are ripe or unripe bananas low fomap?

http://fabulousfodmaps.blogspot.no/2014/07/ripe-or-not-ibs-bananas-and-fodmaps.html

Tre traumer som utløste anoreksien

Jeg hadde tre traumatiske opplevelser over en svært kort periode som utløste anoreksien.  Jeg var kristen, 16 år. Jeg flyttet fra mamma fordi jeg opplevde at hun hatet meg og søkte en ny familie jeg kunne bli en del av mot at jeg hjalp til med husarbeid og barnepass. Jeg fant en familie i Fetsund som på intervjuet strålte av kjærlighet. Jeg fant fort ut at kjærligheten ble gitt kun for anledningen. Mammaen var sykepleier og jobbet kveld og natt. Mannen var en alkoholiker som jobbet dagtid. På kveldene ble det jeg og han som snakket sammen. Jeg var glad fordi jeg savnet en far. Han var glad fordi han fant meg sexy. 

Det første traumet skjedde da jeg hadde en samtale med mannen om sex og kjærlighet en dag han var edru. Han sa at sex og kjærlighet er to forskjellige ting. Men jeg følte kjærlighet når jeg var tent,tenkte jeg. Han var 44 år så jeg trodde han visste hva han snakket om. Hvis det han sa stemte betydde det at det jeg følte ikke stemte. Det jeg trodde var kjærlighet var ikke kjærlighet. Kroppen hadde lurt meg. Den var ikke til å stole på. Og enda verre: jeg visste ikke hva kjærlighet virkelig var. Jeg tok deretter avstand til kroppen min. 

Det var bra dette skjedde så jeg begynte å lete etter en høyere form for kjærlighet en eroskjærligheten, men det hadde vært fint om mannen hadde sagt at det er flere former for kjærlighet:) Han ville kanskje med det han sa bare få meg til å skjønne at vi kunne ha sex kun fordi det er deilig, men jeg fulgte ikke hans tankebane i det hele tatt. Jeg ville bare bli kjent med meg selv og vite sannheten.

Traume 2: Kona ba meg slutte å være sammen med mannen hennes på kvelden ved å gi meg en TV jeg kunne ha nede hos meg. Jeg husker jeg kjedet meg. Kjente ingen der. Så masse filmer, spiste godteri og onanerte. Og onanerte. Og onanerte. Jeg ble overrasket over at jeg kunne ha 30 orgasmer på 1 kveld. Jeg følte meg skitten. Jeg trodde jo på Gud. 

En kveld ble denne skammen bragt opp på en svært ubehagelig måte. Jeg var den siste som pleide å gå på badet som lå ved siden av stua. Det visste nok mannen, for en natt jeg kom opp og skulle gå forbi åpningen til stua og inn på badet så jeg mannen sitte i en stol skjøvet frem til stueåpningen så jeg skulle se han. Han sov med morgenkåpen glidd til side. Jeg kunne se at han hadde onanert fordi jeg så hånden hans ligge over penisen. Jeg tenkte: hvorfor hadde han iscenesatt dette? Var det fordi han ville ha sex med meg? Eller var det Gud som ville konfrontere meg med min egen onani? Hvordan kunne i så fall mannen vite at jeg onanerte? Jeg gikk inn på badet og så meg i speilet. Mine følelser for han la seg over mitt eget kroppsbildet i speilet. En feit, ekkelt gris! 

Traume nr 3 skjedde en kveld jeg satt og pratet med mannen i stua mens kona var på jobb. I flere måneder hadde han kun sett meg som kropp og kommentert hvor deilig jeg var, mens jeg like lenge hadde forsøkt å komme innpå han så vi kunne bli venner. Denne kvelden var han veldig full og ble etterhvert klåfingra. Jeg ba han la være, men han respekterte det ikke, så jeg reiste meg opp og gikk raskt ned til rommet mitt og låste døra. Han fulgte etter, banket på døra og prøvde å komme inn. Så prøvde han å komme inn ved å kaste seg mot døra igjen og igjen. Jeg satt øverst og i hjørnet av køyesenga mitt med dundrende hjerte, redd han skulle klare å bryte seg inn. For hva da? Jeg var kristen og trodde det var forbudt å skade andre selv om det var i selvforsvar. (Du vet Jesus sa: "vend det andre kinnet til") Jeg var redd jeg måtte tillate et sexuelt misbruk for om jeg sparket han ned fra senga kunne det hende han skadet seg. Jeg så meg selv fra oven og da sa en stemme: du vet dette kun er drama? (og ikke noe som egentlig er verdt å bry seg noe om). Om stemmen hadde sagt selvforsvar er lov hadde det vært til mer hjelp:) Men mannen gav opp etter å ha kastet seg på døra tre-fire ganger. Han var sliten og full. 

Men jeg hadde blitt redd. Dagen etter tenkte jeg på at det de kristne hadde lovt ved at jeg ble kristen viste seg å ikke stemme. Jeg ble ikke lykkeligere med Jesus som min herre. Jeg hadde kommet til en enda verre familie. Jeg sa derfor til Gud at jeg ikke ville være hans mer. Jeg tenkte: hvem skal så være min herre? Jo da må det bli satan. Jeg inviterte satan inn i meg og klarte endelig å kjenne på hvor sint jeg var på mannen. Jeg ble rasende. Han satt i stua i stolen sin og jeg gikk bort til han sa: hvis det ikke hadde vært for at jeg kommer i fengsel for å drepe hadde jeg i dette øyeblikk hentet en kniv på kjøkkenet og drept deg her og nå. Jeg så han skjønte jeg mente det. At han endelig så meg var tilfredsstillende.

Jeg luktet dødt kjøtt dagen etter. Jeg tror det var fordi jeg ønsket at han var død. Jeg forbandt han med en gris og ville ikke lenger spise kjøtt. Jeg tok meg brødskiver med ost da jeg kunne fått svinekoteletter sammen med de andre. Mammaen sa til meg: det er mer fett i ost enn i de kotelettene, altså. Jeg tenkte: hva så? Hun: Hvis du tenker slanke deg er det bedre å spise kjøtt enn ost. Jeg ble overrasket over hennes råd. Var det slanke meg jeg burde gjøre? Ja, kanskje det er noe jeg burde! Jeg bestemte meg derfor for å slanke meg og bli vegetarianer. 

Da jeg forsøkte bearbeide opplevelsen av at mannen hadde forsøkt å komme seg inn til meg mot min vilje merket jeg at jeg trengte støtte. Jeg tenkte på pappa, men han dret i meg, mamma, hun bare betraktet meg som en byrde, venninnene mine, de bare ville snakke om gøyale ting, og de i huset hadde i hvert fall ikke kjærlighet. Jeg forsto at jeg var helt alene uten noen støtte. Alt inni meg ble til grus og rant ut, ned i det sorte tomrommet. Det var da jeg tenkte jeg måtte lage mitt eget støttesystem. Jeg måtte bli voksen i en fart. Jeg ville bare slanke meg først, så skulle jeg spise fornuftig, trene og få meg en annen jobb.

Jeg flyttet snart derfra og gikk ned 10 kilo på 3 måneder. Venninnene mine sa jeg burde stoppe fordi jeg var mer enn tynn nok. Selv så jeg det ikke, eller jeg så jeg var tynn, men jeg tenkte ikke selv på å slutte med å spise bare 500 kalorier daglig. Jeg hadde satt meg på en karusell som ikke stoppet av seg selv. Men jeg hørte på de, hoppet av karusellen og begynte å spise mer normalt. Det var første gangen jeg var aktivt anorektisk. Det endte bra da. Men slankingen hadde aktivert sykdommen. Eller var det bare mangelen på støtte som hadde gjort det?

Is anorexia caused by vanity?

Maybe it is. Maybe we should call it possessed by vanity instead of anorexia. Anyway it doesn't make anorexia less serious if it is vanity that guides people to death. Is the sick voice that don't think you are skinny enough even when you are just a skeleton vanity? It is not satified when you are dead and the body in the grave is turned to dust either. It is never satisfied because it is a destructive force that sweaps over the earth and into a lot of peoples minds. It is evil.

Vanity are the temptation you get addicted to and what put you under the dominion of the devil. You get tempted to get skinny for some reason and the devil is there to provide, because God wouldn't help you with that, but what you want only last for a short while before the evil force drag you further to death, to the empty black void where you think you are not worth living and you are just a burdon for others. If we are not able to turn then the devil would have won over our loving Lord.

I think if you want to destroy yourself for some reason, for vanity or not, there is only the evil force that helps you with that.

Don't say: it's just vanity, when people die from it, please.

I think the reason behind it is we want love.

Do you experience acne and / or bloating in recovery from eating disorders or unhealthy eating?

Many heas the issues will pass in time, but that is easy to say and might not be correct. After years of unhealthy eating the body will have a hard time digesting larger amounts of healthy food. I found a great article about FOD MAP and acne. Some foods cause problems, some don't. Try to eliminate certain foods and eat others and see if your problems are solved this way. Take a look at this article:http://supernaturalacnetreatment.com/fodmaps-a-hidden-cause-of-acne-in-seemingly-clean-fruits-and-vegetables/

Women should eat before and not after exercise to burn more fat, the opposite of men

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3388628/Men-exercise-eating-women-burn-fat-scientists-reveal.html

Grains, which has the most iron, calcium, zink and selenium?

I have found the results for Norwegian grains per 100 grams.

Oats are very high in calcium and iron. 53 and 5 mg.
Wheat are on second place with 31 and 4,1 mg.
Barley has 27 and 2,2.
Spelt has 25 and 2,9.
Rye has 24 and 2,8.
Corn has 6 and 1,1.
Rice has only 6 and 0,1 mg and has the lowest amount and are a good staple food for men who don't need the high amount of iron as young women do.

Big differences as you can see.

So what about zinc and selenium?

Wheat are on top regarding selenium. 10 mg.
Rye are on second place with 6mg.
Rice has 5 mg.
Barley has 3, corn has 2 and oats 1 mg.

