Category Archives: Ray Peat

Unsaturated fats are toxic to your health

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There are a few foods that I tend to denounce as being “unhealthy” these days: 1) Soy because of its anti-thyroid, pro-estrogenic, and anti-digestive properties (GMO or not), 2) Uncooked, raw above ground vegetables due to their high fiber and cellulose content which can slow down bowel transport time (encouraging a feeding and breeding ground for gut bacteria), create inflammation within the intestinal tract due to “poking,” and, of course, cause digestive disturbances, 3) Grains (although some may not be as digestively degrading, such as rice) because of their anti-digestive, pro-inflammatory, pro-allergen, and possible chemical toxicity, and 4) Unsaturated Fats, specifically the existence of any Polyunsaturated variety, because of their high susceptibility to oxidation (exposure to oxygen that can immediately damage the molecular structure), thus creating free-radicals amongst many other immune-suppressing properties (excess estrogen, unstable cell walls, low thyroid response, excess cholesterol levels in the blood, etc.)

Today we’ll focus on Unsaturated Fats from vegetable, seed, and nut oils, and why the H-E-double hockey sticks these stinkin’ things are causing all sorts of dis-eases and cancers despite our being told that “diet doesn’t affect disease” or that “essential fatty acids promote health (hence the name)” or that “saturated fats cause unhealthy cholesterol levels” or that I’m just going to stop there.

The main unsaturated fats involved are found in soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, canola oil, sesame oil, sunflower seed oil, palm oil, almond oil, and any others that have any sort of high percentage unsaturated fat content on the label. Chemically, the material that makes these oils very toxic is the polyunsaturated fat itself. (Peat) Polyunsaturated fats are extremely unstable due to their more-than-two double bonds characteristic – the greater the amount of double bonds (and a lack of respective binding hydrogen molecules), the greater the unsaturated, the greater the instability, and the greater risk for oxidation. It is rather impossible to completely eliminate Polyunsaturated Fats from the diet because many of the farm-raised animals that we consume are fed a diet of said fats via soy, corn, and other grains, and vegetable oils are the restaurant industry standard when it comes to cooking oil because it’s cheap and chefs are taught (marketed) to use the oils in culinary school. As in humans, animals will use dietary fat for body processes, conversions, and you name it – one such is to replenish the cell wall and structure. In the late 1940′s, chemical toxins were used to suppress the thyroid function of pigs, to make them get fatter while consuming less food. When that was found to be carcinogenic, it was then found that corn and soy beans had the same antithyroid effect, causing the animals to be fattened at low cost. The animals; fat becomes chemically similar to fats in their food, causing it to be equally toxic, and equally fattening. (Peat)

Let’s get into some why’s…

Digestion and Immunity

“All systems of the body are harmed by an excess of these oils. There are two main reasons for this. One is that plants produce the oils for protection, not only to store energy for the germination of the seed. To defend the seeds from the animals that would eat them, the oils block digestive enzymes in the animals’ stomachs. Digestion is one of our most basic functions, and evolution has built many other systems by using variations of that system, as a result, all of these systems are damaged by the substances which damage the digestive system.”

“The enzymes which break down proteins are inhibited by unsaturated fats, and these enzymes are not only for digestion, but also for production of thyroid hormones, clot removal, immunity, and the general adaptability of cells. The risks of abnormal clotting, inflammation, immune deficiency, shock, aging, obesity, and cancer are increased … Since the unsaturated oils block protein digestion in the stomach, we can be malnourished even while ‘eating well.’ 

 Hot vs Cold – Liquid vs Solid – Stable vs Unstable

“The other reason is that the seeds are designed to germinate in early spring, so their energy stores must be accessible when the temperatures are cool, and they normally don’t have to remain viable through the hot summer months. Unsaturated oils are liquid when they are cold, and this is necessary for any organism that lives at low temperatures. For example, fish in cold water would be stiff if they contained saturated fats. These oils easily get rancid (spontaneously oxidizing) when they are warm and exposed to oxygen. When the oils are stored in our tissues, they are much warmed, and more directly exposed to oxygen, than they would be in the seeds, and so their tendency to oxidize is very great. These oxidative processes can damage enzymes and other parts of cells, and especially their ability to produce energy.”

