Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 9:01AM by Danny Roddy
*UPDATE: This post will continually be updated. I can't thank you guys enough for the amazing responses. This post will no doubt be a tomb of knowledge for those looking to understand Peat's philosophy.
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Have you gone completely Peatarded? Well, this post is for you.
Below are Peat's gracious answers to numerous email exchanges from those interested in his approach.
Unfortunately due to anonymity, I chose not to include the questions. Using your brain, you should be able to piece together what he's talking by reading his answers.
If anyone would like to contribute, email me or leave your correspondence with Peat in the comments.
I can't imagine how many people are writing him. If you're thinking about sending him a question, it has probably been answered. Make sure to do a thorough search before bugging him.
If you're new to Peat, this is probably not the best article to get you started. CONTEXT for these recommendations is provided in this post.
In many of these responses Peat has attached numerous studies to support his advice. For the sake of clarity, I have not included them.
A GIGANTIC THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THIS ARTICLE POSSIBLE!
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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.
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.
IRON
Have you had your thyroid checked? Abnormal ferritin can result from thyroid malfunction. Here's an economical and safe bulb; it has as much infrared as a red bulb, and can be used as the main light source.
Red light is o.k. How high was the TSH? High uric acid, ferritin, and TSH are commonly corrected by a thyroid supplement sufficient to lower the TSH.
Uric acid is important as an antioxidant. High ferritin doesn't directly imply high iron stores, it has a defensive effect, and can be increased by inflammation. TSH promotes inflammation. Hypothyroidism usually involves low temperature of the extremities, and the bones of the arms and legs form red cells slowly at low temperature, so it's possible that ferritin is involved in an adaptive mechanism, too.
I assume that conventional medicine has misunderstood its role, I'm not sure that I can think of anything that conventional medicine doesn't misunderstand. Hypothyroidism increases inflammation and decreases kidney function; even protective antioxidants can become problems in themselves under some circumstances.Ferritin binds iron, and while it's bound it is less likely to produce random free radical damage. If there is inflammation in the liver or bone marrow, the inflammation can cause iron to be released, and ferritin apparently acts as a buffer, absorbing the released iron.
COFFEE
Dry instant coffee is close to 0.5% magnesium, so a cup of strong coffee has about 40 mg. I make strong drip coffee.
The antioxidants in very fresh coffee might have some special value, but I think instant coffee is on average just as good as brewed coffee. The high temperature of espresso gets the most caffeine, lower temperature processes get the minerals and vitamins (mostly niacin) and aroma, but a little less of the caffeine.
ANTIBIOTIC (Penicillin)
No, I just do it occasionally.
THYROID (DOSE/BRANDS)
Are there any combination products, such as Thyrolar or Cynoplus, that you can get in Spain? It's good to start with a small amount, such as 5 mcg of T3 twice a day, while watching for changes in your pulse rate, temperature, and ability to sleep. Half a grain of Armour, or about 30 mcg of T4 and 7.5 mcg of T3, is traditionally a common starting dose; it should be taken with a meal, so that it absorbs slowly. Taking a very small amount at bedtime usually helps with insomnia.
Try a sixth of a 25 mcg cynomel tablet at first, and watch for the effects in the first two hours. According to what you notice, you could continue that once a day, or twice a day, for about 10 days, then you could try some with each meal, for another week. #2 and #3: when you find out how the T3 affects you, you could change to the combination (Armour or Thyrolar or Cynoplus); the amounts I mentioned would be similar to 12 mcg of T3 per day.
It depends on what you notice from taking a small amount with meals. If it makes you feel pleasant, calm, confident, then trying it at bedtime would be right.
25 mcg of T3 has approximately the activity of a grain (65 mg) of thyroid gland; is ERFA the only one available? A synthetic thyroxine could be combined with the Cynomel. Since the European products aren't necessarily the same as those made elsewhere, and a person's requirements are variable, it's essential to start with small amounts, watching for the effects, including pulse rate and temperature. T4 builds up slowly in the tissues, over about 14 days, but the T3 acts immediately. With any product, a single dose of T3 of about 4 mcg is close to the physiological range; sometimes a smaller amount is enough.
