OF IT WORKS. That's because it's not a MENTAL PROBLEM. It is merely the mental manifestation of a PHYSICAL problem.

Low blood sugar, parasites, gut problems, flouride/heavy metal/glyphosate, excess protein intake, randle cycle, insufficient carbs, these are just a few things that can cause a host of mental disorders.

I know a lot of my posts are opinion and probably wrong, but I'm not wrong here. I have full 100% confidence in saying this because I have experienced it personally. It is one of those things you probably don't believe until you do experience the almost miraculous mental changes that occur simultaneously with physical changes.

I do think thinking positively, not holding grudges etc is absolutely valuable. But think of it like taking aspirin for pain or something. You aren't fixing the root problem, but you can alleviate symptoms to some degree doing this.

 

[Cirion]

THIS. I know people with execrable diet but living a fulfilling and meaningful life, they're happy like no one. Especially one of them I know personally is an artist manager, he brings new artists to the opera, concert halls, he's always in contact with artists and lives his life fully, is talented, has no problem with women. Yeah, of course, like everybody, he can have difficult moments but his resilience is strong.

I'm "peating" and still want to cut my throat open, ressuscitate and kill myself again just to be sure I'm dead, "lol".

That's true, but I'd argue that living a fulfilling and meaningful life is not possible while in unhealth. Again I speak from personal experience not some research paper or anything. Just from what you've told me, he is very healthy and that is why he sees success. Someone who is not healthy is not going to have the creativity or motivation or energy or sociability to pull off his job and dating life.

Resilience is also not necessarily equal to health (but from what you described, probably is.) I touched on this in my previous post already so I won't rehash it here. I actually have a LOT of resilience, more than most people, but it has never resulted in health for me, not in 3 decades of being on this planet.

As per the diet - it just means you are missing a key factor still. IT's very hard to get everything right for sure. Just look how long I have been on these forums and still un-well lol. Because of that, I'd probably be losing faith as well - if it wasn't for the fact that diet has saved me in the past. You can be even eating the right foods, but if you have a strain of bacteria, parasites etc that you're unaware of, you won't get better. Also, unfortunately, I've had to come to terms with the fact that very few people actually do well on the so called "Peat" diet. At least, in how it is typically promoted (lots of OJ and milk for example). I rarely drink either anymore! A lot of what I do isn't even considered Peat-y anymore haha. But I still adhere to many of the key principles like low pufa, low tryptophan, high carb.

 

[Jing]

The thing is you can't just be calm happy and relaxed if you have depression and anxiety or other problems .. you think happy calm people wake up feeling suicidal and just push themselves out off it? No they just feel good ..

 

[Atman]

Mentioning psychosomatics is often seen as heretical on this forum.

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

 

[Atman]

The thing is you can't just be calm happy and relaxed if you have depression and anxiety or other problems .. you think happy calm people wake up feeling suicidal and just push themselves out off it? No they just feel good ..

There were rat experiments where they constrained the movement of the animal by a tight cage around their body.
It didn't apply any significant amount of pressure, just constrained the movement totally.
After an hour so, the animals were killed and dissected. They had ulcers in their stomachs.
How do you explain this with a mechanistic approach?
It was the perception of constraint (and the interpretation of it) which triggered a stress response, not the constraint itself.

With humans it is much more complex.
You can be in an environment which is objectively not threatening at all, but as long as you interpret it as threatening, it will trigger a stress response which can manifest in a physical disease if it stays active for long periods of time. This is the core mechanism of depression/anxiety and their resulting psychosomatic diseases.

The interpretation patterns of your thinking are malleable and can thereby be influenced by the activities you do, the media/ideas you subject yourself to etc...

 

[FinnRooney]

Just want to say, I support this thread and post. I think its something that has truly made the most difference for my health recently. Of course diet helps, but I think what the OP is saying is, getting so specific with food is not a healthy way to think, it's interesting knowledge for sure, no one is doubting that. Taking care of yourself physically, eating when you are hungry, eating what you crave within reason is the best way to live. Mind should really be the first step.

 

[Jing]

There were rat experiments where they constrained the movement of the animal by a tight cage around their body.
It didn't apply any significant amount of pressure, just constrained the movement totally.
After an hour so, the animals were killed and dissected. They had ulcers in their stomachs.
How do you explain this with a mechanistic approach?
It was the perception of constraint (and the interpretation of it) which triggered a stress response, not the constraint itself.

With humans it is much more complex.
You can be in an environment which is objectively not threatening at all, but as long as you interpret it as threatening, it will trigger a stress response which can manifest in a physical disease if it stays active for long periods of time. This is the core mechanism of depression/anxiety and their resulting psychosomatic diseases.

The interpretation patterns of your thinking are malleable and can thereby be influenced by the activities you do, the media/ideas you subject yourself to etc...

Having your movement constrained is a stress.

 

[Atman]

Having your movement constrained is a stress.

No, it is the perception and interpretation of the constraint, not the constraint itself.
If you prevent the rat from perceiving/interpreting the constraint by temporally deactivating its consciousness (anesthetizing it), the ulcers would not have been formed.