Protective mechanisms

“Seeds contain a small amount of vitamin E to delay rancidity.” (The vitamin is simply used as protection for the plant, just like how humans produce cholesterol or store fat as a protective mechanism. But we’re promoted that the plants, seeds, nuts and their oils contain “nutrients” for human consumption – bullshit!)

“Plants produce many protective substances to repel or injure insects and other animals that eat them. They produce their own pesticides. The oils in seeds have this function. On top of this natural toxicity, the plants are sprayed with industrial pesticides, which can concentrate in the seed oils.”

“All systems of the body are harmed by an excess of these oils. There are three main kinds of damage: one, hormonal imbalances, two, damage to the immune system, and three, oxidative damage.”

All of these points from Ray Peat’s “From PMS to Menopause: Female hormones in context” are something to consider… considering we are told that unsaturated fats are healthy, vegetable oils are healthy, saturated fats are unhealthy, saturated fats increase heart disease, to eat more unsaturated oils, eat more corn, eat more soy, eat more wheat and grains, eat less meat, eat less saturated fat, and so the saga continues. There’s a lot of minor details to go into everything, i.e. saturated fats from commercially raised animals tend to be saturated with toxins, chemicals, and are also coupled with toxic unsaturated fats because of their diets. In that case, yes, saturated fats can be harmful, but that’s no reason to go denouncing or eliminating the very substance that keeps us alive on a daily basis from all of the indigestible and immune suppressing substances we have grown up eating.

 

If you’d like to discuss this perspective along with other health-related insights, please contact me for a FREE Conversation.

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Recommendation: The metabolic blueprint cookbook

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Today, I’m plugging a newly-released Cookbook, which its recipes are largely based off of the dietary recommendations of Dr. Ray Peat. This is a different kind of cookbook because it also provides physiological explanations as to why specific recipes, foods and their respective nutrients are beneficial to/work synergistically with the body. The book is part of East West Healing’s Metabolic Blueprint Program. The program offers enthusiasts a basic platform to (whole)isitically understand the body, the metabolism, the metabolic mechanisms/reactions, and their relation to healthy/unhealthy biological activities.

Here are some words about the cookbook…

The Metabolic Blueprint Cookbook is one of a kind, must-read – 100+ page packed with factual information – from the basics on macro nutrients to defining what foods were designed for human consumption, to understanding how foods can heal your metabolism. More than ever before, people around the world are becoming increasingly health-minded – conscientious of the foods they eat and focusing on establishing a proper dietary regimen. However, nutritional myths currently flood the information super highway.

“The industrialization of food has degraded the actual materials that are available, but it’s still possible, with a cookbook such as this, to have a healthful, varied and enjoyable diet.”

-Ray Peat PhD.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

  1. The Basics: Understanding Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats, Coconut Oil, Gelatin, Salt, Calcium, Dairy and Food List
  2. Staple recipes: Coconut mayonnaise, roasted garlic, homemade sweetened condensed milk….and much more!
  3. Gelatin/Jello/Custard recipes
  4. Drinks, Shakes and Smoothy recipes
  5. Egg recipes
  6. Vegetables/Salads/Snack recipes
  7. Marrows and Broth recipes
  8. Shellfish/Fish recipes
  9. Meat recipes
  10. Deserts and Treat recipes
  11. Home-made Ice Cream recipes
If you are intrigued by the research/work of Ray Peat, Broda Barnes, Hans Selye, Gilbert Ling, Francis Pottenger, Weston Price, Josh Rubin, Chris Dillon, Danny Roddy, and Matt Stone, then this cookbook is right up your alley.

If you’d like to discuss this perspective along with other health-related insights, please contact me for a FREE Conversation.