There are not big differences between the grains when it comes to zinc content.
Spelt and oats are on top with 3,1 mg, wheat and rye are on second place with 2,7 and 2,2.
Barley and corn has 1,5 mg and rice has only 0,5.

Copper content is interesting too, but I look for the lowest amount,ot the highest then, because many women has too much copper in the diet and the body.( https://metabolichealing.com/birth-control-copper-toxicity-estrogen-excess/)

Rice is lowest in copper, with only 0,09 mg.
Corn has 0,14, rye 0,27 and wheat has 0,35 mg.
Spelt and oats has 0,4 mg and barley has 0,56 mg.

An answer to "Afraid of eating more in case I don't burn all the calories"

That is the nut shell of anorexia, isn't it? To overcome the fear is the hard part. What I have found helpful is to put new things into my mind that neutralize the fear. I am sure you know what can do that for you. To look at skinny models and compare your body to them will never get you out of the mindset, so you need something healthy to compare your body with instead. You have to want health. Then the fear will be replaced by that desire. Either you want to be skinny and fear gaining weight or you want to be healthy and fear sickness, you know. Many have to be near death to choose health. Then they find that the fear of death or illness is stronger than the fear of gaining some weight. Only that fear was stronger, than to lose all their friends, their lover, the connection with parents, their job or ability to go to school. You have to actively choose differently, go for something else. Replace the goal "get skinnier" with something else, like " get stronger" or "get more energy to go to school" or what ever you desire in life and will make you more happy. You can't wait for someone else to step in. You are in charge. You know what you need. You must hold on to the fact that you are valuable even though you haven't been able to show it lately when you were ill. Nourish yourself and you will be able to nourish others.

Jesus wants us to be vegetarians, but not vegans according to the gospel of peace.

But he who kills the beast without a cause, though the beast attack him not, through lust for slaughter, or for its flesh, or for its hide, or yet for its tusks, evil is the deed which he does, for he is turned into a wild beast himself.

Eat only when the sun is highest in the heavens, and again when it is set.

"From the coming of the month of Ijar, eat barley; from the month of Sivan, eat wheat, the most perfect among all seed-bearing herbs. And let your daily bread be made of wheat, that the Lord may take care of your bodies. From Tammuz, eat the sour grape, that your body may diminish and Satan may depart from it. in the month of Elul, gather the grape that the juice may serve you as drink. In the month of Marchesvan, gather the sweet grape, dried and sweetened by the angel of sun, that your bodies may increase, for the angels of the Lord dwell in them. You should eat figs rich in juice in the months of Ab and Shebat, and what remain, let the angel of sun keep them for you; eat them with the meat of almonds in all the months when the trees bear no fruits. And the herbs which come after rain, these eat in the month of Thebet, that your blood may be cleansed of all your sins. And in the same month begin to eat also the milk of your beasts, because for this did the Lord give the herbs of the fields to all the beasts which render milk, that they might with their milk feed man. For I tell you truly, happy are they that eat only at the table of God, and eschew all the abominations of Satan. Eat not unclean foods brought from far countries, but eat always that which your trees bear. For your God knows well what is needful for you, and where and when. And he gives to all peoples of all kingdoms for food that which is best for each. Eat not as the heathen do, who stuff themselves in haste, defiling their bodies with all manner of abominations.

http://www.essene.com/GospelOfPeace/peace1.html

McDougall quotes

The Human Body Does Not Turn Sugar to Fat 

The process of synthesizing fat from sugar is known as de novo lipogenesis—the new production of fat.  This activity is highly efficient in some animals, such as pigs and cows—which can convert low-energy, inexpensive carbohydrates—grass, say, in the case of cows and grains for pigs—into calorie-dense fats.⁵ However, human beings are very inefficient at this process and as a result de novo lipogenesis does not occur under usual living conditions in people. Thus the common belief that sugar turns to fat is scientifically incorrect—and there is no disagreement about this fact among scientists or their scientific research.^5-8 

Under experimental laboratory conditions, however, where people are overfed large amounts of simple sugars, the human body will resort to converting a small amount of sugar into a small amount of fat (triglycerides) in the liver.  For example, in one recent study, trim and obese women were overfed with 50% more calories than they usually ate—note, 535 of these extra calories each day came from four and a half ounces (135 grams) of refined sugar.  In this forced-fed situation, the women produced less than 4 grams (36 calories) of fat daily from the extra carbohydrate.⁸ (So where does all that fat come from?—the fat you eat is the fat you wear.)https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2006nl/sept/sugar.htm

Sugar Does Not Cause Diabetes 

After eating high-carbohydrate foods you might suspect that all that dietary sugar would cause the sugar in the blood to rise and this might lead to diabetes. That’s what many lay people believe.  Even a few scientists have theorized that chronically elevated levels of sugar in the blood might wear out the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas and produce diabetes.¹¹ Actually, this common thinking is incorrect—studies comparing sugar intake with risk of developing type-2 diabetes show people on high sugar diets are less likely to get diabetes.¹²  There is, however, a strong relationship between red meat consumption and diabetes.¹³

The lowest rates of diabetes in the world are found among populations that consume the most carbohydrate—for this reason type-2 diabetes is almost unknown in rural Asia, Africa, Mexico and Peru.^14,15  However, when these people change to a diet rich in fats and low in carbohydrates they commonly become diabetic. Some of the highest rates of this disease (and associated obesity) are found in Hispanics, Native Americans, Polynesians, and Blacks who have recently adopted the American diet.¹⁶

Contrary to popular belief, refined sugars actually make the body’s insulin work more efficiently.¹⁷  When the refined sugar content of an experimental diet of people with mild diabetes was doubled from 45% sugar to 85% sugar, every measurement of their diabetic condition improved—fasting blood sugar, fasting insulin levels, and the oral glucose tolerance test all showed their diabetes was better.¹⁸  The researchers concluded, “These data suggest that the high carbohydrate diet increased the sensitivity of peripheral tissues to insulin.”  The increase in insulin’s sensitivity (efficiency) exceeds any blood sugar-raising effect from consuming more carbohydrate.¹⁷  Because sugar does not cause type-2 diabetes, the American Diabetic Association has recommend “55% to 65% of a diabetic’s diet come from carbohydrate,” and sugary foods are allowed.¹⁹

The carbohydrates found in whole foods (starches, vegetables, and fruits) are much healthier to consume than refined sugars for a person wanting to prevent or cure type-2 diabetes for a variety of reasons—especially because of the adverse effects on weight gain and blood cholesterol and triglycerides of sugars compared to starches (more in next month’s newsletter).  A high carbohydrate, vegan diet, has recently been shown to help diabetics stop medications and improve their overall health.²⁰ (See my August 2006 newsletter)

Acceptable Sugar Use

The main reason sugar has a bad reputation is because of the company it keeps.  People living in Western societies eat loads of rich foods that make them fat and sick.  Along with their high intake of meat, dairy, and refined grains, they also eat a lot of simple sugars.  In this caldron of malnutrition, sugar’s exact contribution becomes indistinct.  But, in most people’s minds, sugar is the villain—the scapegoat, taking focus off the animal-foods and free fats (vegetable oils), which are much more of a burden to one’s health than simple sugar is.  This misplaced emphasis results in a lost opportunity to regain lost health and appearance.

Sugar tastes great and can hugely enhance the enjoyment of eating. One practical point is that the addition of sugar will boost the acceptance of a low-fat diet, like the McDougall diet—increasing long-term compliance.  However, to reap the greatest pleasure with the least harm, simple sugar should be put on the surface of the food where the tongue makes direct contact.  This means sugars should not be added to the food during preparation—mixed up in the ingredients where the sweet flavors are hidden from the tongue’s taste buds.  Using a small amount of sugar on the surface of the food is my recommendation for trim, healthy people. 

Meal frequency: There was a second paper published on these same subjects (which was a double cross over design, so a very well done study) and the found significant increases in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and in blood pressure, compared to when they ate more frequent meals. These findings were published in the April 2007 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. However, remember, this was from one very large meal per day with the exact same calories as the more frequent meals.

This older study (3) found that "Although there was no difference in change of body weight by food restriction between the two groups, the decrease in lean body mass (LBM) was significantly greater in the 2M [meals per day] group than in the 6M [meals per day] group.

How do we lose fat when getting enough calories from carbs? Generally speaking, the human body is almost always burning fat. Under normal conditions, the body is burning about 50% of its energy from carbohydrates and about 50% from fat. Some say these may vary and range from 50-70% Muscle cells burn glucose from carbohydrate or fatty acids from fats. At rest, and during low activity levels, the human body is burning around 50/50 glucose and fat. The harder one works, the relative percentage of fuel from sugar goes up and the relative percent of fuel from fat goes down.

Digestion time for different food

DIGESTION TIME OF VARIOUS FOODS: (The time spent in the stomach before emptying).

Juices: Fruit vegetables, vegetable broth - 15 to 20 minutes.

Semi-liquid: Blended salad, vegetables or fruits) - 20 to 30 min.

Fruits: Watermelon - 20 min. digestion time. Other melons - Cantaloupe, Cranshaw, Honeydew, etc. - 30 min. Oranges, grapefruit, grapes - 30 min. Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, etc. - digest in 40 min.

Vegetables: Raw tossed salad vegetables - tomato, lettuces, cucumber, celery, red or green pepper, other succulent vegetables - 30 to 40 min. digestion. - Steamed or cooked vegetables Leafy vegetables - escarole, spinach, kale, collards etc. - 40 min. - Zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, string beans, yellow squash, corn on cob - all 45 min. digestion time Root vegetables - carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips etc. - 50 min.

Semi-Concentrated Carbohydrates - Starches. Jerusalem artichokes & leafy, acorn & butternut squashes, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yam, chestnuts - all 60 min. digestion.

