Ray Peat

Today’s post is a little different from the other ones I suppose. Basically I want to start putting the spotlight on people I admire and today it goes out to Dr. Raymond Peat. He is a biologist who specialises in hormonal and metabolic health and his approach on nutrition and lifestyle is very different from all the mainstream media views and fads.

I have been struggling with autoimmune issues, thyroid problems, depression and anxiety and all the other mental health issues that come with it, pretty much all my life. I tried all sort of different ways of eating and the majority of my life eating was not very appealing to me anyways because I reacted to lots of foods and my appetite was super low due to that and also because of thyroid issues and the depression that came with this under-metabolic poor state of my health. I never tolerated dairy and especially milk was very problematic, eggs were very hard on my stomach and I had times when I pretty much only lived on fruit and vegetables and as you can imagine that was not ideal because I was undernourished, never got enough calories, my body temperature was super low, I was nervous all the time and had trouble sleeping.

In 2013 I moved to Spain and there for the first time in my life I started tolerating milk, it was amazing and I was impressed because milk always gave me issues before. Hint; if you don’t tolerate milk, milk is not the problem, your body not tolerating it is the problem. I guess the sunlight and warmth had a very healing effect on my body and immune system. I also started eating gluten again in Spain after I had not eaten it about 2 years and it also did not give me any trouble anymore as it did before.

In 2014 when googling about health and nutrition I found Emma’s blog and through her blog I discovered the work of Ray Peat. First I was super sceptical because his views are so contrary to everything I ever read before about nutrition but I got very curious and interested, I joined several Ray Peat Facebook groups (yes at that time I still had Facebook) and gave his ideas a loose approach which really did the trick and helped me to feel better. Ray Peat challenges you to be a critical thinker when it comes to mainstream advice and in general to start thinking for yourself and not just to follow blindly what mainstream media and governments tell us to do. I am not an expert here, so this is not medical advice nor diet advice, so if you really want to dive into Ray Peat’s work please read the articles on his website or read on Emma’s blog. I just want to state here that I am totally in love with his approach of seeing and interpreting thins, political events, the system we live in and of course on his take of nutrition that is supporting metabolism and the thyroid and therefore tremendously helps me to feel well most of the time while before I discovered him I felt quite miserable most of the time.

According to Ray it is super important to reduce stress. Darkness, under eating, cardio training are for examples stress inducing events. A diet high in PUFAS (polyunsaturated fatty acids) wracks havoc on your metabolism. To achieve optimal health we have to live in a way that prevents or minimises stress. Light therapy with red light for example is helpful to support mitochondria and to help the cells and body start healing. It is important to eat a diet rich in vitamins and nutrients to support the immune system.

I will just name what we Peaty folks love to eat for the nutrient density

• milk and dairy in general (calcium and protein that can easily be used by the body)

• cheese

• coffee

• liver (I can’t stomach it but liver pills do the trick for me)

• ox tail

• red meat

• shellfish and oysters (selenium and copper)

• fruit, especially tropical fruit

• coconut oil, butter, ghee (saturated fats)

• orange juice

• carrot salad (helps to lower endotoxin)

• mushrooms that have been cooked about 2-3 hours (also helps to clean the gut from endotoxin and to lower estrogen)

• root vegetables

• gelatin

• sugar

• salt

• eggs

• homemade ice cream

• shellfish

• white fish

• bone broth

• honey

We mainly stay away from foods high in PUFAS, leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables that are hard to digest for us, nuts and seeds that are high in PUFAS, muscle meat that contains amino acids which suppress the thyroid and grains that are also not thyroid supportive. Don’t get me wrong, I still eat everything, also pasta and bread but in moderation because I know the nutritional value by those starchy yummy foods is not so high. I am happy that I can now eat everything I want without having to pay for it afterwards like it was before but still I try to focus on a diet high in nutrient dense metabolism supporting foods. Also mainstream nutrition wants us to believe that iron, estrogen and serotonin are good for us but no, they are not.

I know that in mainstream nutrition advice sugar, salt and carbs have a very bad reputation but they are essential. You can eat sugar as long as you provide enough valuable vitamins to your body through a diet rich in vitamins and nutrients, basically eating sugar is fine as long as it is balanced out by vitamins and minerals. Salt is also crucial to boost your metabolism and us thyroid folks we lose salt very quickly and therefore most of us have a strong craving for salt. Pretty much every person I ever talked to who also suffers from Hashimoto’s is craving salt a lot. Also we need sugar and protein so that the liver can convert inactive T4 thyroid hormone into active T3 thyroid hormone. So going low carb or going vegan as a thyroid sufferer is not a good idea because it will slow metabolism even more. I can attest that I sleep much better, that I am a lot calmer during the day when I eat enough, especially enough easy digestible protein like milk, honey, homemade ice cream and also some salty foods. It does wonders on my wellbeing. I sleep better through the night and I am a much calmer version of myself than when I under eat which I did the pretty much all my life until I discovered Ray Peat and learned that calories are my friend and not the enemy.

Medical disclaimer, I am just sharing my experiences here and what works for me - this might not work for you, so please don’t take it as medical advice - instead educate yourself and figure out a lifestyle that supports your optimal health and happiness. I just wanted to share it since my life changed a lot to the better ever since I discovered Ray Peat and became part of the amazing and supportive Ray Peat community on Facebook and Instagram.

Lots of love,

Phyllis