As long as it's divided so that you don't get a big dose of T3 all at once it should be o.k. to take a total of 25 mcg T3 and 100 of T4.That would be similar to the traditional 2 grain dose of Armour thyroid. A healthy person should produce the equivalent of about four grains per day, so with 2 grains of supplement, or the equivalent, there isn't a risk of over-dosing.
I use Cynomel and Cynoplus mostly, but they come in only one size, so I cut the tablets into about ten parts.
Thyroid is the only thing that safely lowers cholesterol, but when your stress hormones are very high, you shouldn't take more than about one microgram of Cytomel at a time, and should accompany it with things like milk and orange juice.
Twice a day should be o.k., [CYTOMEL] but every day you should make a note of your pulse rate and temperature, and in a week or ten days you should be able to see a progression.
COCONUT OIL
Most cities have wholesale grocers that either stock it (in five gallon buckets) or can get it, and they usually charge about $50 per bucket. GloryBee in Eugene is one place I have bought it, and Tropical Traditions has a good one, called expeller expressed, non-certified, and I think it's shipped from Nevada.
It's just filtered, usually through diatomaceous earth, to remove materials other than the fat; the main problem with the unfiltered oil is that it's allergenic for many people. It also degrades quicker.
YEAST (CANDIDA)
Yes, yeast loves PUFA, and becomes invasive when deprived of sugar. The mania has been circulating for almost 40 years. I wrote about it in the early '80s.
Poor digestion does affect the membranes of the mouth, but a fungal infection of the mouth usually happens when the immune system is weak, from hormonal imbalance or poor nutrition, for example, or when there isn't enough saliva, or when the membranes are affected by a specific vitamin deficiency, such as vitamin A. Yeasts are attracted to estrogen and glucose, and when the thyroid hormone is deficient the antibodies that normally protect membranes tend to be deficient. It's important to know for sure exactly what the problem is, since leukoplakia is sometimes mistaken for thrush. A rinse with a little powdered sulfur usually eliminates yeast, vitamin A, along with other adequate nutrition, can often correct leukoplakia.
LEPTIN
I doubt that there is any biological significance in the idea of leptin resistance. Leptin promotes inflammation and cancer, so it might be good to be resistant to it, but I think the concept is mainly an outgrowth of the pharmaceutical industry's promotion of leptin as a cure for obesity.
SUGAR
There is a great anti-sugar cult, with even moralistic overtones,equating sugar craving with morphine addiction. Sugar craving is usually caused by the need for sugar, generally caused by hypothyroidism.When yeasts have enough sugar, they just happily make ethanol, but when they don't have sugar, they can sink filaments into the intestine wall seeking it, and, if the person is very weak, they can even invade the bloodstream and other organs. Milk, cheese, and fruits provide a very good balance of nutrients. Fruits provide a significant amount of protein. Plain sugar is o.k. when the other nutrients are adequate. Roots, shoots, and tubers are, next to the fruits, a good carbohydrate source; potatoes are a source of good protein. Meat as the main protein can provide too much phosphorus in relation to calcium.
I think a total for sugar up to ten ounces can be o.k., depending on your metabolic rate and needs. Budd and Piorry used up to 12 ounces per day therapeutically.
I have often had a gallon of orange juice in a day, with 100 grams of other sugar, and didn't see any problem, even while being sedentary. If your metabolic rate is high, with a pound of sugar you will still have an appetite for quite a bit of fat and protein.
People can do well on high or low fat or carbohydrate, but when the carbohydrate is very low, some of the protein will be wasted as fuel, replacing the missing glucose.
Appetite should be the basic guide. When your liver has enough glycogen stored, sweet things aren't appetizing.