Concentrated Carbohydrates - Grains: Brown rice, millet, buckwheat, cornmeal, oats (first 3 vegetables best) - 90 min. Legumes & Beans - (Concentrated Carbohydrate & Protein) Lentils, limes, chick peas, peas, pigeon peas, kidney beans, etc. - 90 min. digestion time soy beans -120 min. digestion time

Seeds & Nuts. Seeds - Sunflower, pumpkin, pepita, sesame - Digestive time approx. 2 hours. Nuts - Almonds, filberts, peanuts (raw), cashews, Brazil, walnuts, pecans etc. - 2 1/2 to 3 hours to digest.

Dairy: Skim milk, cottage or low fat pot cheese or ricotta - approx. 90 min. digestion time whole milk cottage cheese - 120 min. digestion whole milk hard cheese - 4 to 5 hours digestion time

Animal proteins: Egg yolk - 30 min. digestion time Whole egg - 45 min. Fish - cod, scrod, flounder, sole seafood - 30 min. digestion time Fish - salmon, salmon trout, herring, (more fatty fish) - 45 min. to 60 digestion time Chicken - 11/2 to 2 hours digestion time (without skin) Turkey - 2 to 2 1/4 hours digestion time (without skin) Beef, lamb - 3 to 4 hours digestion time Pork - 41/2 to 5 hours.

Top Tips for Good Digestion

Eat in order of digestibility.

You should eat the easiest to digest foods first in each meal and slowly move towards the more complex. Think of a highway, if the slowest cars are in front they'll hold up the faster cars behind them, causing a traffic jam. The same goes for your food. Eat those fastest to digest first and save the tougher to digest foods for the second half of your meal.

Here are the time sequences for different food groups:

Water & Juices: 20-30 minutes.

Fruits, Smoothies, Soups: 30-45 minutes.

Vegetables: 30-45 minutes.

Beans, Grains, Starches: 2-3 hours.

Meat, Fish, Poultry: 3 or more hours.

Drink warm or hot liquids with your meal.

Ice cold drinks can slow down the digestive process, think of it as putting ice on a muscle. The muscle stiffens and does not function as well. Warm or room temperature water, juice, or decaf tea will encourage proper digestion. (Just remember the traffic jam – drink liquids prior to meals).

http://www.cleanse-yourself-lose-weight.com/digestion-time.html

Weight restored and I feel amazing.

The longer you eat recovery amounts the stronger you will be to tolerate the weight gain and bloat. I live with what I feared my whole life now every day. A body with normal weight with fat on thighs and stomach. But anyway I feel amazing. I had forgot how good it feels to be nourished. I am more positive because the mood is way better when I have eaten so I look at the positive aspects of my body. I DON'T NEED TO LOOK PERFECT.

More energy, no edema.

So, it's been 11,5 weeks on recovery amounts of food now. The edema is completely gone. I noticed my butt was no longer hard as it was when it was full of water. I look better. I think maybe redistribution has began now. I know it is very soon so perhaps I'm wrong, but I think the fat is distributed more naturally now than before.

I have got more energy the last days as I started being more active by doing strength training at home. I actually felt I had energy to do some yoga today as well. I'm very happy about this, and the improvements in strength day to day is motivating. I still don't take long walks. That is the last thing I'm going to do. I have to be smart so the adrenals gets the rest it needs. I will not strain myself. My manual therapist wanted to see me in his gym in 4 weeks time. I said I would show up and I could bring my buddy that moves in with me this week, who also needs to start building strength. Edit: It was too early to start strength training so I stopped after a while.

I have eaten mostly fruits and potatoes lately + oats. I love it, and it makes me sure I won't gain more fat. I gained more than enough when I ate mostly fat the first 7 weeks. I regret doing that, but I'm confident the amount that is too much will come off as I continue to eat low fat. Edit: I did lose the overshoot weight quickly while eating mostly whole food carb-sources so my prediction was correct.

Higher weight

It's can be easier to handle being at a higher weight the longer you have been in recovery because you feel better over all, your mood is so much better and you feel stronger. That is how it is for me at least. It is so nice to be able to make jokes and laugh hard again. It is strange to be spontanious again, but now I don't take myself that serious anymore, so I can live with the shame of saying stupid jokes sometimes. I think my energy has started to increase too now. I don't think so much that I am in recovery anymore. Instead I focus about getting stronger and enjoy life. Like, i eat because that is normal, not because I'm in recovery. The only reason why I could start restricting again would be my vanity, but I do not want to be a slave of vanity. Then I'm more proud of looking normal. Most people are at a BMI between 23-28 or something. Don't remember exactly. So it is not that we will look bigger than most. So, no worries. Those who make a lot of effort just to look a certain way is not someone I look up to anymore. I feel a bit ashamed I have been such a person all my life. I will focus on important things instead. Not appearance. I will eat and move because it is natural and enjoyable.

Pretty happy with it all now.

I've eaten around 2600 calories a day for a couple of weeks and I'm excited that I can eat food that I've missed. I have baked my own rolls, eaten mashed potatoes almost daily, oats with yoghurt and pineapple and a lot of fruit. I can't see a weight gain because of this, so it's great. Today, even though I'm as big as before my eating disorder started I think I look pretty good. I don't think a redistribution will make a lot of difference on how I look now because I do not have the toddler shape some say they have before the redistribution (fat around the waist).

My metabolism is definitely improved. I know this for a fact because I have measured my body temperature for weeks now. It's gone up slowly from 36,3 to 36,9. Before recovery it was far less than this. Some people have cold hands and feet, but a high temperature. Then it have to be poor circulation. I know vitamin E can help. Probably a lot of other things too.

I eat meat only once a week or two. I get enough protein from all the grains. I have tried rolls with wheat, spelt, barley and rye and prefer rye. I have read that modern wheat contains more gluten that the original wheat so it's best to avoid it as much as possible. I like the taste of rye better anyway, but it is very hard to digest for me.

I have ordered a blender and look forward to make nice cream, using frozen fruit to make fat free sorbet. I'm gonna use banana, mango, peach and papaya. I'm happy I can eat food like that with no problems. I do get some gas from the grains, but it doesn't hurt as I am far from constipated.

The pain in my legs and feet are less, the head aches are almost gone and it's a long time since I had flu like symptoms (migraine).

My family has been supporting and nice to me. I have avoided other people, but now I accept more how I look so this will change. A guy who likes "the skinnier the better" is coming to live with me in ten days time. He hasn't seen me since before I started eating more so I worry what he will say. 

I look forward to have energy to exercise again. I have burned out my adrenals so it will take years, probably. I sleep a lot to heal them.

My energy level and strength is not improved more than say 15%. I will do a bit of strength training at home for my back, thighs and stomach because I need it. It will just be a few minutes a day in the beginning. Hopefully I can do a bit of yoga as well soon. Just sun salutations and a couple of other asanas to start with. I will stop as soon as I feel I'm straining myself.

I have not stepped on the scale these ten weeks. If I should guess I am probably at a BMI of 23 now. 

If your mother restrict food while you are in recovery

It's not very supportive of your mother to starve while you recover from starvation. Have you told her it may ruin your recovery and ask if she can stop it and be supportive instead? Ask her if she by restricting want to risk that you may start restricting as well because she by her actions says it is ok and risk that she lose a daughter for her own vanity.    Anyway you must try to be strong in what you believe is right to do and do it. Maybe you must avoid destructive people for a while till you are less vulnerable? What will make you stronger? More food, more knowledge, more support? Get it somehow.

When we meet people who are dieting we can use the opportunity to tell them things they obviously don't know, but we have learned. Like that they slow down their metabolism, that they will gain even more fat after the diet, that they don't only lose fat, but organ tissue and muscles as well. We can tell them about set point weight that allows them to eat what ever they want. About body acceptance, the diet industry that don't want us to know that they incourage people indirectly to starve, to starve their organs, to be more vulnerable to infections and stress the adrenals which can lead to fatigue. We can tell them about the importance of sleep and rest and warn against over-exercising to heal the adrenals and cure fatigue. That eating well and sleeping enough makes us less vulnerable (take things with a laugh instead of a cry) and more tolerant towards the natural body. We can ask them if to look good is more important than to feel good and be healthy and strong. And if they have been taught what is beautyful or investigated what they think is beautiful themselves. If they could work on their own tolerance instead of being a victim of the lack of tolerance in society.  To not accept how the body looks, what it needs and so on is lack of love. To diet and exercise to be thin is fear-driven and destructive. There is so much to say to people who haven't reflected on the subject or looked up information not influenced by the diet industry, but based on the interest of health.

Linker

 skam http://www.apollon.uio.no/artikler/2000/skam.html

Lov om tvang https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/123456789/30341/MASTERGronbeck.pdf?sequence=4

omsorgssvikt
http://www.google.no/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CE0QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fntnu.diva-portal.org%2Fsmash%2Fget%2Fdiva2%3A380929%2FFULLTEXT01&ei=78niUN3LKq714QT__oD4Dw&usg=AFQjCNF9-6zriY4K8b1KWwIOMl8bYW1nuQ&sig2=Ly8WNlePvzdvZgUzZ8Uv6Q

sulteeksperimentet http://dinosau.blogg.no/1285763235_29sep2010.html

sulthormon http://montereydiet.com/ghrelin_and_leptin.html 

http://isammeverden.cappelendamm.no/binfil/download.php?did=76128

On high carb

A couple of days ago I loved the taste of butter and ate a lot of it, but now that I eat max 10% fat I get disgusted by the thought of it. It is like the body agrees that i should either eat fat or carbs. At least now. Glad the body is working with me on this. It's a relief I don't need to eat much protein at all. Carbs, carbs, carbs :it's not boring. It's delishes. I managed to eat over 2000 calories yesterday so I can continue doing this for at least 2 weeks as Matt has recommended someone else that had eaten low carb.

