Posts made by sphagnum

Recently I’ve been attempting to get in more calories (specifically from carbs) to keep my thyroid function strong and my stress hormones at bay. I did this by eating more food more often, even if I didn’t feel like it. Since I’ve never been able to maintain on just simple sugars, these meals would mostly contain a lot of freshly hydrolyzed starches (oats, rice, boiled potatoes, pasta, homemade pancakes, etc.) One unintended result is that I wasn’t really eating outside of my meals. I was never much of a snack person, but previously I would use them to fill in the caloric gaps when I wasn’t taking my dietary needs as serious.

I didn’t even notice it at first, but the dandruff on my head and chin had both cleared up. Then a few instances occurred where I ate something out of that norm (sandwich roll, granola bar, room temp fried potatoes) that the dandruff came back, and I put it all together.
I also noticed that I was no longer experiencing loose stools, which was something kind of new to the past year or so. In fact, the opposite had occurred, and I now had to go back to supplementing a small amount of magnesium.

I’ve since been more diligent with my starch intake, only eating them fresh, hot, and hydrolyzed. As a result, I’ve continued to be symptom free from the aforementioned afflictions.

Now I intentionally used “cleared up,” and not ‘cured’ in the title, because I imagine that there is some underlying minor gut dysbiosis still unaddressed. Nonetheless, I still wanted to share this anecdote in hopes that it works to clear some issues for others.

I find LED light, particularly white and blue, very harsh. I have a business a block away from my home with super bright LEDs for their parking lot, and I have to close the blinds at night because it’s so irritating.

Last time I was at the store to buy bulbs, the only incandescents I found were little appliance bulbs. I had to buy online.

@Sugarnotsnow Very interesting, and I’m curious how safe this is over a period of time.
I’m not looking to lose any weight myself, but I do know that most people trying, regardless of the other macros, tend to never cut protein

Speaking of macros, upon skimming the link the best I could, I didn’t see where they listed the mix for the rest of the diet, nor do I know enough about mouse feed to guess.

IIRC, Ray shifted favor towards a reduced protein intake in his later years. I do not know if that was what he felt was best for him personally or if it was a generally recommendation for the fully developed adult population.

@LucH what is considered to be a high dose of K?
I tried to look over your link, but the page wouldn’t translate on mobile.

I went through something similar where I cut out starches. I tried to eat as much fruit as I could, but it wasn’t cutting it. I had many hypothyroid symptoms as a result. Starches were the only thing that fixed it.

Cassava is fairly calorie dense, so I would agree that it’s a good choice for someone trying to reintegrate starches after a struggle with them. I would advise, though, to attempt to find it organic, as it is the GMO crop most widely sold for human consumption (that’s what I have read at least.) Anyone with gut/digestion issues probably doesn’t want to be ingesting glyphosate.

I think that magnesium would be your best bet for constipation. Which form you take is up to you. I prefer mag-malate from Seeking Health. I found it mentioned as having no excipients on the toxinless site. Mag-glycinate tastes awful to me, and would get too clumpy. I haven’t tried the Mag-oil but I’m sure you can find a wealth of reviews in the thread that their site would link you to on that product page.

I believe calcium is generally considered a cause of constipation, so I don’t know that upping it would help any. With that being said, calcium, magnesium, and K all work together and most people seem deficient across the board, so upping them all in moderation could be a good thing if you’re already seeing results from the K2

I was always very thin no matter how much I ate. It wasn’t until I incorporated weight training that I gained anything that would stay on.
I went from 163 lb to 210, still lean, over the course of about 2 years on the SAD diet. I haven’t trained going on 8 years now and eat what you would expect from someone who posts here, and I’m still at 190 and lean.

So my suggestion would be to use moderate resistance training while eating a high calorie diet that fits both your needs, as well as the parameters of a “peaty diet” (I dislike using that term since RP said himself that there is no such thing.)
It’s not going to be 11 lb/month (I don’t think that goal is realistic as an endomorph to be honest) but there’s a good chance that what weight is put on will stick around long term.