A daily diet that includes two quarts of milk and a quart of orange juice provides enough fructose and other sugars for general resistance to stress, but larger amounts of fruit juice, honey, or other sugars can protect against increased stress, and can reverse some of the established degenerative conditions. Refined granulated sugar is extremely pure, but it lacks all of the essential nutrients, so it should be considered as a temporary therapeutic material, or as an occasional substitute when good fruit isn't available, or when available honey is allergenic.
FRUCTOSE
Here's a currently often cited article which claimed to show that fructose causes "insulin resistance" compared to a starch diet, but careful reading would show that it confirms the powerful protective effect of fructose (and sucrose), since if the greater weight gain of the starch eaters continued beyond the short 5 weeks of the experiment, after a year the starchy rats would have weighed twice as much as the lean sugar eaters. The fructose limits insulin secretion, but intensifies metabolism, burning calories faster. Several abstracts below touch on the subject.
CALCIUM
Unless you like cheese and milk, a calcium supplement would be the only way to balance the phosphate. Powdered eggshells are the best calcium supplement, oyster shells are the next best. Having some fruit, such as orange juice each time you eat meat will make the protein assimilation much more efficient, so less is needed. The natural sugar in fruit is mostly sucrose, equal parts of glucose and fructose, and the fruits have some of the minerals needed to use carbohydrate efficiently. [NOTE: Peat usuallly recommends NOT consuming orange juice with meat due to iron absorption. This quote is likely old.]
Milk and cheese are the best foods for getting enough calcium, and they will help to keep your protein intake up; an active person needs at least 100 grams daily for efficiency. ...80 grams of protein daily is probably enough for a medium sized person who isn't very active. I have known people whose thyroid function improved noticeably when they increased their protein from 20 grams to 40 grams daily. (A quart of milk has 32 grams of protein, an egg about 6 grams.) If you depend on chicken for your major protein, it will contribute to suppressing your thyroid and progesterone. Increased salt helps to increase your metabolic rate. Low thyroid makes you lose salt too easily, and temporarily just eating more salt helps to make up for low thyroid-adrenals-progesterone.
Did they mention the CO2 or bicarbonate? That's usually low with hypothyroidism, and CO2 is what regulates calcium. Powdered eggshell (mixed with food) is a safe way to supplement calcium.
The milk estrogen research isn't good. It also contains thyroid and progesterone and other protective substances. The high calcium content helps to increase the metabolic rate, and probably contributes to maintaining the anabolic balance.
Regarding milk and it's tryptophan content, The calcium helps to keep the metabolic rate high, and the other nutrients help to steer tryptophan away from the serotonin path.
INTESTINE/ALLERGY
It usually takes several days for the digestive system to adjust,with changes in the intestinal rhythm for example, and during that time things like headache and tooth sensitivity can increase. Increased calcium and fiber (raw carrots or boiled bamboo shoots, for example) can help.
Like the dark circles, a chronically plugged nostril is suggestive of an allergy, and it usually varies according to the intensity of the intestinal irritation of undigested food. Keeping notes on what you eat, you might notice increased stuffiness during the night after particular foods were eaten, though with some foods the congestion can take a couple of days to develop. Prolonged endurance exercise will usually slow the pulse because of adaptive inhibition of the thyroid. I have seen some people with the dark circles, fatigue, and other symptoms that stopped as soon as they stopped their daily running.
For people with really sensitive intestines or bad bacteria, starch should be zero.
Starches, preservatives, and antioxidants are likely to irritate,stearic acid isn't likely to be a problem.
It takes a few days for the intestine to change its rhythm of peristalsis, and a couple of weeks for the enzymes to adjust to a change of foods. A daily raw carrot helps it to adjust.