I'm so happy I don't have to fear a lot of fat gain and too little muscle gain. I am looking at my body in hope to see less water weight. I can't see any change yet. I'm glad I found Matt Stones work now before I had gained too much fat. I have probably what I need, even though I can't be sure because what is water weight and what is fat is impossible to tell at the moment. So looking forward to less water. Maybe I shouldn't be too impatient because water weight means healing and it's good the healing can continue on carbs as well. I want to get healed NOW, but it does take a lot of time and I have just had 2 months. In the starvation experiment the men had not healed much in two months at all. After 4-6 it was much better.

I had a lot of gas yesterday evening so it was hard to be able to sleep tonight. But it was released this morning with perfect stool. Hope it will get better soon. I think gas is better than constipation.

What is a surprise to me is that without adding beans, cheese, fish or meat the protein I get is still above my need. That is amazing. I am bored of meat and fish so that is great, I think. It's protein in the whole wheat, whole spelt, oats and the light milk I drink with a little cacao powder in.

I always thought oats was boring, but now I love it with pineapple and vanilla yoghurt( artificially sweetened). I eat mashed potatos and home made rolls from whole wheat or spelt. I'm going to try baking with corn flour and buck wheat as well. I don't add anything to the flour other than water and salt. It tastes amazing anyway.

I have eaten above 2000 the three days I've eaten low fat high carb. My minimum is supposedly 2500, but I'm not far from it so I'm ok with that. I have eaten 4500 for many weeks so I think it's fine.

No more low carb

After reading what Matt Stone says about low carb and weight I read a lot in panick to make sense of it all the past two days. Already today I am eating carbs again. Almost just carbs, to get my body used to them again. I was afraid of horrible reactions, but my refeeding must have done some good because I have eaten apples, pineapple, oranges, potatoes, yoghurt, wheat and oats with no problems other than I had to sleep almost right after eating wheat and potatoes, but I'm used to sleeping at daytime so that is alright.

I have more energy today. I have baked chibatta and rolls, vacumed, been out shopping and talked energetically on the phone the few hours I didn't sleep. I have so much energy. I feel it in my muscles. I think my almost extreme hunger was for carbs all along.

I thought yesterday that I wouldn't manage to eat the boring carbs, but boy was I wrong. I'm such a habit person. I get used to things so quickly and make a habit of it right away. To be able to eat to minimum without fat is impossible for me, at least today. I don't know how long I should eat just carbs. If I manage to increase the calories to minimum I can do this for weeks, but if I don't eat enough I should eat some fat too or I will stop the healing process and reduce my musclemass. But now I just feel great accept the head ache. That is common for people who has changed their diet, Matt says.

Some are able to overeat on just carbs. How do they do it? This is to fire up the metabolism so they can eat more afterwards and not have to restrict. Look at the blog post "Matt Stone says" and you will find more on this topic, as well as links to his homepage.

He says low carb reduces the metabolism and tires out the adrenals. The reason why i just eat carbs now that i am getting the body used to them is that if we eat carbs and fat when we are used to fat only we will gain fat weight. How I don't know. If we eat almost carbs only we will not gain fat. If we overeat on just carbs we will gain muscle weight only.

My plan is to first get used to carbs so I can eat both fat and carbs later, and then eat balanced (mostly carbs, fat in moderation and a little protein. More calories from fat than from protein. The opposite of what i ate for years.

Hiding

It is more normal and acceptable for girls and women to wear shorts instead of bikinis at the beach. In 30-40 years time when the fat shaming has increased even more it will be acceptable, and soon after even obligatory, to wear large cardboard boxes with holes on top at summer time.

Great article about insulin and the low carb myth

http://www.muscleforlife.com/how-insulin-works/

Panicking

I sendt this to the 180 degree diet:
Hi. I am a recovering anorexic who have eaten 4500 calories for 7 weeks now and have gained water and fat. I read that Matt says that you can't build muscles on low carb ( how low?) and suggest recovering anorexics to eat just 10% from fat and mostly carbs to gain muscles. I have eaten only 6 % from carbs = 63 grams these weeks a day. If I continue doing this will I gain fat only if I am just resting? My body craves fat mostly, and fruit (that I don't eat), not potatoes and stuff because it wants more body fat at the moment, so I wonder if I should wait with the diet switch till the body wants to gain muscles and maybe I don't crave fat so much anymore or start right away.

I have been on low carb while undereating for many years. I tried eating fruit after 3 years and got stomach pain so I didn't add it to my diet even though I wanted to be less strict. Now you will probably say: add carbs slowly (even though that leads to fat gain). I don't want extra fat, you know, but, I don't know. So I wonder should I continue low carb, go on the 10% fat diet Matt suggests or should I eat high fat diet with more carbs and deal with the extra fat? Most importantly: will I gain muscles on low carb when only resting like those on high carb does while in anorexia recovery? And will eating low carb high fat (372 grams = 77%) make me gain too much fat and too little muscles?

So you see where I am at. Reading Matt Stones writings has made me so confused because I trust the well informed guy. I have bought a lot of high carb foods so I can start tomorrow on the diet that I can eat as much carbs I want as long as I eat less than 10% from fat. This way I will only gain muscles. I tried to make a menu and it is very hard to reach enough calories with so little fat. So I'm worried I am ruining my recovery now. Oæææ! Confused, confused, confused.

I actually do know what I should do to not ruin my recovery and make everything perfect. That is to add carbs slowly and deal with the weight gain. It's a hard one. My fear is I will gain too much fat, but that is probably not what will happen. I will gain the fat I need quicker. I'm already uncomfortable with my gain. Recovery is so scary.

Ray Peat food suggestions

Ray Peat:

Protein deficiency itself contributes to the harm done by toxins, since the liver’s ability to detoxify them depends on adequate nutrition, especially good protein. During stress or fasting, the loss of tissue protein can be minimized by supplementing the minerals, potassium, sodium, magnesium, and calcium. Salt restriction can cause aldosterone to increase, and excess aldosterone causes potassium loss, and increases the use of protein to form ammonia (Norby, et al., 1976; Snart and Taylor, 1978; Welbourne and Francoeur, 1977). Aldosterone secretion increases during the night, and its rise is greater in depressed and stressed people. It inhibits energy metabolism, increases insulin resistance, and increases the formation of proinflammatory substances in fat cells (Kraus, et al., 2005). During aging, salt restriction can produce an exaggerated nocturnal rise in aldosterone. One of the things that happen when there isn't enough sodium in the diet is that more aldosterone is synthesized. Aldosterone causes less sodium to be lost in the urine and sweat, but it achieves that at the expense of the increased loss of potassium, magnesium, and probably calcium. The loss of potassium leads to vasoconstriction, which contributes to heart and kidney failure and high blood pressure. The loss of magnesium contributes to vasoconstriction, inflammation, and bone loss. Magnesium deficiency is extremely common, but a little extra salt in the diet makes it easier to retain the magnesium in our foods. .https://raypeatforum.com/community/attachments/ray_peat_website_articles-pdf.76/

Ray Peat eating suggestions:https://raypeatforum.com/community/threads/ray-peat-diet-food-choices-and-general-guidelines.20/

“ Vegetarians often notice temporary exhilaration when they stop eating meat, probably because their thyroid has been suppressed. But a more serious hypothyroid state often follows, from a low protein inadequate vegetarian diet. Low protein diets definitely interfere with the liver’s ability to detoxify estrogen and other stressors.”

“A few years ago, most of the nutritional problems that I saw were caused by physicians, by refined convenience foods, and by poverty. Recently, most of the problems seem to be caused by badly designed vegetarian diets, or by acceptance of the idea that 40 grams of protein per day is sufficient. The liver and other organs deteriorate rapidly on low-protein diets. 

"A simple protein deficiency has many surprising effects. It lowers body temperature, and suppresses the thyroid, but it increases inflammation and the tendency of blood to clot. Since the brain and heart and lungs require a continuous supply of essential amino acids if they are to continue functioning, in the absence of dietary protein, cortisol must be produced continuously to mobilize amino acids from the expendable tissues, which are mainly the skeletal muscles."

"When the metabolic rate is optimal, most adults who aren't completely sedentary probably should have around 130 to 150 grams. If their calorie consumption is around 3000 kcal per day, that's about 25% of the calories as protein. Great Lakes Gelatin (cooked collagen), a prothyroid protein is recommended to balance the anti-thyroid amino acids in muscle meats."

"This would emphasize high protein, low unsaturated fats, low iron, and high antioxidant consumption, with a moderate or low starch consumption. In practice, this means that a major part of the diet should be milk, cheese, eggs, shellfish, fruits and coconut oil, with vitamin E and salt as the safest supplements."

Ray: "Yes, people in New Guinea who eat nothing but potatoes for 51 weeks of the year (and pork the other week) have been studied and found to be healthy with no signs of protein deficiency."
~Ray Peat

Proteins:
Daily protein should be at least 80 grams, preferably 100 if you are working or otherwise active. An egg has about 6 grams, a quart of milk about 32 grams, meat, cheese, and fish are usually about 20% protein, so a pound would be enough for a day. It's important to have fruit or other carbohydrate with the protein for efficient metabolism. Milk, cheese, eggs, shellfish are good protein sources, and potato protein is high in quality, if the potato is very well cooked and eaten with butter or cream. Although potatoes contain only about 2% protein, a kilogram of potato has roughly the protein value of a liter of milk (which is 3% protein), because of its high quality. Unless you are buying eggs from a verified grass-fed, free range source he recommends limiting them to one or two a day, and making sure to have plenty of carbohydrate around the same time to prevent sugar crash.

