For anyone who’s ever had a chronic, difficult-to-diagnose health condition, the search for answers can lead to years of frustration. Where medical science sometimes fails to offer a definitive answer, anecdotal evidence and experimentation can occasionally lead to a sustainable solution for some people.
That was the case for Benedicte Lerche, a biochemist, nutritional counselor and thyroid specialist who struggled with a low thyroid disorder in her 20s. She attributed all of her various, nonspecific symptoms — headaches, digestive issues, menstrual problems, rashes, blood sugar issues and repeated colds and fevers — to her environment. When she returned to Denmark from Paris, she expected that the symptoms would resolve.
They didn’t.
As a result, she began seeking help from the medical system. She says her thyroid function levels were a little on the low side “but not alarmingly low,” and her test results were otherwise normal. Frustrated, Lerche turned to the alternative medicine community and came across Ray Peat’s sometimes counterintuitive approach to food and health. She found a phone number and dialed.
“Very luckily, he just grabbed the phone,” she says.
The two stuck up a correspondence where Peat explained his theories for overcoming hypothyroidism. His recommendations helped Lerche resolve her symptoms.
“It was such a relief in a lot of ways,” she recalls.
Inspired by the improvement in her health and overall well-being, Lerche pursued a PhD in biochemistry. Today, she counsels other people struggling with low thyroid conditions to better health via her BiochemNordic platform and a slew of online resources, including e-books, recipes and blog posts.
What Is the Ray Peat Diet?
The thing about the Ray Peat diet is that there isn’t really a set Ray Peat diet.
“The Ray Peat diet works to correct hormonal imbalances and improve metabolism through ‘pro-metabolic’ dietary changes,” says Erin Holley, a registered dietitian at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus.
If that term seems unfamiliar to you, you’re not alone.
“I’m not quite sure what this means because even the people that follow his diet can’t explain it,” Holley says.
Peat, who passed away in November 2022 at the age of 86, didn’t publish a book outlining how to eat to improve thyroid function. He also never offered a monthly membership program, cookbooks, recipe lists or simplified lists of foods to eat or avoid in prescribed amounts, like so many other diets.
Most of the information available comes from people other than Peat himself, Holley says, and they aren’t always reliable sources.
“The info I found online came from non-credible people, such as wellness coaches, functional nutrition therapy practitioners and other followers of his works,” she explains.
Still, the Ray Peat diet has many staunch followers, such as Lerche, who’ve found relief in his unconventional ideas — and often through direct contact with the scientist himself. This eating concept draws from Peat’s research and — to a certain degree — is open to interpretation by the user.
[See: Top Foods for Thyroid Health]
Who Was Ray Peat?
According to information posted on the Ray Peat website, which is attributed to Peat, he held a PhD in biology, with a specialization in physiology, from the University of Oregon and taught at several institutions, including the University of Oregon, Urbana University, Montana State University and the National University of Naturopathic Medicine. He also offered private nutritional counseling.
[READ: How to Spot a Diet Red Flag: Diet Red Flags You Should Know]
Ray Peat Diet Food List
The Ray Peat diet encourages the consumption of:
— Healthy fats, such as coconut oil and butter.
— Dairy products, with a strong emphasis on milk, cheese and ice cream.
— Lots of fresh fruit and fruit juices.
— Protein from muscle and organ meats.
— Collagen, a protein the body uses to keep bones, tendons and muscles strong and support skin health.
— Eggs.
— Shellfish.
While most dietitians and doctors tend to warn against the overconsumption of sugar, the Ray Peat diet does not shy away from it.
“That’s because the liver needs sugar to activate the thyroid hormones,” Lerche says.
The theory behind this idea is that the body takes glucose — sugar — from the foods we eat to fuel cellular function. However, Lerche cautions against consuming sugar-heavy foods and drinks and suggests fruit and honey instead, since they contain health-supporting vitamins and minerals.
“These are certainly easy-to-digest sugars and do not cause harm in moderation,” Holley says. “But some followers report that Peat has been known to drink a quart of orange juice at a time. I would not recommend that.”
For reference, a quart of orange juice can contain more than 450 calories and 83 grams of sugar.
[See: Questions to Ask an Endocrinologist]
Eat the Right Kind of Fat
A key tenet of the Ray Peat diet centers around the type of fat you should be consuming if you have a hypothyroid condition.
Polyunsaturated fats, also called polyunsaturated fatty acids or PUFAs, are a type of fat that’s liquid at room temperature. In conventional nutritional circles, PUFAs are considered heart healthy because they contain omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack and heart disease.
