Great questions that I don't know the answers to. I am not sure I have quoted Ray's views accurately either.This observation by Peat is one of the strangest he's made. It's akin to Ancel Keys cherry-picking data to suit his lipid hypothesis. One wouldn't walk into an Asian where the average BMI is much lower than the US and say that their leanness must be from all the rice they eat, and the low amount of dairy in their diets. And if one does make this observation, it's probably because he has some kind of pro-vegan confirmation bias. In both cases, how do we know that the leanness observed is not due to other confounders from diet, lifestyle choices, environment, etc?
I look at food as a drug like any other drug. There are positive and negative reactions that are possible and in some cases, the combinations of substances can contribute to the reaction. I've found that in order to figure things out for myself, I've had to simplify things greatly so I could see what the effects were, and possible negative effects. Trying to change one variable at a time if you will and see what happens. I found by accident that sugar had a beneficial effect on me and I was confused by that. If you read just about any mainstream source on the Internet, almost all talk about the evils of sugar. I am not talking about eating bowlfuls of it all day long. I am talking about strategic doses in moderation such as by consuming fruit, OJ, and drinking a Coke now and then. I started researching and that is how I found Ray because he does talk about the benefits of sugar and that at least fit my anecdotal model. I never knew about the importance our liver had on thyroid function and how sugar plays a role in that, for example.
I started reading him and especially in regard to PUFA, he made lots of sense to me. Started listening to his youtube snippets. Things he suggested I would try one thing at a time so I could observe the effects. If it seemed beneficial, I would keep it. If not, I let it go. I started using milk and OJ, for example, and rapidly gained weight. I saw where he said that he uses 1% milk so I switched to that and it seemed to help. I wanted to increase my natural vitamin C consumption so I increased the amount of OJ I was drinking and that forced me to back off the milk. I was at 8 glasses of 1% milk per day and 1 glass of OJ and was gaining weight at approximately 1600-1800 calories per day along with regular exercise.
When I switched from 8 cups milk/1 cup OJ to 4 cups milk and 4 cups OJ, the weight came off immediately. Both systems were exactly the same calorically and protein was held constant at about 95 grams per day from meat, gelatin (upped this also when backing off milk), and the milk. The raw carrot suggestion seems to improve my digestion but they are inexpensive and seem harmless enough. Coconut oil caused my runny nose to return so I backed off that (Ray said runny nose is from a gut reaction and I believe him about that as I no longer have a runny nose).
My diet per day, is breakfast: Milk/gelatin, OJ, and an apple with some brown sugar. Lunch is usually one raw carrot. Dinner is milk/gelatin with a burger, sometimes white mashed potato, raw onion, and organic ketchup. Before bed, a Mexican Coke always works but lately, I've found that an apple with brown sugar works exceedingly well for sleep quality and hormonal output during the night. I know that sounds ridiculously simple and restrictive but those things have been found to work 100% for me and I enjoy them. My wife thinks I am a crackpot. Ray has a low opinion of apples due to pectin but I have found they work exceedingly well for me. I don't eat things because Ray says to or someone here says one ought to. I've listened to the suggestions, tried them, and kept the ones that work.