Until a few years ago, I would drink a couple of quarts of orange juice from pulp-free frozen concentrate every day, then I started noticing those allergy symptoms, and investigated their production processes. They had recently introduced an enzyme technology to make pulp more water soluble. For years, it had been used to dispose of massive amounts of otherwise waste pulp by putting it into the "creamy" or "home style" pulpy juices, but then suddenly the relatively clear so-called pulp-free juice began leaving a residue on glasses, and resisting passage through filter paper, besides causing allergy symptoms. For several decades I have watched as traditionally safe foods have been altered, and have found that many people have developed allergic problems when their favorite foods were changed by new technologies. Since intestinal bacteria affect the allergenicity of foods that are poorly digested, changing the flora can often relieve the symptoms. Raw carrot contains some antibiotics that can be helpful; oil and vinegar can increase the germicidal effects. It's important to use oil and vinegar that aren't allergenic themselves. Hypothyroidism increases the susceptibility to many foods.
Since the fiber [CARROT] will delay digestion and reduce absorption of other foods, I think it's best to eat it between meals, usually in the afternoon.
Yes, the plain carrot is good. For people who want more antimicrobial effect, the saturated fats and vinegar are helpful.
The fructose content of pears is probably helpful, but you should watch for what effect it might be having on your intestine, from the pectin. Pectin tends to increase serotonin by irritating the intestine. Allergies can increase your blood glucose, so you should watch for effects, usually the next day, sometimes extending for two or three days, from foods that are commonly allergenic, such as tomato sauce and spaghetti; unrefined coconut oil is a possible allergen, too. Do you use any aspirin?
Prolactin and TSH tend to increase together, so when you didn't need the prolactin to be high, the TSH--which might have been keeping your thyroid active despite high estrogen--could have decreased, letting the gland be suppressed by estrogen (and maybe PUFA, from the nuts and any non-ruminant meats). Optimally, the TSH should be very low, but the thyroid gland should keep functioning without needing much stimulation.
Checking your temperature when you wake up, then about an hour after breakfast, can give you an idea of your thyroid status, it should get up to about 98.5 by mid-morning. With restful sleep, the waking temperature is somewhat low; poor sleep, with high stress hormones, can cause the waking temperature to be high.
The intestine is a potential source of reabsorbed estrogen, and a daily raw carrot (grated or shredded, with a little olive oil, vinegar, salt) helps to lower excess estrogen (and endotoxin produced by bacteria). While lowering estrogen, it is likely to lower cortisol and increase progesterone.
Have you experimented with milk from different sources? Sometimes the goats or cows eat allergenic things, or have bacteria that disturb the intestine. Have you tried boiled or ultrapasteurized milk? Is the cheese the original Parmigiano Reggiano? If you can list all the foods that you have had in the last day or two, I might see some things that are affecting your hormones. Anything that irritates your intestine or increases bacterial activity in the small intestine can increase the absorption of bacterial endotoxin, and that lowers testosterone and thyroid hormone, and increases cortisol. Reducing endotoxin might be all it takes to correct the hormones. Have you had blood tests for thyroid or other hormones?
Sometimes goats find allergenic weeds when they graze, so trying different kinds of milk, or commercial ultrapasteurized milk could help.
I think calcium glucarate can be protective in some circumstances, but manufactured organic compounds (glucaric acid) often contain allergenic impurities. I practically stopped eating all cruciferous vegetables, largely because of that sort of compound---Indoles as a class are very risky. Thyroid and sugars, and saturated fats such as coconut oil, usually help to increase testosterone.
DIET (GENERAL)
It's best to have more calcium than phosphate, and your diet is deficient in calcium, and heavy on phosphate, and that by itself can cause serious stress. Cheese would be a good way to get enough calcium, if you don't use milk. Eating protein by itself can cause a big surge of cortisol. Preceding the protein with some carbohydrate makes the protein go farther, otherwise under the influence of cortisol a lot of protein is used just for energy. Your diet might below in vitamin A, so it would be better to have eggs for breakfast,preceded with a generous amount of orange juice. Bananas can be seriously allergenic, apples are allergenic for some people, but not as intensely as bananas. Well cooked potatoes, with butter or cream,are a very good way to get carbohydrate, if you aren't allergic to them, because they contain a good balance of amino acids, too, as well as minerals and B vitamins.