@mostlylurking said in Are Nuts In Their Natural State Used Differently By The Body Than Their Processed Oils?:

just a heads up about the avocado oil; Ray Peat warned about the toxicity of avocados here: https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/vegetables.shtml
"Not all fruits, of course, are perfectly safe--avocados, for example, contain so much unsaturated fat that they can be carcinogenic and hepatotoxic."
from the references: In Vivo 1998 Nov-Dec;12(6):675-89. "The promotive tumorigenic effects of other high-fat diets (avocado, soybeans) were associated with high content of some polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and alpha-linolenic)."
also: Ann Nutr Metab 1991;35(5):253-60. "Effect of dietary avocado oils on hepatic collagen metabolism. Wermam MJ, Mokady S, Neeman I Department of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa. The effect of various avocado and soybean oils on collagen metabolism in the liver was studied in growing female rats for 8 weeks and in day-old chicks for 1 week. In comparison with rats fed either refined avocado oil, refined or unrefined soybean oils, rats fed unrefined avocado oil showed a significant decrease in total collagen solubility in the liver, while there were no changes in total collagen, protein and moisture content. Chicks fed unrefined avocado oil as compared to those fed refined avocado oil also showed a decrease in hepatic total soluble collagen while hepatic total collagen remained unaffected. Electron micrographs and light-microscope examinations of rats' liver revealed collagen accumulation in the periportal location. This is suggestive of the early stages of fibrosis."

Thank you for correcting that. I had originally only pointed out that those foods weren’t nut/seed derived, but when I went to proofread the whole post I added in about PUFA without making sure it fit the criteria for all the foods.

Whenever I would eat avocado I’d get cold-like symptoms. I originally chalked it up to food intolerance and avoided it thereafter, but it could have been the PUFA considering I had intuitively avoided other high PUFA foods since my teen years.

@Butter-Girl depending on how far you moved, there might be some trees close by. It wasn’t until I identified what a black walnut fruit looked like that I realized they’re all over around me, mostly on public land.

Yeah, I imagine an occasion single nut off the tree isn’t going to do much harm. I still wouldn’t make a habit of it, but I wouldn’t fret over it either.
Considering the work involved, most people wouldn’t bother getting to the point of overeating them straight off the tree.

I know that TerraSoul sells some nuts direct from refrigeration when you buy from their website. I used to get their Brazil nuts and keep them cold, eating one a day for selenium, after scraping the skin off *a seed/nut’s skin is where their phytic acid is concentrated, and that stuff will bind up important nutrients, including but not limited to calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, and potassium. Contrary to what you read online, soaking doesn’t always fix this, especially if the seed/nut isn’t viable to sprout (heat treated/irradiated/broken/deshelled in some cases)

I definitely second what LucH said in regards to using Vitamin E to reduce harmful effects.

@mostlylurking I had bought a bunch of macadamias in the past and kept them refrigerated, but then the same thing happened where they eventually tasted rancid so I trashed them. Macadamias are highest in MUFA, which while not as dangerous as PUFA, is still very much prone to oxidation/rancidity.

@Butter-Girl
Are you asking about how the body uses specifically just the oil in the whole nut, as opposed to the pure oil after processing? Or are you asking about how it uses everything else in the nut as well, like the fiber and protein?

Since I'm uncertain of the exact question at hand, I'll give some general info and hope that it manages to answer in some way.

• Just about any nut (or seed) oil that is processed for consumption as a food is going to be almost all polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA.) Exceptions that I'm aware of would be macadamia nuts, and palm kernel oil. To avoid any confusion, some other food oils that are not mostly PUFA are coconut, palm, olive, and avocado oils, but these all come from the fruit flesh of the plant and not their nut/seed.

• PUFA, even when not processed, is prone to oxidation, which is in large part why it is often considered toxic to the body. Extracting the oil greatly increases its surface area exposed to oxygen, thus making it much worse in this sense. However, even whole nuts are going to be exposed enough to risk rancidity.