Meats like ground beef, steak, liver, and pork chops are rich in cysteine, which “turns off” the thyroid gland as soon as your body uses up it’s glycogen and ideally shouldn't be your main source of protein. Muscle meats should be eaten with the gelatin it comes with, or supplemental gelatin (see below), to balance out an anti-thyroid amino acid called tryptophan (which is also found in whey protein formulations). Traditionally, muscle meats are eaten with the fat, skin and the gelatin that they come with, so this is mostly an issue in first-world countries where we have protein powders and pure muscle meats readily available. Chicken liver contains such a small amount of fat it's okay to have in addition to or instead of beef liver (which should be consumed weekly). Pork or chicken every 7- 10 days is okay if your metabolic rate (thyroid function) is good. When chicken is stewed, gelatin from the skin is valuable, and much of the fat can be skimmed off(just remember chicken is not optimal). With any of the muscle meats, including fish, gelatin is helpful for balancing the high cysteine, methionine, and tryptophan content. Regarding bacon, Peat says, “The nitrate isn't likely to be a problem if you eat it with orange juice. I fry the bacon to remove some of the fat, and then refry it in coconut oil, to remove most of the PUFA.”

Fatty fish like salmon and herring should be avoided because their fat content is mostly unsaturated; as a general rule, cold blooded animals like fish tend to produce unsaturated fats while warm blooded animals like cows and pigs tend to produce saturated and monounsaturated fats. Cod and sole are good fish, since they have the marine minerals (especially selenium), but low fat content. Tuna is good as protein, but the fat it contains is highly polyunsaturated; eating once a week, especially with homemade coconut mayo should be safe.of course

Regarding his recommendation of daily gelatin:
For an adult, gelatin can be a major protein in the diet, since the need for cysteine and tryptophan decreases greatly when growth slows. Ox-tail soup (boiled for 4 or 5 hours) and lamb shanks have a good proportion of gelatin. I think most stores have gelatin in one pound packages or bigger, for example Great Lakes gelatin is usually around $11 per pound. If a person eats a large serving of meat, it's probably helpful to have 5–10 grams of gelatin at approximately the same time, so that the amino acids enter the blood stream in balance. Asian grocery stores are likely to sell some of the traditional gelatin-rich foods, such as prepared pig skin and ears and tails, and chicken feet. Although the prepared powdered gelatin doesn't require any cooking, dissolving it in hot water makes it digest a little more quickly. It can be incorporated into custards, mousses, ice cream, soups, sauces, cheese cake, pies, etc., or mixed with fruit juices to make desserts or (with juice concentrate) candies.

Peat is a big fan of dairy. He prefers milk with no added vitamins, raw if you can get it, but uses standard pasteurized-homogenized when there’s no alternative. He prefers cheese made without enzymes, just animal rennet. He doesn't use yogurt because of the lactic acid and/or lactobacillus. He avoids anything with gums in it, like cream cheese. Ice cream like Haagen Dazs is okay since it has no carageenan or gums like guar/carob bean– these are often found in foods like cream cheese, canned coconut milk, and half-and-half; make sure that the ice cream does not have any vegetable oil in it as some varieties include this. Regarding yogurt, in quantities of an ounce or so, for flavoring, it's o.k., but the lactic acid content isn't good if you are using yogurt as a major source of your protein and calcium; it triggers the inflammatory reactions, leading to fibrosis eventually, and the immediate effect is to draw down the liver's glycogen stores for energy to convert it into glucose. Cottage cheese, that is, milk curds with salt, is very good, if you can find it without additives, but traditional cottage cheese was almost fat-free, so when they make it with whole milk you should watch for other innovations that might not be beneficial.

Although Peat basically scorns legumes, he said hummus in small amounts isn't nutritionally harmful, though chickpeas and tahini are both allergenic for some people.

“Whey, which is sold as a protein supplement, and egg whites contain too much tryptophan and can be antithyroid if used excessively.” -Ray Peat, PhD

Cheese (milk with the whey removed) contains less tryptophan. Some people have been encouraged to eat only the whites of eggs, “to avoid cholesterol,” but the egg albumin is rich in tryptophan. 

The expensive tender cuts of meat contain excessive amounts of cysteine and tryptophan, but bone broth (gelatin) and the tougher cuts of meat contain more gelatin, which lacks those amino acids.

“For example, whey protein contains much more tryptophan than whole milk or cheese does, and would tend to suppress the thyroid and activate the whole serotonin-stress system. Whey might be good for fattening pigs, but its acceptance in the health food industry as a powdered protein supplement is just another example of the harmful effects of serotonin mythology.” -Ray Peat

Fats:
Best sources are coconut oil and butter; olive oil and macadamia nut oil sparingly. He is a big fan of (refined) coconut oil to stimulate the metabolism. Among nuts and nut oils, macadamia is probably the safest. See the Omega-6 list below for more info.

Carbohydrates:
Have some with every meal to prevent hypoglycemia after eating the proteins.
Fruit and fruit juices – If you're able to do it, try to consume fresh fruits and fruit juices every day. Orange juice is great because of it’s potassium and magnesium content. Tropical fruits and juices are excellent too. If you don’t have a juicer at home, you can buy pasteurized juices with no additives that say “not from concentrate” on the label. Juices that are from concentrate are made up of mostly added water that is flouridated. Fruits in general are fine (tropical are best), but grapefruit is full of phytoestrogens, so avoid it, and berries are full of small seeds you can't avoid, so it's better to skip them. He recommends avoiding bananas and other starchy-poorly-ripened-industrialized fruits, which includes most apples and pears (when these are ripe, peeled and cooked they are much more nutritious, and safer). Organic dried fruits are fine as long as they are not treated with sulfur dioxide; canned fruits are okay, especially if they are in glass. You can have a small apple and some cheese as a snack occasionally if it doesn't cause any digestive or allergic symptoms—the fat in the cheese is protective against the starch in incompletely ripened fruit.

Tubers – Potato, yams; occasionally well-cooked grains in the order of best to least desirable: masa harina, white rice or oats, brown rice. The phytic acid in the oats block absorption of much of the calcium; cooking the oats much longer than usual might improve its nutritional value. Canned plain pumpkin if eaten with some fat is okay, but carrots are less starchy for similar effects.

He recommends eating a raw carrot daily, particularly a raw carrot salad with coconut oil, for both its bowel-protective and an anti-estrogen effect. Summer squash and bamboo shoots are the best cooked vegetables; well cooked kale and broccoli are okay, too. Carrots are best salad. The fiber in whole vegetables helps protect against the effects of the unsaturated fats they contain (in comparison to fruit), which means that juiced vegetables with none of the protective fiber will act as a thyroid inhibitor because of the concentrated PUFAs. There isn’t anything wrong with using vegetables as a smaller part of your diet, but salads and steamed vegetable dishes shouldn’t be the main part of anyone’s diet. He recommends avoiding avocados as they contain so much unsaturated fat that they can be carcinogenic and hepatotoxic (toxic to the liver).

Beverages:
Coffee supports the metabolism but has to be consumed with some sugar or with meal to prevent stress response due to low blood sugar. Because of the tannins in tea, it's important to use either lemon or milk (or cream). The histamine in red wine is a special problem for hypothyroid people, usually it isn't harmful.

Avoid: 
PUFAs and soy. PUFAs are found in processed foods, nuts and seeds and their butters, vegetable oils, margarine. Also keep in mind that if you have been eating PUFAs in the past, the oil change in your tissues takes up to four years during which your fat stores will be releasing enough PUFAs to cause you some troubles, so it requires some patience and also some skillful means to counteract their effects, like getting some extra vitamin E or a little thyroid to counteract their antithyroid action etc. It all depends on how your metabolism works.

Chocolate is okay as long as there are no additives.

For salty cravings, Peat recommends tortilla chips fried in coconut oil, and chicharrones (pork rinds) with no additive but salt (puffed in hot air). Another snack is popcorn popped on the stove in coconut oil, then salted & buttered; the oil and butter are protective against the starch, but it's harder to digest than tortilla chips or chicharrones.

For salt use Mortons Canning and Pickling salt.

Vinegar is a good antiseptic when it's used with raw carrot, but watch for sulfite when using regularly.

Maple syrup is heated to a fairly high temperature, and this creates some sugar-derived chemicals that can be allergenic and might be toxic.

Regarding whey protein, Peat says, “Powdered foods that contain tryptophan are extremely susceptible to harmful oxidation, and the best things are removed, for example calcium, lactose, and casein, with its anti-stress properties.”

Ray Peats own personal diet...

Ray Peats own personal diet from:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AV ... ssage/5523

Okay, Bruce, this is a summary from my correspondance with her about
what Ray Peat eats (or ate, if he's changed things) and what he
recommends. This is from 2005.

- dairy, fruit and meat are the core of his diet.

dairy for the protein, calcium, and other nutrients
fruits (or other sugars as 2nd choice) for the KAs and EAAs
gelatin to balance the aminos and to replace the need for eating
animal brains and other organs muscle meat as a supplement for
protein magnesium, etc.

- he gets from 120 to 150 grams of protein per day. Doesn't feel quite
right when he goes as low as 100. A few quarts of milk, several ounces
of cheese, gelatin in some form (broth, chicharrones, gummy bears,
etc.), at least a quart of orange juice (or equivalent other fruit),
and the occasional (rotating) eggs, shellfish, fish, and beef, bison,
or lamb, in one or two of his meals.

- says one must always balance protein with sugar (fruit being the
best) because protein alone lowers blood sugar and you need the sugar
to better metabolize the protein. So when he eats protein, he eats
sugar with it: about 1:1 fruit to meat, and about 2:1 fruit to cheese.

- says best to limit meat due to the tryptophan and antimetabolic
properties, but it can be handled if consumed with fruit and gelatin.
He does eat meat almost every day, or just beef or lamb broth When
the meat is aged he doesn't like the taste so he doesn't eat much of it.

- he eats meat with gelatin. The gelatin can be either from regular
powder or from broth cooked no more than 3 hours (otherwise you
degrade the nutrients he says).

- he avoids all fatty fish.

- says chicken should be eaten no more than one meal every 10 days due
to toxins and PUFAs.

- eggs where the chickens are fed corn and soy should be minimally
consumed (for him 2 per week if that), and with one egg you need about
10 ounces of OJ to balance it (because egg protein is a powerful
insulin activator).

