The Ray Peat Food List: Every Food He Wrote About, With the Source

Short answer: Ray Peat never published a food list. This one is assembled from his articles, food by food, with a link to the article where each statement appears. The core is milk, cheese, fruit and orange juice, eggs, gelatin, shellfish, coconut oil, butter, salt and coffee, and the main things to avoid are seed oils, fish oil, cereals, beans and fermentable fiber.

What Ray Peat wrote about each food

Dairy

Milk. He wrote that regular use of milk and cheese can prevent many chronic stress-related diseases, and he mentions two quarts of milk a day together with a quart of orange juice. Source: Milk in context: allergies, ecology, and some myths, Sugar issues

Whole milk without additives. He blamed many reactions to milk on carrageenan and on the carriers of added vitamins in reduced-fat milk. Source: Food-junk and some mystery ailments: Fatigue, Alzheimer's, Colitis, Immunodeficiency, Milk in context: allergies, ecology, and some myths

Cheese. It is on his basic diet list, and he names it among the balanced proteins. Source: Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones, Multiple sclerosis, protein, fats, and progesterone

Fruit and sugars

Orange juice. The fruit he mentions most. A quart a day, with milk, is the amount he gives for general resistance to stress. Source: Sugar issues

Fruit in general. He advised using fruit as a major part of the diet in place of cereals and beans. Source: Glucose and sucrose for diabetes

Honey. With fruit and milk, one of his preferred carbohydrates. Source: Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context, Glucose and sucrose for diabetes

White sugar. Pure but without nutrients. He calls it a temporary therapeutic material, or a stand-in when good fruit is not available. Source: Glucose and sucrose for diabetes, Sugar issues

Coca-Cola. He cites an animal experiment in which Coca-Cola, or the same amount of sucrose, let the animals eat 50% more calories without gaining more weight. Source: Glucose and sucrose for diabetes

Protein

Eggs. On his basic diet list. He notes that a lot of protein without carbohydrate can make blood sugar fall sharply, and mentions eggs in particular. Source: Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones, Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context

Gelatin and broth. 5 to 10 grams of gelatin with a large serving of meat, and broth from beef or lamb for gelatin and minerals. Source: Gelatin, stress, longevity, Multiple sclerosis, protein, fats, and progesterone

Shellfish. On his basic diet list. Source: Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones

Liver and lean fish. Liver about once a week, lean fish or shellfish once or twice a week. Source: Glucose and sucrose for diabetes, Unsaturated Vegetable Oils: Toxic

Muscle meat. Not alone. Eaten by itself it gives the blood the same amino acid mix as extreme stress, so he pairs it with gelatin. Source: Gelatin, stress, longevity

Potatoes. He lists them with cheese, eggs and broth as balanced proteins. Source: Multiple sclerosis, protein, fats, and progesterone

Fats

Coconut oil. On his basic diet list. He wrote that it raises the metabolic rate, apparently by normalizing thyroid function. Source: Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones, Coconut Oil ↗

Butter. Like coconut oil it contains butyrate, which he calls an anti-stress substance. Source: Multiple Sclerosis and other hormone related brain syndromes

Olive oil and lamb fat. Coconut and olive oil are the only vegetable oils he called really safe. Butter and lamb fat are generally very safe. Source: Unsaturated Vegetable Oils: Toxic

Vegetables and fiber

Raw carrot. One a day, for the bowel. Source: Natural Estrogens, Serotonin: Effects in disease, aging and inflammation

Bamboo shoots. The other fiber he liked, for the same reason. Source: Serotonin: Effects in disease, aging and inflammation, Rosacea, inflammation, and aging: The inefficiency of stress

Cooked leaves. Kale, turnip greens and beet greens have a good calcium to phosphate ratio. He notes that leaves carry defensive chemicals and need cooking. Source: Phosphate, activation, and aging, Vegetables, etc. — Who Defines Food?

Broccoli or liver now and then, for the vitamin K that a daily raw carrot can reduce. Source: Rosacea, inflammation, and aging: The inefficiency of stress

Drinks and seasoning

Coffee. With food and with sugar. He treats it as a food that supplies magnesium and niacin, and he drinks it with meat to block iron absorption. Source: Caffeine: A vitamin-like nutrient, or adaptogen. Questions about tea and coffee, cancer and other degenerative diseases, and the hormones, Iron's Dangers

Salt. To taste. He describes people sleeping better when they ate as much salt as they wanted. Source: When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc, Salt, energy, metabolic rate, and longevity

Water. Drink to thirst. He was skeptical of forcing extra water, especially with a low-salt diet. Source: Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging

What he said to avoid

Seed oils: corn, soy, safflower, flax, cottonseed, canola, peanut and sesame oil. Source: Unsaturated Vegetable Oils: Toxic

Fish oil and cod liver oil. Source: Unsaturated Vegetable Oils: Toxic, Fats and degeneration

Lard, which he counts as a seed oil in practice because pigs are fattened on corn and soy. Source: Unsaturated Vegetable Oils: Toxic

Cereals and beans. Source: Glucose and sucrose for diabetes

Fermentable fiber from grains, beans and other seeds, and starches that resist digestion. Source: Serotonin: Effects in disease, aging and inflammation

Carrageenan, the thickener found in many milk products. Source: Food-junk and some mystery ailments: Fatigue, Alzheimer's, Colitis, Immunodeficiency

Starch in large amounts. His basic diet is moderate or low in starch. Source: Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones, Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context

Extra iron. His basic diet is described as low in iron. Source: Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones

How to read this list

• It is a summary of what appears in his website articles. It leaves out anything he said only in interviews or emails.
• He wrote about mechanisms, not meal plans. The amounts above are the few he actually gave.
• For his reasons food by food, open the topic pages: milk, orange juice, sugar, gelatin, coconut oil, salt, coffee, starch, vegetables and PUFA.

Where he wrote about it

This topic comes up in 85 of the articles on his site. These are the most relevant ones:

• Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Fatigue, aging, and recuperation · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Sugar issues · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Glucose and sucrose for diabetes · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Milk in context: allergies, ecology, and some myths · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Gelatin, stress, longevity · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Unsaturated Vegetable Oils: Toxic · original on raypeat.com ↗

My take

My own version of this list, with a full day of meals and recipes, is in the pro-metabolic diet.

If you only change one thing, change the fats. The list of what to cut is in PUFA foods to avoid.

Quick answers

What foods are on the Ray Peat food list?

Milk, cheese, fruit and orange juice, honey, eggs, gelatin and broth, shellfish, lean fish, liver about once a week, potatoes, coconut oil, butter, olive oil, a daily raw carrot, salt and coffee.

What foods did Ray Peat say to avoid?

Seed oils such as corn, soy, safflower, canola and peanut oil, fish oil and cod liver oil, lard, cereals and beans, fermentable fiber, carrageenan and added iron.

Did Ray Peat publish a food list?

No. He wrote articles about physiology. This list is assembled from the foods he recommended or warned against across those articles, each linked to its source.

Is Coca-Cola on the Ray Peat diet?

He did not prescribe it, but he cited an animal experiment in which Coca-Cola or sucrose allowed more calories without more weight gain, and he treated sugar as useful when good fruit is not available.

Did Ray Peat recommend bread or rice?

He advised avoiding cereals and keeping starch moderate or low, and he treated potatoes better than grains.