The SHN #9: Ray Peat, A Strategy for Knee Pain, and Toxic Toilet Paper

Welcome back to The Synergetic Health Newsletter! 

In this edition, we’ll explore the health philosophy of the recently deceased Ray Peat.

After that, I’ll elaborate on an easy way to restore function in your knees.

Then comes another thing we have to worry is poisoning us.

Finally, I’ll include some links to things I’ve found particularly interesting recently.

Joe Burt

The Teachings Of Ray Peat

Ray Peat (1936-2022) was an American biologist, physiologist, and nutritionist. He gained attention for his alternative views on health, nutrition, and physiology. Peat holds a PhD in Biology from the University of Oregon and has authored numerous articles on topics such as hormones, metabolism, and nutrition.

Peat's approach to health and nutrition emphasized the importance of metabolic balance and optimal hormone function. He advocated for consuming a diet that is rich in whole foods, including fruits, dairy products, and certain types of carbohydrates. Peat also promotes the consumption of certain supplements and emphasizes the avoidance of certain foods and environmental toxins that he believes can disrupt metabolic function.

In the alternative health space, Peat has a large, loyal following, as evidenced by this active online forum and a large number of Twitter accounts spreading his teachings.

Like every diet “thought leader”, Peat’s views are NOT shared by everyone. Even though I may be uncertain about some of his conclusions, I always love to hear the informed opinions of people who dedicate their lives to this research.

The video attached way below is the best quick synopsis of the foundational views of Ray Peat, which I will summarize here while adding some additional “peating” recommendations:

Keep Your Metabolic Rate Up:

-As measured by body temperature and pulse

-Temperature on waking should be ~97.5 degrees and rise to 98.6

-Pulse should be between 60-100

-If these #’s are consistently low— metabolism is low

-If these #’s fall after breakfast— stress hormones out of whack

Protein Intake: Approximately 1g per pound of bodyweight a day, but could be as low as 80-100g for people (Peat is less concerned with higher protein intake than pretty much anyone else)

-Sources: grass fed meat, shellfish, dairy

-Balance muscle meat intake with gelatinous cuts of meat, or gelatin powder (up to 30% of total protein intake)

Carbohydrate Intake: Between 250-500g a day

-Ripe fruits, fruit juice, raw honey, cane sugar

-Potatoes and white rice are fine if taken with saturated fat

Fat Intake: 60-120g a day (of the saturated fat variety)

-Butter, coconut oil, EVOO, ghee

AVOID The Following Foods

-Grains, beans, nuts, seeds, chicken, pork, tuna

Well Cooked Green Vegetables OK

Eating more frequently is recommended for metabolic health. Time restricted eating and fasting are discouraged.

AVOID All Industrial Seed Oils (major proponent of this message)

Get Your Calcium From Milk, Cheese, and ICE CREAM!

Coffee is Good, Take With Sugar, Milk or Cream

‘Above-ground’ vegetables (i.e., nightshades minus potatoes, crucifers, greens, etc.) and herbs that are green, leafy, and fibrous (i.e., thyme, oregano, basil) are excluded because they contain ‘toxins that far outweigh the benefits, even if cooked’.

Fermented foods like yogurt, apple cider vinegar and black pepper are prohibited as Peat considers them carcinogenic and toxic.

Liver and Oysters 1-2x/week (highly nutritious foods)

Water should be kept to a minimum as all the liquids someone needs can be acquired from juice, milk, and fruit.

Supplements: Magnesium, Fat Soluble Vitamins ADEK, B Vitamins

One of the biggest things that may pop out to you is Peat’s stamp of approval on sugar, even table sugar.

In this video, Peat discusses the effects of a diet devoid of sugar and provides general diet advice for thyroid health and weight loss. He explains that if your diet doesn't provide glucose or a mixture of glucose and fructose, your liver is unable to fully activate the thyroid hormone.

For weight loss, he recommends using milk as the primary protein source and incorporating gelatin, as milk contains calcium, which stimulates metabolic rate. Additionally, fructose, particularly in sugar, independently activates cells and promotes the production of active thyroid hormone. Even with a deficiency in thyroid hormones, the activity can be maintained to a great extent by including sucrose, salt, and calcium in the diet.

His “diet” is often called “pro-metabolic”, in that he recommends foods to increase energy levels and optimize hormone levels. When these things are done, self-healing and regeneration can take place. If your body is in a “pro-metabolic” state, it feels like it is safe and in a plentiful environment, thereby leading to higher levels of health.

For a more exhaustive list of do’s and don’t when following a Ray Peat-style diet, check this blog post out.

