One of my first forays into Ray Peat beyond just hearing about “Peating” was the Strong Sistas’ interview with Ray Peat.

Dr Ray Peat (to me) is hard to understand and as an introduction to some of his concepts the YouTube video was good but the video lacked visuals… and the Sistas lost the video half way through but were great in adding section and headings to help guide the topic areas.

As part of my learning about nutrition I’ve taken up Sketchnoting as I mentioned in previous blog posts – esp my notes to Brad Marshall’s SCD1 Theory of Obesity.

So I watched/listen the video twice and jotted down some Sketchnotes and have provided them here as a record for others. I did it over 3 pages (and over a few days!) and the last page I jammed in the last few notes in the top right hand corner as I didn’t want to start a new page for the little time that was left in the video…

Hope these may help others who may find it hard to follow just a voice and want something visual to look at.

PUFAs and Estrogen

In this first panel there is discussion around what the essential foods are to prioritise which is basically milk, cheese, eggs, low starch foods and fruits, meat and fish (low PUFA – Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid – fish – mainly white fish that has little fat) and well cooked vegetables. You want to choose fish that doesn’t have fats that oxidise… so yes that does mean salmon is pretty much off the menu of “essential” foods!

The reason to not eat PUFAs is that it blocks energy production.

Excess Estrogen causes inflammation.

There’s also a discussion how sugar isn’t bad and that starch is converted to glucose and that becomes a saturated fat but most people find it starch hard to digest and that can cause SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth).

What’s with the Sugar?

In the second panel there is more discussion about sugar and how citrus and carbohydrates can help metabolism. Well cooked vegetables are also ok to eat. These are fast energy options that don’t need too much help for digestion. There’s more discussion about how starch is glucose and that causes insulin secretion and any excess is converted to fat and that can cause a stress reaction.

Sucrose is only 50% glucose. Fructose is mildly insulin inhibiting! Excess sugar becomes saturated fat. And fructose is an antidote to ethanol poisoning.

Ray Peat believes in adding or incorporating carbohydrates and sugar helps lower stress conditions.

The “diet” is a combination of low fat milk, cheese, orange juice and some eggs and oysters.

Calcium and Vitamin D are supportive of Thyroid health. Decrease phosphate to calcium ratio. (ie more calcium and less phosphate).

And… increase calories. Around / more than 2000 calories (kcals) to lose weight as it will decrease stress.

Supplements

Jam packed 3rd panel… which I’m typing up months after watching it so it’s getting a bit hard to re-interpret my scribbles!

Dr Peat isn’t big on supplements but thinks you should get it naturally via shellfish, milk, eggs and liver. And Vitamin D. If you are to supplement get it with an olive oil base (I think that was in reference to Vitamin D).

He does talk about asprin as a supplement and have low fat milk as milk still has PUFAs. Vitamin E is protective.

Vitamin K needs to be available if you are taking asprin and you can get that naturally via liver and aged cheeses.

For females, fasting is harmful [I should blog about my previous 5:2 dieting and how I would be freezing on those days… ] as is low carb.

Increase the use of eggs, meat, cheese and dairy. And reduce PUFAs.

For PCOS increase vitamin D and calcium. (PCOS is from hypothyrodism and increased estrogen).

Increase oxygen metabolism.

Measure your heart rate and temperature.

High Cortisol uses protein to create energy. Cortisol can be high at dawn.

Orange Juice can help low temperatures and pulse rates and help with stress.

A low morning temperature can indicate low thyroid (hypothyroid).

If you need to pee in the middle of the night you way want to increase Vitamin D and Calcium.

Cholesterol helps create hormones… and a damaged liver will mean you can’t convert the cholesterol easily to steroids…

There are my notes. I’m still Peating with help from Jay Feldman Wellness – I find it helpful to have a coach who isn’t judgemental and understands the journey from 5:2, keto and carnivore and even knows what TCD is!