I normally use pasteurized (and homogenized) milk, and I know people who do best when they use ultrapasteurized milk, and many people who, especially in certain seasons, don't tolerate raw milk. Cows' bacteria change according to what they are eating, and sometimes even the low level of bacteria in pasteurized milk can upset the person's intestinal balance of bacteria. I advise against eating the solid parts of coconut, as a regular part of the diet, and recommend the deodorized refined oil, because so many people are allergic to the proteins (and starches) of coconut. My November newsletter, below, will explain why people tend to lose weight on milk and sugar.
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. Experiments on an isolated loop of intestine, measuring the nutrients entering the bloodstream, showed that relatively simplified mixtures of nutrients were poorly digested. Fat, protein, sugars, and minerals, in combination, activated the intestine, increasing the digestion of all of them, when they were present at the same time. If the fats are mostly saturated, as in butter, coconut oil, or beef or lamb fat, roughly a third of the calories is good, but the ideal proportion probably depends on the specific foods and the person's level of activity. Increasing either fat or sugar can have some specific therapeutic effects, but when more information becomes available about the composition of particular fruits, I suspect that the ideal balance of nutrients will lean toward the sugars, supported by ketoacids and short-chain saturated fats. The polyunsaturated fatty acids, which break down into toxic fragments and free radicals and prostaglandin-like chemicals, are--along with bacterial toxins produced in the intestine--the source of the main inflammatory and degenerative problems. 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.
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,the colostrum wouldn't be necessary.
The fats in meat and cheese can be minimized by choosing low fat types, and skimmed or 1% milk can be used.
I find that I need almost a pint of orange juice to balance one egg.
Small meals help to increase the metabolic rate, single big meals increase fat storage.
There are just occasional intervals when I'm not eating---cafe con leche several times a day, other things in between.
Frequent meals are helpful during hypothyroidism, and help to prevent obesity, but when the thyroid and liver are working, 2, 3, or 4 meals are good. For me, 2 meals and some snacks are most convenient. Orange juice is good by itself.
Yes, two to four times a month. (liver)
I cook it quickly in butter. (liver)
Over the years I averaged a gallon a day, and I liked to eat butter, fat meat, ice cream, and thick cream in my coffee, so 1% milk had enough fat. I didn't like the taste of skimmed milk, and the available 1% happens to be pasteurized. In Mexico when I get it from the farmer, I don't know how much fat it has, but on average it's probably similar.
Our foods usually contain enough PUFA, unavoidably, to make fats matter to some extent. After about twenty years of carefully avoiding them, I'm still getting about 2% of my fat as PUFA (beef, oysters, eggs, etc.). That's why I'm making an effort to increase my sugar intake, to displace some fat.
Until 2006 I was using mostly frozen pulp-free concentrate, then they introduced the enzyme process (for disposing of waste fiber, making it stay suspended in the juice), affecting even the "pulp-free" type. So now I use only sweet oranges that I squeeze myself. US people don't realize how ridiculously degraded their standard of living has become. Nutrition is political economical. The governments tell people to eat beans and bread for a reason. I use coca cola as a fill-in when I can't get oranges.
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.
PUFA (REMOVAL)
The main way they [PUFA] are detoxified is by attaching glucuronic acid, making them water soluble, so they leave in the urine. Keeping the free fatty acids low in relation to albumin, they will largely be carried bound to the albumin to the liver.
PROTEIN
For intense exercise, it's about a gram per pound of body weight.
I've always been very sedentary, but I have usually had close to 150 grams daily. The traditional meat eaters didn't waste anything,ate all the skin, ears, tails, snouts, feet,tendons, lungs, intestines, marrow, blood,brains, gonads and other glands, picked the ligaments off the bones, so they had a much better balance of amino acids. (Small town restaurants in Mexico, China, etc., still serve those.) Muscle meats are essentially a refined food.
That's more than enough, and with low thyroid function the excess of tryptophan, methionine, and cystein can lower your thyroid even more. Until your metabolic rate is higher, 80 to 100 grams would be better. Replacing it with sugar, or very well cooked starch, would support thyroid function.