If you read this far and think similarly to this commenter, I totally understand:

“This diet reads like a horror novel to me–it’s THE OPPOSITE of everything I’ve learned about and experienced through nutrition over the last 7 or 8 years.”

My Thoughts

After spending the better part of the last 20 years trying to learn as much as I can about nutrition and evolving my diet countless times, all I can say is that this general topic is equal parts fascinating and exhausting.

Everyone has an opinion. Everyone comes to the table with their talking points, their studies, and their biases.

It’s impossible to distill all the knowledge available, so I just try to do the best I can. I try to be as sensible and intuitive as possible without stressing myself out about it.

For this diet specifically, some people do swear by it. I’ve heard especially people with thyroid issues have had success. Some of these fans call him a “legend”, “ahead of his time”, “the goat.” Unfortunately, you kind of are on your own trying to make it work, there aren’t many professional nutritionists out there who will recommend this approach. (Danny Roddy and Emma Sgourakis are two nutrition coaches on IG to investigate if interested)

I love Peat’s emphasis on balancing macronutrients, consuming primarily whole foods, and minimizing PUFA’s (polyunsaturated fats). I’m currently experimenting with his inclusion of higher than typically suggested sugar intake.

This means I’m drinking more fruit juice (especially OJ), putting organic cane sugar in my coffee, liberally eating raw honey, eating “regular” ice cream, and upping my fruit intake in general. Other foods I’m adding in are gelatin, raw cheese, liver, oysters, shrimp, scallops, and coconut oil.

To balance the increase in carbs/sugar, I’m eating a bit less overall protein , which means slightly smaller servings of meat and less protein supplements. I’m also eating a bit less overall fat, removing seeds, nuts/nut butters mainly but increasing dairy. Finally, I’m all but eliminating intake of grains and vegetables except carrots and cucumbers.

If upon reading this you get a little intuitive “yes” hit you in the chest, by all means investigate further. If this all just sounds like too much, forget you even read it and move on with your day. (To remind you, you are allowed to eat ice cream, sugar, orange juice, honey, cheese, CARBS, etc 🙂)

Reverse Walking for Knee Pain

Reverse walking, also known as retro walking, is a beneficial exercise for knee pain. It involves walking backward, which helps to activate different muscles and promote balance and stability in your legs.

When you walk in reverse, the demand placed on your knees is different from traditional forward walking. This can provide relief for knee pain caused by conditions such as osteoarthritis or patellofemoral pain syndrome.

Reverse walking engages your quadriceps muscles, which help to stabilize the knees. It also targets the glutes and hamstrings, strengthening the muscles in the back of the thighs that support the knees.

This study showed a greater reduction in pain and functional disability when compared to forward walking and control groups. This additional study showed that “Retro-walking as an adjunct to conventional treatment is more effective than conventional treatment alone, in reduction of disability in patients with knee OA.”

Watch this 11-minute video between Mark Bell and Ben Patrick which goes into depth about the surprising benefits of walking backwards.

Retro walking is growing in popularity thanks to the Knees Over Toes Guy (Ben Patrick) becoming more well-known.

Patrick’s Knees Over Toes training program, his books “Knee Ability Zero” and “ATG For Life”, and his YouTube channel are great resources to get of knee pain and increase your athletic performance.

You can walk backwards on a treadmill that’s turned off, walk backwards in a park, do reverse sled drags, or splurge on Patrick’s latest invention, The Backward Treadmill.

Walking backwards is the lowest entry point for when your knees hurt. From there, it’s best to move onto higher load exercises with more range of motion, which will continue to improve the strength and function of your knees. Patrick’s work mentioned above is best in class in this category.

Uh Oh, Not Toilet Paper!?!

I recently listened to a podcast conversation with Paul Saladino and Aaron Alexander, two leading voices in the health and wellness world. Some of the topics covered were testicular health, artificial sweeteners, cholesterol, and seed oils.

But what caught my attention was when they talked about how neither of them used toilet paper, and it is because TP contains endocrine disrupting chemicals 😮 

So I donned my research cap and indeed found that Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFA’s) are present in significant doses in toilet paper.

A brief aside, as I googled how to spell the unabbreviated PFA’s, I found the following news stories all printed within the last 24 hours:

“Residents of PFAS-polluted island file $42.4 million in claims against Wisconsin…” “Toxic PFA’s are in our drinking water. Here’s how to limit your exposure.” “Virginia researchers look into whether ‘forever chemicals’ are building up in fish". “Toxic chemicals still cropping up at shutdown Auckland water treatment..” “Researcher sheds light on PFAS concern and urges action at IAFP Conference.”