- he eats shellfish about once every ten days. Shrimp, scallops,
lobsters have a high ratio of protein to unsaturated fat and help to
insure adequate selenium. Cooks them thoroughly, having known people
who got hepatitis from raw seafood.

- rotates his animal protein sources only because he gets tired of the
same meals, no health reason

- he avoids most vegetables due to their intrinsic (defensive) toxins.
He occasionally makes leaf broth for some extra minerals, but usually
prefers for a cow to process them for him. Mainly he thinks of them as
condiments.

- underground (root/tuber) vegetables are okay if cooked for about 40
minutes, and fruit-vegetables (tomatoes, peppers) are okay if you're
not allergic to them.

- he avoids all other above-ground vegetables, including greens and
many herbs (basil, etc) due to toxins (even if cooked) that far
outweigh the benefits.

- says that cooked young squashes are generally good for everyone, and
although raw shredded carrots are "nutrient subtractive," it's good to
have a plate of them every day because they lower estrogen (and thus
stimulate the thyroid) and accelerate peristalsis.

- he avoids fermented foods. Stopped using black pepper (a fermented
food, apparently) about 30 years ago when he saw the toxicity studies.
Avoids things like apple cider because it is frequently contaminated
with fungal poisons. Says that the more nutritious it is, the more
likely to contain fungal estrogen and other harmful things, unless you
know the actual materials and process used in making it.
Lacto-fermented foods are carcinogenic. Cheese is okay being fermented
because of the strong nutrients in the milk to start with that
vegetables don't have.

- says reason for people's negative reactions to dairy (if the milk
isn't contaminated) is from either preexisting gut damage (from
gluten, for example) or from a low thyroid or protein deficiency
problem. People who are under stress from low thyroid or protein
deficiency have considerable trouble adapting he says, but with
gradual changes (adding dairy back in) the tissues will adjust and do
what they have to do.

- says to eat liver only occasionally because it depresses the thyroid.

- he doesn't eat fruits with seeds that can't be avoided (berries,
figs, etc) because while the antioxidants are good, the benefits are
less than the toxins in the seeds. Other fruits like peaches, plums,
apples, etc should only be eaten if organic and tree-ripened;
otherwise they have very powerful toxins (if unripe or shelf-ripened)
that can cause gut damage. Melons, cherries, and citrus are the best
fruits.

- when off-season, says it's better to eat frozen fruit and juice
rather than rely on importation because many studies show that storage
methods and stress from importation and treatments make them carcinogenic.

- with cheese and milk, the feeding of the animals (grassfed vs.
grainfed) is more the issue than raw vs. pasteurized.

- he avoids all grains. Traditional "proper preparation" methods used
throughout the world to render them less harmful involved using
alkaline mediums such as wood ash (as opposed to "acidic" as Sally
Fallon suggests) and "lime" as in calcium oxide (as opposed to "lime
or lemon juice" as Sally Fallon asserts). Research shows that that
these methods will convert some of the tryptophan to niacin. Using
whey would be especially ineffective as well as problematic due to the
tryptophan.

If a person want to lose weight they should stick with a high fruit, milk, and cheese, and stay away from muscle meats due to lowering metabolism, and also stay away from fish for the same reason. He also said that potatoes and starches will make you fat because they cause an immediate storage of fat due to the high insulin release. He said the reason you want milk/cheese is because of the high calcium content which he says is an excellent metabolism enhancer/booster.

Coconut oil added to the diet can increase the metabolic rate. Small frequent feedings, each combining some carbohydrate and some protein, such as fruit and cheese, often help to keep the metabolic rate higher. Eating raw carrots can prevent the absorption of estrogen from the intestine, allowing the liver to more effectively regulate metabolism. If a person doesn't lose excess weight on a moderately low calorie diet with adequate protein, it's clear that the metabolic rate is low. The number of calories burned is a good indicator of the metabolic rate. The amount of water lost by evaporation is another rough indicator: For each liter of water evaporated, about 1000 calories are burned.

As for sugar vs. starch:
"Starch and glucose efficiently stimulate insulin secretion, and that accelerates the disposition of glucose, activating its conversion to glycogen and fat, as well as its oxidation. Fructose inhibits the stimulation of insulin by glucose, so this means that eating ordinary sugar, sucrose (a disaccharide, consisting of glucose and fructose), in place of starch, will reduce the tendency to store fat."--Peat 
Roots/tubers are second best to fruit. 

Mary Shomon: You've mentioned eggs, milk and gelatin as good for the thyroid. Can you explain a bit more about this?

Dr. Ray Peat: Milk contains a small amount of thyroid and progesterone, but it also contains a good balance of amino acids. For adults, the amino acid balance of cheese might be even better, since the whey portion of milk contains more tryptophan than the curd, and tryptophan excess is significantly antagonistic to thyroid function.

The thyroid gland is extremely quick to adjust its activity, both up and down, except when it's inhibited by stress, or PUFA, or estrogen, etc."-RP

http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/calcium.shtml

A low protein diet, similar to that eaten by a large proportion of women (0.8 g/kg of body weight) increases PTH, and so probably contributes to the development of osteoporosis and the diseases of calcification. In an extreme protein deficiency, there is a shift towards inflammation, serotonin excess, and excessive clotting, which might be related to the effect of the milder, more common protein deficiency.

Most loss of calcium from bones occurs during the night. PTH tends to cycle with prolactin, which increases during the night, along with cortisol and the other stress hormones. These nocturnal hormones probably account for the morning stiffness seen in many rheumatic conditions, connective tissue diseases, and in aging. 
Progesterone, which increases the carbon dioxide content of the tissues, is remarkably able to inhibit the actions of most of the inflammatory and catabolic mediators, and to protect against degenerative calcification and osteoporosis. It also protects against abnormal clotting. PTH increases platelet calcium concentration, and under some conditions can produce inappropriate coagulation. 
Aspirin inhibits the actions of PTH, helping to prevent the calcification of inflamed tissues, and it inhibits the loss of calcium from bones. Aspirin helps to increase the oxidation of glucose, reinforcing the effects of thyroid hormone. It can antagonize vitamin K, potentially increasing a bleeding tendency, but with a supplement of K it's safe to test the effects of a standard 5 grain tablet with a meal twice a day, to see if it helps to prevent hyperglycemia.

SM: "I guess what you're saying is 400 calories from orange juice
is not comparative to 400 calories from potatoes or rice."

Ray Peat: "...uh, definitely not. It [the orange juice] stimulates your metabolism and suppresses
the stress hormones."

SM: "Whereas 400 calories from baked potato and rice would increase your stress hormones
and suppress your metabolism?"

RP: "Yeah. And then there's the matter of the starch particles, that if you don't have some saturated fat
with them some of the starch particles can set up a whole pattern of stress and injury by entering
the blood stream."

http://raypeat.com/articles/

 when you direct your attention to the sensory surface, rather than to the object, you can notice that the process of noticing affects what you notice. Attention to this process makes it possible to feel the process of thought interacting with sensations. https://raypeatforum.com/community/threads/ray-peat-email-advice-depository.1035/page-8

Yes, any starch can cause endotoxins; long cooking, and butter or cream, can reduce that effect.

 Hypothyroidism is one thing that commonly causes leaky gut, as well as leaky liver, muscles, heart, thyroid gland, etc. The immune system reacts to the leakiness, and although it might be an effect, rather than a cause, the presence of antibodies is sometimes said to show autoimmunity.

The ratio of calcium to phosphate is more important than the absolute amount of calcium. 4 ounces of cheece would usually be enough.

Hypothyroidism is the basic cause of heavy menstruation. Things strong enough to kill an embryo can't be harmless to a person.

 Polyunsaturated fats damage the pancreas and increase stress hormones, while glucose stimulates the renewal of insulin-secreting cells. Fruits provide minerals that help to regulate glucose metaboiism, and help to regulate thyroid function.

 Both sugar and fat stimulate the digestive system hormone that stimulates brain cell renewal. Progesterone helps to reduce tension and excitation, and protects nerves. Pregnenolone reduces stress, and protects nerves.

I don’t think silicon is safe, or has value as a nutrient. I recommend many foods containing considerable amounts of silicon, such as meats, liver, shell fish, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms, but there are many products on the market that contain silicon in forms that can be harmful.

Getting the body temperature too high can deplete glycogen and lower blood glucose, sometimes causing fainting.(About hot tubs).

In response to a question about the theory of body weight having a "set point":

Ray Peat said:

I think habituation to a certain environment and way of living is another way of saying it.

Buckwheat is considered to be inflammatory. 

Ketones are very protective as a fuel, but the problem is that they are produced as a result of metabolic stress.

[Are panic attacks mainly a manifestation of hormonal imbalance, excessive stress hormones?] Yes, usually with hyperventilation caused by high estrogen and serotonin, low vitamin B6.

Pulse

I think 85/minute resting is a good average. For the last 35 years I have tried to keep it averaging a little over 90.

The gut makes 95% of serotonin, which is the main promoter of stress hormones, inflammation, pain, and anxiety.

B6 helps for turning tryptophan into niacin rather than serotonin.

The fatigue produced by “over-training” is probably produced by a tryptophan and serotonin overload, resulting from catabolism of muscle proteins and stress-induced increases in serotonin. Muscle catabolism also releases a large amount of cysteine, and cysteine, methionine, and tryptophan suppress thyroid function (Carvalho, et al., 2000). Stress also liberates free fatty acids from storage, and these fatty acids increase the uptake of tryptophan into the brain, increasing the formation of serotonin. Since serotonin increases ACTH and cortisol secretion, the catabolic state tends to be self-perpetuating. This process is probably a factor influencing the rate of aging, and contributing to the physiological peculiarities of aging and depression. Decreasing tryptophan or decreasing serotonin improves learning and alertness, while increased serotonin impairs learning.