It's better to take your protein during the day, sugar and fat in the evening. The powdered protein lacks most of the nutrients, so you probably need some fruit, eggs, and liver, for the other nutrients, including potassium and magnesium.
Food proteins stimulate insulin secretion, and to prevent hypoglycemia cortisol is increased. The food proteins (along with tissue proteins) can be used for energy under the influence of cortisol. Meats, other than beef, lamb, venison, and bison, usually contain enough polyunsaturated fat to affect estrogen, testosterone, and energy production. Stress, or increased cortisol, increases the circulating cysteine and tryptophan from muscle (meats), and these together with cortisol tend to increase aromatase. The high ratio of phosphate to calcium in meat activates a variety of stress processes; a high intake of calcium supports energy metabolism. Sugars tend to lower circulating free fatty acids, amino acids, and cortisol, while activating the thyroid hormone.
I think it just takes a few hours, or a day, to normalize the tryptophan. Vitamin B6 helps to guide the metabolism of tryptophan away from excessive serotonin.
VITAMIN D
I use Carlson's, and I think most of the informed people are recommending about 2,000 units per day. John Cannell's site, "the vitamin D council," has a newsletter, and is a good way to keep up with the vitamin D research.
EXERCISE
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.
SLEEP
Having a larger proportion of your fat near bedtime often helps to get through the night without inflammation.
COOKING
Plant enzymes aren't much help after they are eaten. Slow cooking is the worst for oxidizing cholesterol, quick cooking is safer.
Basically wrong, but there are some areas that would be worth investigating, such as the different physiological effects of raw onions and cooked onions. It's possible that the enzymes inhibit some toxic effects of the irritating chemicals in onions. (Dr. Howell, raw foods)
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. When people are using thyroid to recover from tumors or cataracts or other chronic problem, they sometimes hold their resting pulse rate at 100 or more for a few months, without any harmful effects. Sometimes I think you'll be able to figure it out by yourself.
VITAMIN A
Yes, it's definitely hard to get them coordinated when there's an imbalance in one direction or the other. For several years, when I had an extremely high metabolic rate, I needed 100,000 units per day during sunny weather to prevent acne and ingrown whiskers, but when I moved to a cloudy climate, suddenly that much was too much, and suppressed my thyroid. The average person is likely to be hypothyroid, and to need only 5,000 units per day. Avoiding large amounts of carotene, and getting plenty of vitamin B12 to be able to convert any carotene that's in your food, helps to use vitamin A efficiently.
Yes, vitamin A and estrogen are antagonistic, and while estrogen promotes keratinization (shedding of skin cells), vitamin A opposes it. Since vitamin A is highly unsaturated, in excess it suppresses the thyroid, so it has to be balanced with the thyroid; the combination is effective for increasing progesterone and decreasing estrogen, slowing the turnover of skin cells, and making the skin cells function longer before flaking off. Plugged pores, combined with a local shift toward synthesizing inflammatory substances, foster bacterial infection. Bright light stimulates the production of steroids, and consumes vitamin A very quickly, but when the balance is right, the acne clears up in just a day or two. Cream, butter, eggs, and liver are good sources of vitamin A. When people supplement thyroid and eat liver once or twice a week, their acne and dandruff (and many other problems) usually clear up very quickly. It was acne and dandruff that led me into studying the steroids and thyroid, and in the process I found that they were related to constipation and food sensitivity.
I found that I had an extremely high vitamin A requirement, increased by stress or bright light, and that it related to thyroid function. Usually, thyroid and vitamin A are the supplements that stop acne.
I avoid carotene, because it blocks thyroid and steroid production, and very large, excessive, amounts of vitamin A, retinol, can do the same. I use halibut liver oil-derived vitamin A, or retinyl palmitate.