To recap, Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are highly potent chemical compounds that disrupt hormonal activity, and their prevalence in today's world is due to their inclusion in plastics, fire retardants, non-stick coatings, ammunition, contact lenses, and numerous other products. PFAS also possess obesogenic properties and have been associated with an extensive range of health issues, including cancers and autoimmune disorders.

This study from March of this year “revealed that significant quantities of PFAS are found in virtually every brand of toilet paper on the market. The average American will use 26kg of toilet paper a year. 19+ billion lbs of toilet paper are flushed down American toilets each year.”

The PFAS most present in toilet paper and sewage was 6:2 diPAP, which has been linked to impaired testicular function in men. 6:2 diPAP was 91% of all PFAS detected in the toilet paper samples, and 54% in the sewage samples.

“The presence of so much 6:2 diPAP is especially troubling because it doesn't remain 6:2 diPAP. This species of PFAS is what's known as a precursor species, one that has the ability to interact biologically with products like human waste and become, over time, a handful of other, more complex species, including PFOA—one of the most common and dangerous types of PEAS. In lune 2022, the EPA revised its guidelines for PFAS in water supplies, setting the safe threshold at just 0.004 parts per trillion for PFOA. If even a small fraction of the 80-part-per-billion threshold of 6:2 diPAP evolves into PFOA, it could greatly exceed that EPA limit.”

For an enlightening read on how corporate culture has led to disastrous health outcomes, check this out.

“The presumption of “safe until proven otherwise,” which governs the way we license new chemicals and new foods, is one that has caused and is causing immense damage until it is overturned.

The article really makes you quite angry at the way these massive corporations continue to poison us. Although I mentioned impaired testicular function as one effect linked in the previous study:

“PFAS are a nightmare for women too, as illustrated by fresh research from Singapore. Researchers looked at over 1000 women enrolled in the Singapore Preconception Study of Long-Term Maternal and Child Outcomes, all of whom were aged between 18 and 45 and were actively trying to conceive. The researchers measured levels of PFAS in blood samples collected between 2015 and 2017 and found that increased exposure to these chemicals, especially in combination, could reduce a woman’s chance of conceiving and bringing a live baby to full term by as much as 40 percent. PFAS exposure has been shown to begin in utero and continue through the most intimate acts of motherly nourishment. PFAS have been discovered in cord blood passing from mother to child, in the placenta itself, and in breast milk.”

Back to toilet paper….

Paul and Aaron, in the podcast mentioned earlier, use the shower to “wipe”. Using a bidet would be a compromise.

To balance out this argument, this writer “can actually get behind Paul Saladino's desire for us to stop using toilet paper, and to use bidets instead—but not because I fear toilet paper might be damaging my hormonal health. Rather, bidets are much more environmentally friendly, so switching from toilet paper to bidets makes a lot of sense.”

As with all your health decisions, you must do the best you can with the knowledge and resources you have. There’s no need to live in fear of anything, but it’s always good to be as informed as you can be.

Timing Of Food Intake Predicts Weight Loss Effectiveness: This study showed that eating late can influence the success or failure of a weight-loss program. It says that “therapeutic strategies should incorporate not only the caloric intake and macronutrient distribution—as is classically done—but also the timing of food.” Generally, eating with the sun is a decent rule of thumb. Try to limit post-sunset calories if weight loss is a goal.

Progesterone (or pregnenolone) Is A Cheap, Safe and Effective Treatment of Infertility: A recent study suggests that a hormone treatment involving progesterone could increase the chances of couples experiencing unexplained infertility to have a baby. It is a safe and low-cost option compared to more expensive fertility treatments like IVF. Given the safety and low price of progesterone treatment, there is no harm in offering it as a treatment option.

Alcohol Wrecks Your Sleep: A study, unsurprisingly, shows the detrimental effects of alcohol consumption on sleep quality. Personally, besides feeling subjectively terrible, my Oura ring has proven again and again that my sleep is incredibly worse in every way when I have even minimal amounts of alcohol.

“It’s comical to me that people get so wrapped up in one variable or another.”: I agree with this commenter. People who’ve spent a large part of their time studying nutrition are going to think that it’s the biggest lever for health, people who train endurance athletes for a living are going to think VO2 max is the end all be all, and the list goes on. Spending all your time and energy in one area is likely a poor use of resources. Do the best you can in all facets of health without stressing over it.

That will do it for this time! Hopefully you got some value out of it. If you have any questions/comments/things you’d like to learn more about please don’t hesitate to reach out. If you know anyone who loves learning about these types of topics, pass it along!