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Thyroid, metabolism, and symptoms

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So I plowed through Selye’s “The Stress of Life,” which was a pleasant read given its depth and some need for pre-requisite knowledge, and now I’m onto Broda Barnes’ “Hypo-thyroidism: The unsuspected illness.” Throughout the book Barnes’ discusses his personal experiences [as a doctor] with a vast majority of symptoms and how most [symptoms] really boil down to a lack of metabolic efficiency; generally-speak, producing a low amount of thyroid hormones, and, in effect, an inefficiency at maintaing body heat and a “normal” pulse/heart beat. Barnes’ definition is a little less too-cool-for-school wordy, “It is the thyroid which controls the metabolism – the process by which food is transformed into energy and many vital chemical changes take place.” Combine those and you’re on your way to a decent idea of the thyroid’s direct relationship with metabolism. Now, metabolism is a tricky thing because most believe, Broda’s definiton included, that it’s just about burning calories at a high rate and having the ability to eat whatever you want. While that is true and is what we’re basically taught from a young age by Dr. Aloysuis Snuffleupagus, the means towards establishing a high metabolic rate of an individual is a very important and intricate piece to the body puzzle.

There are two things that I’m really intrigued about in this book. 1) The vast majority of symptoms that can result from a thyroid deficiency, and 2) The approach to treat a low thyroid (hypothyroid) condition with the simple prescription of thyroid medication. Let’s begin at the first…

Barnes begins on page one with a bulleted series of patient symptoms

  • A young housewife who feels run down, tires easily, is sleepy much of the time, and strangely oversensitive to cold weather.
  • A middle-aged man who has managed to distinguish himself in his career by fighting all his life against his low energy reserve but now has become tired of fighting and convinced there must be some physical explanation for his problem even though none has ever been found and more than once he has been told to consult a psychiatrist and more than once has done so without benefit.
  • A victim of severe recurrent headaches.
  • A barren couple.
  • A child or adult unusually prone to infections, particularly respiratory, but not limited to them.
  • A sufferer from severe rheumatic pain and potential heart attack victim.
  • A woman whose skin is abnormally rough, scaly, almost fishlike and patients with other skin problems including eczema, psoriasis, and acne.
  • At least one man or woman in a state of severe mental depression.
  • A woman with a menstrual flow problem – painful flow, or irregular flow, or sometimes excessive flow that suggests possible need for hysterectomy.

All of this is some great stuff that can really get people thinking as to what could be more of an underlying cause to their symptoms. Try to look at it this way: The body is (yes, yes) a system of systems and when a very important [thyroid] gland is not working at full capacity, other activities, processes, and reactions will not work as they are designed. Out of the above mentioned, the ones that stick out to me the most are 1) the man with low fatigue that knows there’s something physically wrong with him but all of his lab work comes back negative and he’s slapped with the stereotype that “it’s all mental,” and 2) the ability to become severely depressed as a result of low thyroid activity. I picked these out from the list because they are examples of “mental disorders” or, so-called, “chemical imbalances” that actually have a true physical cause. I am a huge believer that the mind can control, affect, dictate, and sway the body, but the exact same is true for how the body affects the mind and it is quite possible that professionals or scientific tests can completely misdiagnosis this pattern as a purely mental state. In my opinion, there is never a purely mental disease or a purely physical disease because one doesn’t function without the other!

Here are some other common symptoms of a low thyroid function: Weakness, Dry or coarse, Lethargy, Unmotivated, Laziness, Fatigue, Slow speech, Edema, Cold hands, Cold feet, Cold nose, Sensitivity to cold, Cold body despite warm environment, Rapid heart beat, Impaired memory, Brain fog, Forgetfulness, Decline in libido, Decreased sexual function, Decreased sexual desire, Shrinkage of the gonads/sex glands (testicles, ovaries), Erectile dysfunction, Irregular menstrual cycles (heavy, painful, non-existent flow), Overly emotional, Temper tantrums, Anxiety, Depression, Nervousness, Headaches, Weight loss, Weight gain, Loss of appetite, Hair loss, Easily prone to stress, Muscle weakness, Joint pain, Low activity endurance, Increased sleeping (even a good night’s sleep isn’t enough), Hard waking up in the morning, Poor vision, and the list can really go on and on.