Serotonin excess produces a broad range of harmful effects: Cancer, inflammation, fibrosis, neurological damage, shock, bronchoconstriction, and hypertension, for example. Increased serotonin impairs learning, serotonin antagonists improve it. The varied antiinflammatory and protective effects of glycine can be thought of as an antiserotonin action.

Gelatin, besides being a good source of glycine, also contains a large amount of proline, which has some antiexcitatory properties similar to glycine.

If a half-pound of steak is eaten, it would probably be reasonable to have about 20 grams of gelatin at approximately the same time. Even a higher ratio of gelatin to muscle meat might be preferable.

Carbon dioxide, high altitude, thyroid, progesterone, caffeine, aspirin, and decreased tryptophan consumption protect against excessive serotonin release. Increasing sodium lowers both serotonin and adrenalin.

High estrogen does sometimes cause insatiable sexual interest, partly because it increases adrenal androgens, and partly by inhibiting satisfying orgasms. Too much progesterone can suppress or neutralize the androgens. Thyroid is the best way to regulate the system, keeping libido up, making orgasms satisfying.

In old people, a little nicotine can have a balancing effect, improving alertness, and probably protecting nerves, for example in the negative association with Parkinson's disease. But in younger people, its vasoconstrictive effect tends to promote the development of wrinkles in the skin, and I think it's likely to contribute to periodontal disease.

 Meat as the main protein can provide too much phosphorus in relation to calcium.

In the winter I use vitamin D, but only on my skin in an oil. 

 B2, can be very allergenic.

The trace impurities in synthetic ascorbic acid can increase free radical production, and quite a few people have allergic reactions to it.

Usually 2000 i.u. during the winter will make up for no sunlight.

Occasional eggs, liver, oysters, etc., provide enough manganese.

Getting enough sodium in the diet helps to retain magnesium, but both of them are lost easily when thyroid function is low; when the thyroid status is good, the requirement for magnesium is easily met by ordinary foods. 

I doubt that there is any biological significance in the idea of leptin resistance.

For a while, the vitamin A is very important, and the PUFA isn't crucial in the short term, so 2 or 3 eggs would be o.k., though in the longer run it's good to eat liver about twice a month, limiting the daily eggs to one or two. The type of cheese doesn't matter much as far as calcium goes. If you don't get much sunlight, and during the winter, a vitamin D supplement is necessary to use the calcium effectively. Plain white rice, well cooked, with butter is o.k. The calcium, vitamin D and vitamin A will greatly improve your immunity,

 A daily raw carrot often helps to balance progesterone, cortisol, and estrogen, by improving intestine-liver functions.Yes, the plain carrot is good. For people who want more antimicrobial effect, the saturated fats and vinegar are helpful.

Pectin tends to increase serotonin by irritating the intestine. Cellulose is the safe fiber, and (boiled) bamboo shoots are another safe fiber. If the fruits don't cause digestive problems, such as gas, then the fiber is good. Apples and pears are often so fibrous (because of incomplete ripening) that the fiber can be harmful.

Yeast loves PUFA, and becomes invasive when deprived of sugar. 

Cancer: As long as the lump is defined as an alien material, killing it by any means seems reasonable, but if it is seen as the body's attempt to repair itself, then killing it is no more reasonable than it would be to cut the spots out of someone with smallpox. When a cell is dying, it emits growth stimulating signals. That's a normal part of tissue renewal.

In 1927, Bernstein and Elias found that rats eating a fat free diet had almost no spontaneous cancer, and many studies since then in animals and people have shown a close association between polyunsaturated fatty acids and cancer. The polyunsaturated fatty acids in themselves, and their breakdown products, are excitatory and destabilizing to normal cells.

There are several other things that can synergize with

aspirin to reduce the circulation of free fatty acids and their conversion to prostaglandins. Niacinamide, progesterone, sugar, carbon dioxide, and red light protect against both free fatty acids and prostaglandins.

With aging, cells have less ability to produce energy, and are often more easily stimulated. The accumulation of polyunsaturated fats is one of the factors that reduce the ability of mitochondria to produce energy. Increased estrogen exposure, decreased thyroid hormone, an increased ratio of iron to copper, and lack of light, are other factors that impair the cytochrome oxidase enzyme. The increased intracellular alkalinity and intracellular calcium that result from the combination of those factors increase the tendency of cells to be overstimulated, leading to aerobic glycolysis, the cancer metabolism.

There is evidence that it is the breakdown of unsaturated fatty acids that causes damage to the adrenal cortex in extreme stress. Adrenalin, produced in response to a lack of glucose, liberates free fatty acids from the tissues, so when the tissues contain large amounts of the polyunsaturated fatty acids, the production of aldosterone will be greater than it would be otherwise.

Sodium: Several studies had shown that salt restriction increases adrenalin, and one study showed that most old people on a low sodium diet suffered from insomnia, and had unusually high adrenalin. When they ate a normal amount of salt, their adrenalin was normalized, and they slept better.

Yoghurt

In quantities of an ounce or so, for flavoring, it's o.k., but the lactic acid content isn't good if you are using yogurt as a major source of your protein and calcium. It triggers the inflammatory reactions, leading to fibrosis eventually, and the immediate effect is to draw down the liver's glycogen stores for energy to convert it into glucose.

Naturally fermented sourdough is less harmful than standard or unleavened wheat products, but any starch tends to stimulate appetite by activating fat synthesis. The same number of calories in fruit would be less fattening, and would keep your blood sugar steadier, improve your sleep and mental energy.

 Thyroid and sugars, and saturated fats such as coconut oil, usually help to increase testosterone.

Although we can make our own fats from sugars, I think it's good to have some fat in our food, because of its effects on the intestine especially. 

Sugar and the minerals in fruits are fairly effective in keeping free fatty acids from being released from our tissues, and the fats we synthesize from them are saturated, and aren't likely to be stored as excess fat, because they don't suppress metabolism (as polyunsaturated fats and some amino acids do). The minerals of fruits and milk contribute to metabolic activation, and prevention of free-radical damage.

Normally, I usually have around 400 grams of carbohydrate. I have about 3 quarts of milk, varying amounts of orange juice (probably over a quart on average), eggs, and about 200 grams of meat or fish, with other things such as coca cola, cheese, ice cream, cheese cakes, some coconut oil and butter, occasional tropical fruits.

Eggs and orange juice, milk and oysters, and a raw carrot. For variety, smoked oysters, crab, cod fried in butter, ox-tail soup, parmigiano reggiano, sapotas, lychees, liver. Completely avoiding unsaturated fats, such as canola and mayonnaise, and minimizing beans, cereals, and vegetables.

The coca leaf and cola seed extracts are valuable antiinflammatories. The amount of phosphate is very small compared to the amount in meat, fish, beans, nuts, and grains. 

I asked Dr Peat about alopecia areata. Ray Peat said: Hypothyroidism is often a factor, and I think the “autoimmune” process is promoted by endotoxin and nitric oxide from bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine; a pregnenolone supplement can improve response to thyroid supplements. Well cooked mushrooms and bamboo shoots have antiinflammatory, antiseptic effects that can reduce inflammation and might reduce the stress-induced fat deposition. If you don’t get regular sun exposure, vitamin D supplements might help.

"I’ve had a fiber-free diet for many years."

I think periods of intense muscular exertion should be limited to 20 or 30 seconds, followed by rest periods. Otherwise, T3 falls and the stress signals rise. If mental activity has a sense of obligation, of being pushed, it can raise the same stress mediators (serotonin, TSH, prolactin, CRH, cortisol, etc.), but if the attitude is one of opening and exploring new possibilities, it activates restorative processes throughout the body.

Concentric resistance training has an anabolic effect on the whole body. Sprinting is probably o.k. Endurance exercise is the worst. I don't think martial arts are necessarily too stressful. The two things that most often make exercise harmful are activity that keeps the lactic acid high chronically, and "eccentric" exercise, in which muscles are stretched while contracting, as in running downhill.

Thyroid is essential for helping cells to retain magnesium.

Milk, orange juice, and coffee safely accelerate the removal of heavy metals from the tissues.

Vitamins D and K, and calcium are important for stabilizing the heart rhythm.

After the liver's glycogen is depleted, fasting destroys the tissues, starting with the thymus, then the muscles and liver.

The pectin in raw apples causes the intestine to release serotonin into the blood, so well cooked apples have much less effect. Fruits contain almost no salicylic acid.

[Bleeding gums] It's usually a sign of stress, often from over-growth of bacteria in the upper intestine. A daily raw carrot, shredded with a little vinegar and olive oil, can suppress bacteria.

"I occasionally use some powdered gelatin for things like making marshmallows, but usually I get my gelatin from soup, such as ox-tails. lamb shanks, or chicken backs and wings."

"I think pregnenolone can protect against stress and conversion of DHEA to estrogen.

Many of the events involved in inflammation are increased by estrogen, and decreased by vitamin E. Estrogen causes capillaries to become leaky; vitamin E does the opposite. Estrogen increases platelet aggregation, and decreases a factor that inhibits platelet aggregation; vitamin E does the opposite.

Excess clotting is known to be caused by too much estrogen, and also by a vitamin E deficiency.

Clotting leads to fibrosis, and there is clear evidence that vitamin E prevents and cures fibrotic diseases, but this still isn't generally accepted by the powerful medical institutions. Estrogen and polyunsaturated fats increase fibrosis.http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/vitamin-e.shtml

“Besides fasting, or chronic protein deficiency, the common causes of hypothyroidism are excessive stress or ‘aerobic’ (i.e. anaerobic) exercise, and diets containing beans, lentils, nuts, unsaturated fats (including carotene), and undercooked broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, or mustard greens. Many health conscious people become hypothyroid with a synergistic program of undercooked vegetables, legumes instead of animal proteins, oils instead of butter, carotene instead of vitamin A, and breathless exercise instead of a stimulating life.”  Low protein diets definitely interfere with the liver’s ability to detoxify estrogen and other stressors.” 