However, proponents of the Ray Peat diet say that PUFAs are detrimental to health because they inhibit thyroid function. PUFAs also contain omega-6 fatty acids, which can have negative effects on heart health when consumed in excess. One of the omega-6 fatty acids, linolenic acid, is converted in the body to arachidonic acid, which can promote inflammation and vascular problems, such as blood clots and narrowing of blood vessels.
In addition, Ray Peat diet followers, citing PUFAs’ low melting point, say that it is an unstable type of fat; the claims are that PUFAs can easily oxidize, which causes the oil to go rancid and become toxic. Research suggests oxidation can create free radicals, which can cause damage to cells throughout the body.
Examples of PUFAs include:
— Nuts.
— Seeds.
— Fatty fish, such as salmon and mackerel.
— Canola oil.
— Corn oil.
— Soybean oil.
— Walnut oil.
— Cottonseed oil.
— Peanut oil.
— Flaxseed oil.
— Margarine.
PUFAs also show up in many packaged and prepared foods, including:
— Energy or granola bars.
— Potato chips.
— Fast foods and fried foods.
While PUFAs do appear to lower the levels of cholesterol in the blood, which is why conventional nutritional science says they’re heart-healthy, Lerche says they do so by “actually poisoning the liver in some way so that the cholesterol doesn’t show up in the blood.”
There is some limited evidence that PUFAs could increase the liver’s burden, though the issue seems to come down to the ratio of helpful omega-3 fatty acids to potentially damaging omega-6 fatty acids. The scientific research has so far been mainly conducted in animals.
Instead of using PUFA-heavy cooking oils, the Ray Peat approach advocates for using more stable, saturated fats for cooking, such as:
— Coconut oil.
— Butter or ghee (clarified butter).
— Tallow.
Opting for pasture-raised or grass-fed animal products is another way to remove PUFAs from your diet.
However, because these sources of fats are saturated fats, which are solid at room temperature, conventional dietary advice says to avoid them. Saturated fats can elevate the level of LDL cholesterol — that’s the “bad” kind in the blood, and it may increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Other foods to avoid include:
— Nuts, seeds and nut and seed butters because of their PUFA contents.
— Low-quality, highly processed foods, such as packaged or fast foods, also because of PUFAs.
— Beans, lentils and other legumes because they are high in fiber, which Lerche says the body isn’t designed to digest readily and can tax the system, leading to reduced thyroid function.
How Much You Can Eat on the Ray Peat Diet
Portion size doesn’t really matter for many proponents of the Ray Peat diet, as weight loss is not its primary focus.
Fundamentally, followers of this diet have different goals than those trying to lose weight; most of them are seeking relief from underdiagnosed or difficult-to-pinpoint thyroid or other hormone problems. While it’s possible to use the Ray Peat diet for weight loss, it’s seldom the main reason someone adopts this approach.
Focus on Red Light
Light therapy is also a component of the Ray Peat method, with a focus on red light as a possible anti-stress mechanism that can support longevity and reduce the cellular deterioration that comes with aging.
Red light, which is a component of sunlight, can penetrate tissues easily and support healing, Peat has suggested. Living in a dark environment without much sunlight can be detrimental to health, he argues.
Lerche adds that if you live in a climate where you can’t get enough sunlight daily, it may be worth investing in a light therapy machine to boost your levels.
Is There Science to Back Up the Ray Peat Diet?
As a scientist himself, Peat has performed studies of hormones and how diet can influence them. There is some evidence hinting at these ideas, but generally speaking, the concept lies outside the bounds of conventional nutritional advice. It’s also unclear whether the anecdotal results some believers have found are actually a result of the diet.
While there’s little scientific research to support some of the claims made by devotees of the Ray Peat method, “I do not believe these foods to be harmful either,” Holley says.
As with many other off-the-beaten-track diets, there’s a mix of good advice and questionable nutritional ideas with the Ray Peat diet. One that Holley points to is the Ray Peat carrot salad, which became a viral sensation on TikTok. Followers claim that the salad balances hormones, such as estrogen.
“Please do not fall for this. Yes, it’s good to eat carrots, but carrots do not balance hormones,” Holley says.
Should I Try the Ray Peat Diet?
Bottom line, this approach isn’t necessarily bad or wrong, but if you have thyroid issues, it’s important to seek advice from a medical provider. There are treatments available for hypothyroid conditions that don’t require completely revamping your diet or vastly upping your intake of orange juice.
“I really don’t think any of these foods are bad or wrong to include in your diet,” Holley says. “But I would not recommend limiting oneself to only the foods that are part of this diet.”
In the end, the best thing for people is to eat a well-balanced diet with a variety of healthy, whole foods.
“This is how we get more vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, antioxidants, fiber (and a) variety of prebiotics and probiotics,” Holley adds.
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Ray Peat Diet: What Is It, and Does It Work? originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 11/08/23: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