Now that I’ve given you a-whole-lot of examples to make your mind go, “Hm, maybe I have hypothyroidism and I can solve all of my problems with medication?!,” let’s take a moment to reflect and to put some things into perspective (and to also address the 2nd point in which I was intrigued). Barnes says that a dose of thyroid medication was the simple solution to a majority of his patients who had had at least one, if not more, of the previously mentioned symptoms. But he fails to mention any nutritional or lifestyle advice in order to “correct” the condition of hypothyroidism. He does state in a few examples that his patients changed absolutely nothing else about their daily lives, eating habits, or routine and with a simple dose of thyroid medication they were good as new within 2-6 months, yet once they stopped taking thyroid their symptoms came back almost immediately. Ok, so he found the cause to their problems, but is it the true cause or just the effect? What about the mechanisms that fuel, drive, and provide the thyroid gland with the energy to function properly?

Barnes patient experiences and learned understanding of how the thyroid basically affects the entire body is huge, but I also think it brings up the question of “how does the thyroid become inefficient?” I believe hydration, nutrition, and rest play some very big factors, but, again, they’re not the end-all-be-all when you throw in mentality, emotions, and relationships.

A simple home-test to check your thyroid includes a thermometer and your tongue. First thing in the morning – absolutely the very first thing that you do upon waking to negate any emotional or physical influence – reach for a thermometer and stick it under your tongue for 2 minutes. Any body temperature that is “below the normal range of 97.8 to 98.2 degrees F strongly suggests low thyroid function.” Why? Because when you’re body isn’t running “hot” then certain activities are paradoxically slowed down or increased; i.e. slow hormonal processes, slow digestion, slow movements, slow thought patterns, or increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, quick bursts of energy via the release of adrenaline followed by a long crash.

Matt Stone of 180degreehealth.com wrote an article Broda Barnes and Ray Peat and its relation to thyroid and he summed it up rather nicely…

Body temperature is just one tool in the bag. It is not the only tool. Assessments of the warmth of your feet and hands, sleep quality, the number of hours you can comfortably go without eating, pulse rate, sex drive, energy levels, fatigue after eating, bowel frequency, water consumption (should be high), calorie consumption, reflex quickness, blood glucose levels – both fasting and postmeal, menstrual regularity – anything and everything should be used in making an overall assessment of your health and self-diagnosing what may be needed to rebalance your “body chemistry” as Melvin Page called it. With those in mind, you can use nutrition and lifestyle change to the fullest.

If you’d like to discuss these perspective along with other health-related insights, please contact me for a FREE Conversation.

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jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Metabolism, Stress, Cold Hands & Feet

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I’ve been asked about (and have experienced) cold hands and feet on occasion. It’s not just a way of life, as it can be for some, but a true symptom of an underlying cause. External environment aside, the body isn’t meant to have cold hands or feet and stress is its most important factor. No, not running-from-a-lion stress (although that can be included), but dietary, physical, and mental (and thus all resulting in hormonal) stress can very easily be the cause.

You can live without an arm or a leg but you can’t live without a liver! (Paul Chek)

Paul is right. In a state of stress (or shock) the body will pull blood from the non-important areas of the body to bring it back into center where all of the vital organs reside. These vitals keep the body ticking; not-so-much the fingers, feet, or knee caps. The body knows exactly what it is doing and, as individuals, we must be responsible to keep an eye and ear out to understand, interpret and then react accordingly to what’s going on.