Weight Loss

My recommendation is to eat to increase the metabolic rate (usually temperature and heart rate), rather than any particular foods. Usually the increased metabolic rate, with adequate protein, causes some muscle increase, and when that happens the basic calorie requirement will increase. The increase of muscle mass should continue for several weeks, and during that time the weight might increase a little, but usually the loss of water and fat will compensate for the greater muscle mass. I have heard from several people that they think I recommend drinking whole milk, which I don't, because the amount of fat in whole milk is very likely to be fattening when a person is using it to get the needed protein and calcium. When a person wants to lose excess fat, limiting the diet to low fat milk, eggs, orange juice, and a daily carrot or two, will provide the essential nutrients without excess calories.

Per calorie, sugar is less fattening than starch, partly because it stimulates less insulin, and, when it's used with a good diet, because it increases the activity of thyroid hormone. There are several convenient indicators of the metabolic rate--the daily temperature cycle and pulse rate (the temperature should rise after breakfast), the amount of water lost by evaporation, and the speed of relaxation of muscles (Achilles reflex relaxation).

When the polyunsaturated fats in the diet are reduced, the amount of them stored in the tissues decreases for about four years, making it progressively easier to keep the metabolic rate up, and stress hormones down.

The ratio of calcium to phosphate is very important; that's why milk and cheese are so valuable for weight loss, or for preventing weight gain. For people who aren't very active, low fat milk and cheese are better, because the extra fat calories aren't needed.

There are different kinds of weight gain. When a person's metabolic rate increases, and stress hormones decrease, for example when adding two quarts of milk to the daily diet, their muscle mass is likely to increase, even while their fat is decreasing. Since muscle burns fat faster than fat does, caloric requirements will gradually increase.

People on a standard diet will typically burn 200 or 300 more calories per day when that amount of sugar is added to their diet; but if extra fat is added, too, some of the extra calories are likely to be deposited as fat. It's important to watch the signs of changing heat production as the diet changes.

Yes, I know people who have lost weight just by eating a raw carrot every day, reducing endotoxin stress. The liver treats PUFA as it treats toxins, but when their concentration is too high, they poison the detoxifying system. Oleic acid, which we can make ourselves from carbohydrates, greatly activates the detox enzyme system.

Yes, that's why a resistant (antiseptic) fiber such as bamboo shoots or raw carrot helps with weight loss, it reduces endotoxin and the stress hormones, and lets the liver metabolize more effectively.

It's the stored PUFA, released by stress or hunger, that slow metabolism. Niacinamide helps to lower free fatty acids, and good nutrition will allow the liver to slowly detoxify the PUFA, if it isn't being flooded with large amounts of them. A small amount of coconut oil with each meal will increase the ability to oxidize fat, by momentarily stopping the antithyroid effect of the PUFA. Aspirin is another thing that reduces the stress-related increase of free fatty acids, stimulating metabolism. Taking a thyroid supplement is reasonable until the ratio of saturated fats to PUFA is about 2 to 1.

Yes, it's best to lose it slowly. When I tried adding about a tablespoon of coconut oil once a day I lost about two pounds a week, for several weeks, without eating less.

Some muscle-building resistance exercise might help to increase the anabolic ratio, reducing the belly fat.

https://raypeatforum.com/community/threads/ray-peat-diet-food-choices-and-general-guidelines.20/

https://raypeatforum.com/community/threads/ray-peat-approved-safe-fruits.588/page-3

The adrenal glands use it to produce their antistress hormones, and when there is enough progesterone, they don't have to produce the potentially harmful cortisol. In a progesterone deficiency, we produce too much cortisol, and excessive cortisol causes osteoporosis, aging of the skin, damage to brain cells, and the accumulation of fat, especially on the back and abdomen. 

 If a woman has ovaries, progesterone helps them to regulate themselves and their hormone production. It helps to restore normal functioning of the thyroid and other glands. For migraines, it has been taken orally just as the symptoms begin. An average person produces about 30 milligrams daily during the 2^nd two weeks. The solution I have used contains approximately 3 or 4 milligrams of progesterone per small drop. Three to four drops, or about 10 to 15 milligrams of progesterone, is often enough to bring the progesterone level up to normal. That amount can be taken days 14 through 28 of the menstrual cycle; this amount may be repeated once or twice during the day as needed to alleviate symptoms.  

The cyclic use of progesterone, two weeks on, two weeks off, will often keep the normal menstrual cycle going. Low thyroid is one cause of excess estrogen, and when high estrogen is combined with low thyroid, the skin looks relatively bloodless.  Dark cloudy winters in England or the Pacific Northwest are powerful stressors, and cause lower production of progesterone in women, and testosterone in men. Toxins can produce similar symptoms, as can nutritional deficiencies. A very common cause of an estrogen excess is a dietary protein deficiency--the liver simply cannot detoxify estrogen when it is under-nourished. 

Progesterone stimulates the ovaries and adrenals to produce progesterone, and it also activates the thyroid, so one dose can sometimes have prolonged effects. It shouldn't be necessary to keep using progesterone indefinitely, unless the ovaries have been removed. In slender post-menopausal women, 10 mg. per day is usually enough to prevent progesterone deficiency symptoms.

Recent publications are showing that excess phosphate can increase inflammation, tissue atrophy, calcification of blood vessels, cancer, dementia, and, in general, the processes of aging. While fructose lowers intracellular phosphate, it also lowers the amount that the intestine absorbs from food. The "anti-aging" protein, klotho, increases the ability of the kidneys to excrete phosphate , and like fructose, it supports energy production and maintains thermogenesis.  Niacinamide is another nutrient that lowers serum phosphate and also by reducing its reabsorption by the kidneys. The foods naturally highest in phosphate, relative to calcium, are cereals, legumes, meats, and fish. Many prepared foods contain added phosphate. Foods with a higher, safer ratio of calcium to phosphate are leaves, such as kale, turnip greens, and beet greens, and many fruits, milk, and cheese. Coffee, besides being a good source of magnesium, is probably helpful for lowering phosphate, by its antagonism to adenosine.

Long hours of daylight are known to increase progesterone production. Chronic constipation, and anxiety which decreases blood circulation in the intestine, can increase the liver's exposure to endotoxin. Endotoxin (like intense physical activity) causes the estrogen concentration of the blood to rise. Diets that speed intestinal peristalsis might be expected to postpone menopause. A deficiency of thyroid, vitamin A, and LDL-cholesterol can also prevent the synthesis of progesterone. Vitamin E: Estrogen antagonist, energy promoter, and anti-inflammatory. B vitamin deficiencies alone are enough to cause the liver's underactivity, and to cause estrogen dominance, and a simple vitamin A deficiency causes an inability to use protein efficiently or to make progesterone, and in itself mimics some of the effects of estrogen."

People under stress, or who have a thyroid deficiency, or who don't eat enough protein, typically have elevated estrogen levels. The accumulation of the “essential fatty acids,” the polyunsaturated oils, in the tissues promotes the action of estrogen in a variety of ways, and this effect of diet tends to be cumulative, and to be self-accelerating. 

(Me: so to lower estrogen (and the edema before the period) daylight, vitamine e, selenium, coffee, salt, enough protein, vitamine d, b6 and carrots are good. Avoid plastic bottles, PUFA)

There are several prescription drugs that protect against serotonin excess, but thyroid and gelatin (or glycine, as in magnesium glycinate) are protective against the serotonin and melatonin toxicities.

Others on the ray peat forum says:

Taurine is an amino acid, and Ray Peat often warns against taking free amino acids.

Avoiding food that irritate stomach is the most effective way to lower serotonin and using daily raw carrot salad. I read one study that found papaya do the best

job of breaking down gelatin protein. 

Daily human doses of caffeine in the 200mg-400mg range flush the liver of its fat. Also, since caffeine is anti-estrogenic that would help the liver detox even better since it relieves it of estrogen, which Peat said is the single biggest burden for the liver (except PUFA of course).

Eating fructose rich carbohydrate increases phosphorus
loss. If your carbs are mostly from sucrose and fruits then you can get away
with higher amount of phosphorus in the diet. It is a big problem when
starch is the main carb,phosphorus high and calcium is low.

RP mentioned that the ratio of calcium to phosphorus should be at least 1:2.
That is if calcium is 800 mg then phosphorus can not be more than 1600 mg.
But he also mentioned that ideally it should be 1:1, if there is 800 mg calcium then
there should be 800 mg of phosphorus. He also mentioned that

2:1 ratio is safe. Niacinamide is a very powerful tool for lowering phosphorus. 

 Vitamin E lowers prolactin. Lower prolactin means higher dopamine, higher testosterone, and lower serotonin. Now, some of that testosterone may aromatize to estrogen if you are under stress but this is where again Vitamin E and vitamin K come into play. Vitamin K (only menatetrenone a.k.a. MK-4 has been shown to do this) is a true aromatase inhibitor. 

Finally, even if any testosterone does aromatize then vitamin E acts like an estrogen "receptor" antagonist and in doses of 2,500mg lowered estrogen levels by 65%. If you add vitamin A and vitamin D to this duo should help with estrogen even more.

The drug pCPA Ray wrote about does the same thing as niacinamide - lowers serotonin and boosts libido like nothing else.

When estrogen is low, as Ray peat said, you should NOT be retaining any excess water.

Peat suggested in 'Nutrition for Women' that estrogen may increase the tendency for one to have "little" orgasms, with the need to have many in succession. When hormones were more in balance the tendency was to have one large more satisfying orgasm, often followed by sleep.

What are Peat's guidelines for defining hypothyroid? There are plenty of signs/symptoms - cholesterol (high), ceruloplasmin (low), prolactin (high), DHEA-S (low), pregnenolone (low), testosterone (low), CO2 (low), liver enzymes (high), TSH (high), T3 (low), etc. that can give indication of something is not functioning well. Peat said that cholesterol, reflexes, pulse, and temp are the best test for hypothyroidism and was used back in the early 20th century, but even pulse and temp are a good indicator.