CHOLESTEROL
If low cholesterol is combined with slightly low thyroid, the protective steroids aren't produced in normal amounts, and inflammatory processes develop. Connective tissue pain, waist fat, and constipation relate to the stress-inflammation processes, for example endotoxin slows the liver's detoxifying process, estrogen and serotonin signal defensive reactions that lead to cumulative problems. Sweet fruits are anti-inflammatory and help to keep the liver functioning, including keeping cholesterol up and keeping estrogen and cortisol under control. When estrogen is relatively high, tryptophan turns into serotonin and slows the thyroid, lowers the temperature. Glycine is the main anti-inflammatory amino acid, and it can normally be made in adequate amounts, but some proteins, especially muscle meats, don't have enough Glycine in relation to tryptophan. Fruits and milk or cheese will usually provide a good balance of the main nutrients, but sometimes gelatin is very useful to balance the other proteins. The calcium content of milk and cheese is important for lowering inflammation, and helps to prevent excess fat deposition. Sodium and vitamin K are closely involved in calcium metabolism.
SEX
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.
CO2
Just until it's uncomfortable, usually a minute or two, depending on the size of the bag. If you do it a few times in a day, you might notice that it makes your skin (e.g., under nails) pinker, by improving circulation.
CIRCUMCISION
It's effects are almost exclusively negative, except when the foreskin is extremely constricted.
ASPIRIN
7000 mg is a lot, and it's very important to take vitamin K with aspirin.
It can help with sleep, but you should try it first in the afternoon, because sometimes its first effect can stimulate your metabolism and delay sleep. If you use it regularly, you should have some vitamin K (for example liver once a week).
DIABETES
I have known people who believed they had insulin deficiency, who recovered completely. The pancreas beta cells can regenerate quickly, polyunsaturated fats are continually damaging them.
The T3 component of the thyroid hormone makes muscles and other tissues oxidize sugar. Calcium, sodium, and aspirin are other things that increase the ability to use glucose.
CHEESE
"[In cheese,] When the label says "enzymes," it is likely that they are using one of the new products; lots of people are having serious intestinal reactions to commercial cheeses. Real animal rennet is still safe, as far as I know. Industrial grade citric acid is a serious allergen for some people, because it contains contaminants that aren't in natural fruit citric acid, but it's probably safer than the industrial "enzymes." The producers of the enzyme products claim they are highly purified, but some people react as though they still contain some antigens from the microorganisms. The traditional cheeses were made with milk that soured with the bacteria that lived in the cows, but now it's common to sterilize the milk, and then add cultures, or enzymes, or citric acid, for standardization---but they often put their faith in a commercial product that seems to work well, but that could have serious allergenic contaminants. The same thing has been happening with aged cheeses, many places are no longer letting the native molds infect the cheese curds. Homogenizing doesn't cause any problems---unless they use solvents/detergents for adding the vitamins A and D that are required in milk with reduced fat. The vitamins aren't normally added to whole milk or cream."
REVERSE T3
Yes, it's probably induced by stress, with cortisol inducing the type of deiodinase that makes the inactive rT3. A low sugar diet can cause chronically high cortisol. If you are eating enough fruit and protein, I think the T3 of natural thyroid will help to correct the stress/inflammatory metabolism that is connected with the reverse T3.
There isn't any natural T3 product, in the sense of biologically created, but the activity of T3 is so great that the effective dose, of a few micrograms, couldn't introduce a significant amount of industrial junk; the excipients are the main concern, and whether the people making the tablets understand what they are doing. Cytomel and Cynomel, so far, have been very well made, and there isn't any other T3 product that I trust.
TSH
I think it's best to keep the TSH around 0.4
LIVER (DISEASED)
Eliminating all PUFA would be the most important thing, and having lots of orange juice, other sugars including honey, and milk and gelatin. Cytomel, aspirin, acetazolamide, and progesterone all protect the liver and help to slow cancer growth. Some people use extremely large amounts of aspirin, which require supplements of vitamin K, to prevent bleeding. Fibrous foods such as bamboo shoots and laxatives such as cascara help to reduce the absorption of bowel toxins that promote cancer and burden the liver.
HONEY
I haven't had any experience with manuka. Some honey can be allergenic, so it's good to look for a mild one; white sugar is probably similar, with less allergy risk.