• As I alluded to, there is a variance in oxidation based on the level of exposure. Oil is going to be highest. Loose nuts would be next. Then nuts still in a hard shell. Finally, nuts that have the flesh in tact around the shell are generally the least oxidized. If you find a fresh black walnut fruit this time of year (early autumn in the US) and cut it open, remove the shell, then break open the shell, you will taste a walnut that is nothing like anything you've even gotten from the store, including the ones still sealed in the shell at the store.

• Heating PUFA is going to cause it to oxidize even more. I have not seen many nut or seed oils that are cold pressed, so you can assume that most of the processed nut/seed oils are going to be more toxic for this reason as well. If they are used for cooking, that is obviously taking the oxidation even farther.

• Heating, of course, is not restricted to the oils. Many nuts in their whole state are often roasted to enhance palatability. Most any nut is going to be at least steam treated or pasteurized in some way. Even packages labeled as "Raw" may have been heat treated as there is no legal definition (in the US at least) as to what "raw" means. Cashews, for example, cannot be truly raw because they contain a toxin similar to poison ivy that is only neutralized by heating them. Search for "raw cashews" online, though, and you'll get plenty of hits. Another example of this would be almonds. All USA grown almonds sold on the market must, by law, be pasteurized. So if you have California almonds (the most abundant variety domestically) and they're labeled "raw," unless you bought them direct from the farmer before heat treating, its a lie. Imported almonds aren't subject to this law in case that particular food interested you.

So, to summarize, I don't know that the body is going to "use" them any different, but the total amount of PUFA exposure, as well as how toxic it is due to oxidation, is going to vary greatly. I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe that the more toxic the PUFA in the body's system during digestion, the more likely it is to be shuttled off to be stored as body fat, to avoid it causing issue anywhere else.

@Butter-Girl
Here is a breakdown of the breakfast you mentioned, using Cromometer.

https://imgur.com/a/mKTCS3p

https://imgur.com/a/PwusUxV

To me, this seems too heavy on the fat, both as a total amount eaten at one time, as well as a percentage of total calories in a mixed meal.

My best guess is that this would trigger an excess of FFA in the blood, especially if not using any supplement (Vit E, aspirin) to suppress FFA.

You asked two different questions, and made related statements so I’m not sure exactly which part(s) you wanted directly answered.

I would agree that saturated fat is both safe, and healthy when consumed in moderation. We all need dietary fat to some degree, and it’s likely by far the safest.

I would agree that saturated being a staple of many traditional diets, when those same people could have just as easily found a way to use PUFA, should encourage and not discourage its use. Many people are indoctrinated to think everything “modern” is automatically superior, though.

As for FFA: my very novice understanding is that any FFA, even from saturated fats, when elevated, can lead to insulin resistance which then leads to metabolic issues. What exactly would be considered “elevated,” and what dietary actions would lead you personally to that level, I couldn’t begin to guess at.

So the last couple of weeks my genitals have been almost continuously in a tight/shrunken state, basically the same as when you're cold. Sack is tight, penis is slightly retracted.
The thing is, its been reasonably hot outside here and my body temp seems normal as well.

One other noticeable, and possibly related, "symptom" is that I keep catching myself being unusually soft spoken. I've never been particularly projective in my speaking, but now sometimes I go to talk and its like I'm not speaking to be heard at all, despite intending to be.

Its all coincided with some new life stress, and an accompanying lack of sleep. I've gone through stretches of that before, though, and never had these sides. I'm feeling "less androgenic" in general from the stress, but again I've had that before with stress and none of this came with it.

There doesn't seem to much going on in terms of sexual side effects. My libido is down a little which always happens when I'm stressed, but it isn't dead and there is no ED going on as I'm able to be aroused and wake up enough with MW. I've also been getting into some calisthenics over the last month or so, and that seems to be progressing well in strength and cardio endurance.

No diet or supplement changes really. I had started to take some Brewer's Yeast for the B vitamins for maybe 3-5 days (in the Peat suggested manner of steeping it in hot water, and then pouring off the top so that you get the water soluble B vitamins in the water, but leave the estrogenic yeast compounds behind) but when I discontinued it nothing improved, so I don't think it was a factor.

Anyone know what hormones might be in play here?
Lifestyle suggestions? General advice?