The temperature of [the] fingers, toes, and nose helps to interpret the balance between stress and thyroid; [the] fingers should be less cold as [the] metabolic rate comes up. In extreme hypothyroidism, the hands and feet can be very cold while the oral temperature looks o.k.; then as the metabolic rate increases, the difference between fingers and mouth decreases. (Ray Peat)

Thanks, Ray. He hit the nail even more on the head by correlating stress and thyroid function – metabolic rate, homeostasis, the epicenter of all-things-regulating-healthy-bodily-functions. Peat looks at the heart rate and body temperature as instruments in determining thyroid (metabolic) health.

It’s not rocket science to notice cold hands and feet, meaning you don’t need a thermometer to tell ya what you can experience through awareness. Why does it happen? Well, I can go on about diet, physical, and mental stressors, but I think I’ll be barking about what you intuitively already know. Instead, here are a few questions to get you pointed in a perspective direction…

  • What time of day do you experience cold hands and feet? Upon waking, before/after lunch, before/after dinner, before/after exercise, before/after bed.
  • What is your heart rate at the same times mentioned above?
  • Do you notice cold hands and feet or an increased/decreased heart rate when consuming certain foods/drinks, in between meals (note the duration), doing certain activities (exercise, showering, sleeping, work, school, sex), or pertaining to certain sleeping patterns (sleeping “on time” or enough)?

This perspective approach can be taken with ANYTHING, not just cold hands and feet. Lifestyle Journals are the new black.

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Reduce stress and disease by removing morons

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So I’m reading through an article on Epilepsy and I come across this excerpt in the article – had to blog it…

By manipulating the diet and environment, [humans] can be made more or less [disease]-prone, and it happens that the changes that affect the brain affect all other organs, in ways that are now fairly well understood. Examining the cellular events associated with a [disorder] is useful for therapy and prevention of [disorders]… It is now clearly established that stress can cause brain damage, as well as other diseases. Now that our public health establishment has eliminated smoking from public places, maybe they can find a way to reduce stress and disease by removing morons from positions of power.

-Ray Peat

Over-Simplifying Ray Peat

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If you’re familiar with some of my previous physical-health-related posts you may have picked up on what I’m for or against. Much of my current health stance stems off of the work of Dr. Raymond Peat, his research via Hans Seyle & Gilbert Ling, and Peat’s blogging army of Josh Rubin, Matt Stone, Danny Roddy, Rob Turner, Tracie Hittman, & C02 Factor (to name a few). For the sake of getting-to-know-the-basics, below is a short-summary of Peat’s stance via Chris Rosenfelt, a Peat-a-tarian, as Roddy boasts…

“Dr. Peat believes that energy and structure are interdependent, therefore providing proper oxidative energy to the simplest, smallest unit of living matter, the cell. Cells form tissues, tissues form organs and organs form the human body, obviously this is in its very simplistic form but if you take care and provide the proper nutrients/energy to the cell then it should have a “ripple effect” throughout the organism.

So Dr. Peat’s philosophy is just about maintaining proper oxidative energy through the use of protective hormones and elements such as thyroid, pregnenolone, progesterone, testosterone, carbon dioxide, glucose, saturated fats and not letting the potentially negative hormones and elements (if chronically activated) like cortisol, adrenaline, estrogen, PUFA’s, ACTH, lactic acid, carbon monoxide, parathyroid, prolactin, TSH, protein kinase C, etc… get out of control in the body.”

What does this all mean [without context]?

Peat approaches health by breaking the body down into its simplest form: a cell. Providing a cell with the appropriate energy (fuel/nutrient-dense food) and the appropriate environment (pro-anabolic hormone, anti-stress hormone, excreting bacterial endotoxin, eating anti-inflammatory foods) will encourage the tissues, organs, muscles, bones, and blood (which are all made up of cells) to follow suit (hence the ripple effect). Sounds pretty simple, huh?!

Peat researches hormones and how diet/lifestyle can either help or hinder their appropriate release. I suggest starting with Roddy’s blog to get a general idea of what Peat promotes.

Regarding any diet changes or implementation – do your own research, figure out what works for you in the interim AND long run (the long run is HUGE), and consult a trained professional.

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