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.
KEFIR
The neutral lactate salt is at least as toxic as the acid form, but each culture varies a little in the amount of acid formed. The enzyme that thickens the milk sometimes works with very little acid formed. How sour the kefir is suggests how much lactic acid is in it. There are types of yogurt that have much of the acidic whey drained out, that aren't a problem. A spoonful or two of acidic yogurt isn't harmful, but a cupful of the acidic type can be enough to deplete the liver's energy stores, because lactic acid is converted to glucose in the liver, requiring energy. The "strained" type that isn't acidic is similar to cottage cheese and is safe.
ICE CREAM (RECIPE)
I blend an egg (warmed to 40 degrees C) with a cup of sugar (also warmed) and a cup of coconut oil until it's smoothly emulsified, and maybe half a cup of powdered milk for extra texture, then add milk to fill the blender (total volume a little over a liter), with strong coffee or orange juice for flavor, or other fruit or vanilla, etc. The high oil content, and powdered milk, make it freeze without crystallizing, so the ice cream machine isn't necessary.
ALCOHOL
People have very different reactions to it, probably depending on thyroid activity. It can have an antioxidant effect, but it can also cause hypoglycemia with pro-oxidative effects. If a person eats polyunsaturated fats, alcohol is more likely to cause oxidative reactions between iron and the fats.
ALLIUMS (GARLIC & ONIONS)
Raw, they do have some germicidal effects, sometimes improving intestinal function. The effect depends on the nature of an individual's intestinal flora.
POTASSIUM BICARBONATE (SALT REPLACEMENT)
In principle, it should be, but manufacturing impurities could cause reactions, so it should be tried cautiously, waiting a day or two after a small amount. Morton's salt substitute is a good potassium supplement that usually doesn't cause a problem.
PREGNENOLONE 'STEAL' THEORY
Regarding the pregnenolone steal theory,It would be interesting to know who started that, it's a mechanical way of thinking about physiology that ignores the things that really matter. Thyroid hormone, vitamin A, and cholesterol support the formation of pregnenolone, and the well nourished body is able to make large adjustments in these, to minimize the need for cortisol. In health, enough pregnenolone and progesterone are produced to inhibit the stress systems, for example by inhibiting the release of ACTH. When something prevents the formation of pregnenolone and progesterone, rising ACTH will increase its production as conditions permit, but if something, such as thyroid hormone, is lacking, the ACTH will increase cortisol, often with DHEA and the androgens increasing too, if resources permit; sometimes the stressed system is able to sustain only cortisol and aldosterone production, and that leads to degenerative problems.
VITAMIN E
My thesis adviser, Arnold Soderwall, did some studies showing that vitamin E extended fertility considerably. I found some of his old Sigma (chemical company) vitamin E still in the freezer, and I was working on the idea that oxidative catalysts in the liver were directly related to estrogen's effects. I would extract lipids from the liver, and use paper chromatography to separate them, and for reference points I used the vitamin E and different quinones (coenzyme Q10, Q6, and benzoquinone). I happened to mix the vitamin E with one of the quinones, and noticed that it turned almost black; all of the quinones had the same effect. Putting the mixture on the paper, the moving solvent separated the original components. Delocalized electrons absorb low energy light, causing a dark color (as in black semiconductors), and Szent-Gyorgyi had expressed wonder about what could cause the dark color of the healthy liver, a color that can't be extracted as a pigment. This experiment convinced me that vitamin E could be one of the participants in delocalizing electrons for activating proteins in the way S-G suggested. However, the technology for manufacturing vitamin E has changed greatly over the years, and I have never found anything sold as vitamin E that produces the same dark colors as that old stuff from the freezer. I don't know whether the powerfully therapeutic (anti-estrogenic, clot-clearing, anti-inflammatory, quinone-reactive) old vitamin E contained "impurities" that were effective, or whether it's that the newer materials contain impurities that reduce their effects.
It was labeled d-alphatocopherol, but it was semi-solid, like crystallized honey.
